When canon changes without explanation, readers can lose trust in the story world and its consequences.
Glossary term
Story canon
Story canon is the accepted body of facts, events, rules, relationships, and history that a manuscript or series treats as true.
Definition
What story canon means
Story canon includes the facts readers are expected to carry forward. In series work, canon often spans multiple books and supplemental notes.
Book one establishes that a city has no harbor, but book two opens with ships docking there without a stated change.
Wise Wombat helps authors identify where manuscript passages may be disagreeing with established story canon.
Related
Related continuity terms
These terms often appear together during manuscript revision.
Series continuity
Series continuity is the consistency of characters, timelines, world rules, terminology, and long-running promises across connected books.
Series bible
A series bible is a living reference for characters, timelines, places, terminology, rules, and unresolved threads across connected books.
World terminology
World terminology is the consistency of invented or setting-specific terms, spellings, ranks, titles, factions, places, rituals, and rules.