Writing Tip: How to Stay Consistent in Your Manuscript

Earlier this spring, I took an editing course through my local college. I thought it would be helpful as I contemplated whether to offer my editing services to other fiction writers.

The course turned out to be geared more toward editing non-fiction work rather than fiction work (good fiction editors should have some creative-writing courses under their belt, not just editing courses), but I still learned some new and helpful information.

One amazing takeaway for this author was something called a “style sheet.” Perhaps many of you are already familiar with the term, but after twenty-plus years working at the writing craft, I had never heard of a style sheet. It certainly would have come in handy while I worked on my second novel! 😆

For those of you asking, “What’s a style sheet?” I’ll answer for the fiction writers among us (this article addresses the non-fiction writer). It’s a document, either physical or on your computer, where you log information from your story to help you stay consistent as you write. This is less necessary if you’re writing a stand-alone novel, but so helpful if you intend to write a series (or your stand-alone has the potential to become a series, like mine did). It’s also a good place to jot down the non-negotiable writing rules, like what to do with brand names or how to format song titles versus movie titles versus book titles. 😉

The simplest form a style sheet can take is to list your story’s information in alphabetical order in a Word document, adding to it as you see fit. Or you could get as intricate as you like, going so far as to draw a map of your world and labeling places and landmarks to help with visualization.

Here is an example of mine that I did for the editing class based on my sequel, though it is by no means exhaustive:

As I said, something like this from Book 1 would have come in handy while I wrote Book 2, because I found myself having to pull up a PDF copy of my first book to not only search for the names of the four mountains that surrounded Flitterndorf, but also to search for the school’s name, since I had forgotten a minor detail: Was the school’s name Flitterndorf School of Talents, or Flitterndorf’s School of Talent(s)? A minor thing, perhaps, but many astute readers pick up on inconsistencies like this.

Having a style sheet at-the-ready can save you time in the writing process when embarking upon a sequel–take it from my firsthand experience. 😄 This is one lesson learned that I’ll be bringing with me into my next manuscript!

Do you have another tip or hack that helps you keep track of major and minor details in your stories? We’d love for you to share in the comments below.