Does Who Where When work for a single novel?

Updated October 23, 2026

Yes. Who Where When is built with series in mind, but a standalone novel works the same way: create a universe for it, and its first book takes the universe's name. Entries, facts, the continuity check, the timeline, family trees, maps and co-authors all work with one book.

If the novel later grows into a series, add the next book to the same universe and everything carries over.

Setting up a single novel

1. Choose New universe and name it after the novel.
2. In Books & chapters, choose Add book. Because it's the first book, it's named after the universe.
3. Add chapters, or Upload manuscript to split your draft into chapters.

From there, build entries and facts the way you would for a series. Every fact can still cite its chapter, and the continuity check compares facts across the whole book.

Where a single novel helps most

A story bible earns its keep in a standalone when:

• The cast is large enough that minor characters blur together.
• The plot spans years, or jumps around in time.
• You're revising after a long break and need to recheck what you decided.
• The world has its own calendar, magic rules or politics.

The continuity check is just as useful here: an eye color that changes between chapter 3 and chapter 30 is still a mistake.

The one difference: the reader wiki

The reader wiki hides spoilers by book. Readers choose a reading point such as "I've finished book 1", and see only what's revealed by the end of that book. There's no mid-book reading point, so with a single novel every reader who opens the wiki sees the whole book's worth of revealed material.

You can still keep things off the wiki entirely:

• Mark facts Secret (never shown to readers).
• Use Hide from the reader wiki on an entry.
• Leave an entry as a Draft idea (not canon yet).

For what to track in the first place, see What to put in a story bible.