/series-continuity

name: series-continuity
description: This skill should be used when the user asks to "write a sequel", "write a prequel", "start book two", "continue the series", "companion novel", "spin-off", "link books in a series", "carry characters into the next book", "series continuity", "series bible", or needs to keep canon consistent across multiple Story Skills projects.

Series Continuity

Overview

Plan and maintain sequels, prequels, and companion books as linked Story Skills projects. Each book stays a standalone project with its own `story.md`, characters, world, chapters, and continuity files. Books point at each other through `story.md` frontmatter, and `story series` checks the canon they share.

• `series` - kebab-case series id shared by every book, such as `the-ember-cycle`
• `book-number` - publication order (1, 2, 3...)
• `follows` - paths to books set **earlier** in the story's chronology
• `precedes` - paths to books set **later** in the story's chronology

Chronology and publication order are separate. A prequel written after the first book has `book-number: 2` and `precedes: [../book-one]`.

Links are relative paths from the book root, and every link needs a matching backlink: if book two `follows: [../book-one]`, book one must list `precedes: [../book-two]`. Keep sibling books in the same parent folder so the paths stay short and portable.

When to Use

• Starting a sequel, prequel, interquel, or companion book to an existing project
• Carrying characters, locations, systems, factions, artifacts, or glossary terms into another book
• Revising a book that other books in the series depend on
• NOT for a single standalone book (use `story-init`) or for within-book continuity (use `revision-continuity`)

Starting a Linked Book

1. Read the existing book first: `story.md`, `characters/_index.md`, `worldbuilding/_index.md`, `plot/timeline.md`, `continuity/state.md`, open files in `continuity/questions/` and `continuity/promises/`, and the final chapters. 2. Ask the user for:

• Title and synopsis
• Relationship: sequel (set after), prequel (set before), or companion (set alongside, with no chronology link)
• How much time passes between the books
• Which characters and places return

3. Create the project with the CLI, run from the folder that contains the existing book:

# Sequel: set after book one
story init "{Title}" --follows {existing-book-dir} --synopsis "{synopsis}"

# Prequel: set before book one
story init "{Title}" --precedes {existing-book-dir} --synopsis "{synopsis}"

`init` checks that the linked path is a story project, writes the relative link, adds the backlink to the existing book's `story.md`, and inherits `series`, `genre`, `sub-genre`, `pov`, and `tense`. It sets `book-number` to one more than the highest linked number. Pass `--series`, `--book-number`, `--genre`, `--pov`, or `--tense` to override these.

If the existing book has no `series` yet, pass `--series {series-id}` and add the same `series` (plus `book-number: 1`) to the existing `story.md`.

If the CLI is not available, add the fields to both `story.md` files by hand.

4. Add a `## Series Notes` section to the new `story.md` body. Record where the book sits in the chronology, the time gap, and the canon facts it must not contradict.

Carrying Canon Across Books

Only carry entities the new book actually uses. For each one, copy the file from the other book and then adjust it:

• **Keep the filename id identical.** `story series` matches entities across books by id. A renamed file is a new entity to the checker.
• **Keep `name` identical.** Put new titles or epithets in `aliases`, such as `General Maren` in a prequel for `Lord Maren`. A different `name` produces a warning.
• **Set state for this book's starting point, not the source book's ending.**
• Sequel: start from the earlier book's final `status`, relationships, ownership, and knowledge.
• Prequel: start from the earlier situation, and write the later book's facts as fixed endpoints in a `## Series Canon` section.
• **Remove book-local references.** `died-in` and every other chapter id points at chapters in the source book. For a character who died before this book begins, keep `status: deceased` and remove `died-in`.
• **Prune or carry every link.** Relationships, `locations`, `notable-characters`, faction `members`, and artifact `owner`/`location` must point at entities that exist in this book, with backlinks. Either carry the linked entity too, or remove the reference.
• **Do not copy** chapters, scenes, arcs, questions, promises, or `continuity/state.md`. Rebuild them for the new book:
• Unresolved questions or promises the new book continues become new files in its `continuity/` folders.
• Events from the other book become `Backstory Events` rows in `plot/timeline.md` (sequel) or `Series Canon` notes (prequel).
• `continuity/state.md` starts at `current-chapter: 0` with the carried character and object state. Carried knowledge goes in `knowledge-state` without `learned-in`, because the character already knew it when the book began.

Fact Ids

Give series-relevant knowledge a stable `fact` id in `continuity/state.md`, and use the same id in every book:

knowledge-state:
  - character: kael-voss
    knows: The gallery tunnel reaches the Whisper Gate
    fact: whisper-gate-route
    learned-in: chapter-04   # only in the book where they learn it on the page

• Fact ids are kebab-case, and each character lists a given fact only once per book. `story continuity` checks both rules.
• Add `learned-in` only in the book where the character discovers the fact. In later books, carry the entry without `learned-in`.
• Reuse the exact id in every book. The checker matches the character id plus the fact id, never the `knows` text.
• Give ids to the reveals, secrets, and discoveries a later or earlier book depends on. Everyday knowledge does not need one.

After carrying entities, run i