What is an Editorial Style Sheet?

Although story bibles and editorial style sheets share some information, they serve different purposes. And understanding how they work together can save a tremendous amount of time during revision and editing. An editorial style sheet is a reference document that records the spelling, capitalization, punctuation, terminology, and other editorial decisions used in a manuscript. Copyeditors often create these documents while editing a book to maintain consistency throughout the manuscript.

For example, an editorial style sheet might record whether a character’s nickname is spelled with or without a hyphen, whether a fictional business uses an apostrophe in its name, or whether a particular word is always capitalized. It might also include character names, unusual vocabulary, geographical locations, invented terminology, and brief continuity notes.

The purpose is simple: to make sure the details remain consistent from the first page to the last. And if you’re writing a series, these decisions may need to remain consistent across multiple books.

How Is a Story Bible Different?

A story bible is usually much larger and more comprehensive than an editorial style sheet. It might contain character biographies, family trees, relationship histories, timelines, maps, worldbuilding rules, plot summaries, research notes, and information about future books. In other words, a story bible helps the author understand and manage the entire fictional world.

An editorial style sheet focuses on the specific details that affect consistency within a manuscript. Your story bible holds the world you’ve created. Your editorial style sheet records the details that must remain consistent on the page.

You don’t need to hand your editor hundreds of pages of research notes, character histories, and abandoned plot ideas. (Please don’t do that!!!) But you can provide a concise reference containing the details that matter most. Every book is different, but I find it helpful to think about an editorial style sheet in several categories.

Character Names and Descriptions

Record the correct spelling of character names, nicknames, titles, and relationships. You might also include brief identifying details, such as physical characteristics or family connections, especially when those details are important to continuity. For a series, this can prevent a supporting character from suddenly acquiring a different middle name, eye color, or sibling.

Places and Organizations

Keep a list of fictional towns, businesses, streets, buildings, organizations, and other named locations. Record the exact spelling, punctuation, and capitalization. For example, if a fictional town has a veterans’ organization, a motorcycle club, and several family-owned businesses, you’ll want their names to remain consistent throughout the series. This becomes particularly important when multiple characters refer to the same place in different books.

Special Terminology

Fantasy, paranormal romance, science fiction, and romantic suspense novels often contain specialized vocabulary. But contemporary fiction can have unusual terminology, too. Your style sheet might include military acronyms, law enforcement terminology, regional expressions, fictional titles, or words you’ve deliberately chosen to spell in a particular way. You may also want to record plurals, possessives, and capitalization rules for invented names. These are exactly the kinds of details that can become difficult to track during a long manuscript.

Editorial Preferences

A style sheet can also document decisions about numbers, dates, time, hyphenation, italics, and punctuation. For example, you might record whether the manuscript uses numerals or spelled-out numbers in certain situations, or how text messages and written correspondence are formatted.

Many editors work from established style guides, such as The Chicago Manual of Style, but a manuscript may contain intentional exceptions. Recording those exceptions helps ensure that a deliberate choice isn’t mistaken for an error.

Important Continuity Details

An editorial style sheet can include brief factual notes that help prevent inconsistencies. For example, if a character has a scar on his left hand, drives a particular truck, or always addresses another character by a specific nickname, those details might be worth recording.

For complicated timelines, however, you may want a separate continuity file that tracks dates, ages, travel times, and the sequence of events. This is where your story bible becomes especially valuable.

Turning Your Story Bible into an Editorial Style Sheet

The good news is that if you’ve already created a story bible, much of the information you need is probably there. You don’t have to start from scratch. Begin by reviewing your character profiles, setting notes, worldbuilding rules, and continuity records. Then extract the details that affect consistency in the manuscript.

For example, your story bible might contain several pages about a fictional town’s history, geography, founding families, and businesses. But your editorial style sheet doesn’t need all of that information. It may only need the correct spelling of the town’s name, the names of important businesses, capitalization rules, and a few continuity details.

The goal is to create a concise, searchable reference rather than a second story bible. And remember that your editor may create a separate style sheet during the editing process. Your author-created version can serve as a useful starting point.

What About a Story Continuity File?

This is another useful document, especially for series authors. A story continuity file focuses on established facts and events that must remain consistent as the fictional world grows. It might include unresolved plot threads, character ages, births and deaths, changes in relationships, injuries, property ownership, and important events that affect future books.

For example, if a secondary character breaks his arm in Book Three, you may need to remember that injury when writing Book Four, particularly if the stories take place only a few weeks apart. Likewise, if a character learns a family secret in one book, you need to know what that character knows when the next story begins.

A continuity file can help you track these details without requiring you to reread every previous manuscript. In some projects, a continuity file and editorial style sheet may overlap. That’s fine. The important thing is understanding what information you need and why you’re recording it.

When Should You Create These Documents?

There’s no single correct answer. Some writers build their story bibles before drafting. Others add information as they write. Still others create their bibles during revision, when they know which details have actually made it into the manuscript.

The same flexibility applies to editorial style sheets. You can begin one while drafting, build it during revision, or create it when preparing your manuscript for an editor. If you’re writing a series, I recommend updating your records after each book is finalized. That way, you’re preserving what actually happened in the published story rather than what you originally planned to happen. Because as every writer knows, characters have a habit of changing our plans.

Your Story Bible Is a Living Document

One of the things I love most about story bibles is that they can grow alongside our fictional worlds. A story bible isn’t just a collection of notes we create before writing and then forget about. It’s a living reference that helps us remember what we’ve established, recognize potential contradictions, and make informed creative decisions. And when we use that information to create editorial style sheets and continuity files, we’re making the editing process more efficient for ourselves and for the professionals who work on our books.

After all, we want our readers to become immersed in our stories. We don’t want them wondering why the hero’s blue eyes suddenly turned brown, why the heroine’s sister has a different name, or why a town that was founded in 1850 suddenly celebrated its three-hundredth anniversary. Those little details matter. And keeping track of them gives us more time and energy to focus on what matters most: telling the story.