For series writers
How to keep track of details across a book series
The series writer's nightmare is specific: book three contradicts book one, and a reader notices before you do. Bunsho keeps each book straight today, with every fact tied to the sentence that set it, and shared cross-book canon is the headline of our roadmap.
Why series break
A standalone novel carries hundreds of small commitments. A series carries thousands, and the oldest ones were made years ago in a book you no longer reread. By book three you are relying on memory, a search across old files, and the hope that your most attentive readers are feeling generous. They are not. Series readers are the ones who notice that the innkeeper's name changed, that the scar moved hands, that a character recalls a conversation from a scene that was cut in book one's edits.
The usual fix is a series bible in a spreadsheet or a document, and the usual failure is that it falls behind the moment deadlines arrive. Keeping the bible current is a second job, and it is always the job that gets skipped.
What Bunsho does for a series today
Each book keeps itself straight
Bunsho reads your chapters and fills the World tab with characters, places, objects, and relationships, each tied to the sentence that established it. Run a check and every contradiction inside the book is flagged with both passages in view.
Facts from earlier books become canon by hand
Add what book one settled to the World tab yourself: ages, distances, who knows what, what the compass means. Hand entries are canon, so the checker holds book three's chapters to book one's facts, even though book one lives in another project.
Checks run when you ask, priced before they run
Check this chapter, review the pages that changed, or run a full review before you send the book to your editor. Nothing runs while you type, and writing is never metered.
Your backlist imports without retyping
Bring in finished books as .docx, Markdown, .txt, or Fountain, and Bunsho reads each one into its own project with its own World. It is the fastest way to rebuild a series bible you never quite kept.
And the honest part: cross-book canon is the roadmap
We will not pretend otherwise. Today the continuity checker works within one manuscript, and carrying facts between books is a manual step. One shared canon across every book in a series, so that a chapter in book four is checked against a sentence in book one automatically, is the single biggest thing we are building next, and it is the reason series writers are the audience we build for. If that is the feature you are waiting for, the honest advice is: start now, because the World entries you keep today are exactly what a shared series canon will be made of.
For how the bible itself works, see story bible software and the World tab. For what a finding looks like when a check runs, see the continuity checker.
Common questions
Does Bunsho check continuity across a whole series today?
Not yet, and we would rather say so plainly. Today each project holds one book, and the continuity checker keeps that book straight. Cross-book series canon, one shared record of the world that every book in the series is checked against, is the headline of our roadmap, because series writers ask for it more than anything else.
So what can a series writer do with Bunsho right now?
Carry your established facts forward by hand. Anything you add to the World tab yourself is canon, so when you start book three you can record what earlier books settled, that Mira's eyes are grey, that the ferry crossing takes two days, that Tam never learned who sent the letter, and the checker holds your new chapters to it, with both passages cited when something disagrees.
What kinds of series mistakes does a check catch?
The ones readers write in about: a physical detail that drifts, an age or date that no longer adds up, a character who refers to something she was never told, an object that changes history, a journey that takes three days in one chapter and a week in another. Every finding cites the two passages that disagree, so you can judge it in seconds.
I have three books drafted already. Do I have to retype anything?
No. Import each manuscript as .docx, Markdown, .txt, or Fountain, and Bunsho reads it and fills the World tab with the characters, places, and objects the prose establishes. Export is just as open, to .docx, Markdown, or Fountain, so nothing is ever locked in.
Is my series safe on my machine?
Yes. Bunsho is local-first: your manuscripts and your World entries live as files on your computer. Only the pages you choose to check are sent for analysis, and they are never used to train models.
Book three should not argue with book one.
Bunsho is free to download for macOS and Windows. No account needed for the editor, World, or Planner.