With my other series, I didn't keep good information and spent time rereading them to get details straight, so when I started the Paladin League, I was determined to keep track of things. I even purchased a spreadsheet created by another author for the series bible.
I have settings, I have characters. I have a page for each hero and each heroine. I have pictures, I have eye colors, and hair colors.
I mentioned a few months ago about picking up some Notion templates to use for this, but I have all my information in Excel and OneNote and no time to transfer it all. I'm sticking with the one I've been using from the beginning.
I also blogged about how this series bible was great for the first three books, was pretty good for the fourth, but is really testing me in the fifth book. This is becoming more and more of an issue the deeper I get into Wicked Persuasion.
And since I blogged about the issues, I ran into my own lapse. I was looking at a scene with the convent and talking to a friend of mine. "The nuns must have a van," she said. "They do," I assured her. I distinctly remember them driving the heroine from Wicked Deception to seek medical help.
But I started wondering. Was it a van? What did the van look like?
None of this information was in my Series Bible. None of it. I had to reread big chunks of Wicked Deception because that wasn't the only thing I couldn't remember and hadn't recorded.
There are some people who do series bibles for authors. I might have to think about hiring one of them because clearly even with someone else's spreadsheet, I don't know what I need for future books. It's so disappointing. After I get this book through edits and copy edits and formatting and the rest, I might have to take the time to use the Notion template I blogged about.
And probably do some rereading to fill in the missing pieces. Or hire someone. Sigh.
