Ghostkey | A world bible that keeps itself

A world bible that keeps itself.

Every writer knows the ritual: you swear you'll keep the series bible updated this time, and by chapter twelve it still says your heroine has green eyes and no brother. In Ghostkey, the world bible reads your book. Write a new character into a chapter and they show up on their own: no form to fill, no sticky note to lose.

Jane Bennet's sheet in the world bible: a portrait, her reputation and prospects, a dossier drawn from the chapters, the chapter she first appears in, and the list of every character in the book down the left — **Everyone the book has met.** Characters, places and terms, each with the number of chapters they appear in.

**A portrait, if you want one.** Drawn from what the book says they look like. Or upload your own.

**A dossier from the pages.** What has been established about them, chapter by chapter, and where they first appear.

You stay in charge

Your word is final.: The bible tracks what the book says, but your own entries and corrections always win over it. Fill in some sheets by hand, or all of them.
Bring your own bible.: Already keep one in a document? Import it. Your headings become the entries and your notes come in word for word. Importing only ever adds, so running it again fills the gaps.
One bible per series.: Books in a series share their bible. Open book two and the cast of book one is already there, with your notes and their portraits.
Hide what isn't a name.: If the bible picks up something that isn't a character, a place or a term, hide it. It stays out of your way and doesn't come back on the next read.
Goal, motivation, conflict.: A character's sheet can set out what they want, why they want it, and what stands in their way, outside and in.

Plan first? Start from the outline.

The bible doesn't wait for chapter one. Generate it from your story outline and the cast is there before you write a word of the book.

Anyone it hasn't met yet, add by hand: a name and whether they're a character, a place or a term. Fill in as much or as little as you like.

The world bible of The Salt Road: three characters, two places and a term listed down the left, and an offer to generate the bible from the story outline

Your cast, beside the page.

A bible is only useful if you open it. So Ghostkey brings it to where you're writing: when a character walks into a chapter, their sheet is already in the margin.

A chapter of The Salt Road open in the editor, with the chapter's notes and the places that appear in it listed in the panel on the right — **You write the name.** No tagging and no form. The bible reads the chapter and recognises who and where.

**They're in this chapter.** Everyone the chapter mentions, listed beside it. Open one to read their sheet without leaving the page.

**Dictation knows them too.** Speak a chapter and your invented names come out spelled the way you spell them.

One world, however many books

One bible per series.: Books in a series share their bible. Open book two and the cast of book one is already there, with your notes and their portraits.
A face for every name.: Draw a portrait from what the book says someone looks like, or upload your own art. It follows them into every book of the series.
What changed, and when.: A sheet keeps what has been established chapter by chapter. Write more, press Update, and it reads the new pages.

It reaches the rest of the studio

In the chat.
The chat knows your cast. Ask who someone is, or tell it something new about them and it adds it to their sheet.
In your plan.
Plan your chapters in the chat and each chapter's cast is written into the bible as the chapters are made.
In line edits.
A line edit reads the bible too, so "Merta" in chapter twelve gets a note when the innkeeper has always been Marta.
On your phone.
Look someone up, or add a card while the idea is fresh, from ghost-key.app on your phone.