Single-Book Workflow for comparison
This page covers the series workflow — what's added on top of the single-book workflow when a book is part of a series. Three pain points are addressed:
The example builds on The Lighthouse Keeper from the single-book workflow. The standalone becomes the Kargholm Saga — a standalone-connected trilogy where each volume tells from a different POV but shares the same island and the same cast.
Example series basics:
If you're reading this because book N is just wrapping up and you don't know what to do — this is the order:
1. Finish quality gates
├─ /storyforge:manuscript-checker
├─ /storyforge:chapter-reviewer (every chapter with open WARNs)
└─ /storyforge:voice-checker
2. Set status to Final / Export Ready
└─ All chapters Final → book status auto-promotes
3. Harvest book knowledge (DO NOT skip — otherwise the
findings vanish before book N+1)
├─ /storyforge:harvest-author-rules {book}
│ → Promote findings into the author profile
└─ /storyforge:harvest-character-evolution {book}
→ Write the B{N} Ende state for each tracker
4. Production
├─ /storyforge:cover-artist {book}
├─ /storyforge:export-engineer {book} --format epub
└─ /storyforge:promo-writer {book}
5. (Optional) Translation
└─ /storyforge:translator {book} de
────────────────────────────────────────────
You're done with book N. Transition to book N+1:
────────────────────────────────────────────
6. Sharpen the trackers for book N+1
└─ Refine the B{N+1} (geplant) sections in each tracker
(initially populated by series-planner — now refine
with what you learned from B{N})
7. Scaffold the next volume
└─ /storyforge:new-book {next-book} \
--series={series} \
--copy-recurring-from={prev-book}
8. Migrate characters intelligently
└─ /storyforge:bootstrap-book-from-series {prev-book} {next-book}
9. Create first-appearance characters
└─ /storyforge:character-creator {next-book} {Name}
10. Concept and plot for book N+1
├─ /storyforge:book-conceptualizer {next-book}
└─ /storyforge:plot-architect {next-book}
11. Drafting begins
└─ /storyforge:chapter-writer {next-book} 01
All steps below in detail.
We assume The Lighthouse Keeper has already gone through concept, plot, characters, world-building, and drafting. Status: Drafting or higher.
The README frontmatter at this point doesn't yet reference a series:
---
title: "The Lighthouse Keeper"
slug: "the-lighthouse-keeper"
type: "novel"
author_slug: "maja-sundberg"
primary_genres:
- "mystery"
- "contemporary"
- "literary-fiction"
language: "en"
target_words: 85000
status: "Drafting"
writing_mode: "outliner"
# no series field yet — undecided
---
During Act 2, Maja realizes the island is bigger than one book. Inga has her own missing-person case (Hannes Holm). Mönckeberg carries the island's history in his head. That's the moment a standalone becomes a series.
/storyforge:series-planner kargholm-saga
Claude asks four questions and waits for all four answers before continuing:
Claude: For the new series I need four answers:
1. Series title?
2. How many books planned?
3. Genre(s) — consistent across the series?
4. What series type?
- Sequential (same protagonist, ongoing plot)
- Standalone-connected (same world, different POVs per book)
- Duology / Trilogy (tight arc across 2-3 books)
- Episodic (same characters, standalone plots per book)
User:
1. Kargholm Saga
2. 3 books
3. Mystery + literary fiction (contemporary only in B1, B3 turns historical)
4. Standalone-connected — different POVs, same island
MCP create_series() builds the series directory:
~/projekte/book-projects/series/kargholm-saga/
├── README.md # Series metadata
├── series-arc.md # empty
├── world/
│ └── canon.md # empty
└── characters/ # empty (trackers follow in step 5)
series/kargholm-saga/README.md:
---
title: "Kargholm Saga"
slug: "kargholm-saga"
series_type: "standalone-connected"
planned_books: 3
primary_genres:
- "mystery"
- "literary-fiction"
language: "en"
status: "Planning"
created: "2026-04-25"
---
# Kargholm Saga
Three volumes, three generations, one island.
For standalone-connected the series arc carries thematic weight (no through-line plot). Claude proposes a draft, Maja edits:
# Series Arc — Kargholm Saga
## Overarching question
What an island knows, and what it can bear when you let it speak.
## Arc across three volumes
- **B1 (The Lighthouse Keeper, Arne POV, 2025):**
What we suppress comes back — but not as what we expected.
Arne discovers his brother is alive, but no longer the man
he remembers.
- **B2 (The Homecoming, Inga POV, autumn 2025):**
What we look for is rarely what we find. Inga travels to
Hannover to follow her father Hannes Holm's trail and meets
a family that resists her existence.
- **B3 (The Last Light, Mönckeberg POV, 1987 + 2025):**
What an island knows, it knows for everyone. The old
ferryman tells what really happened in 1987 — the version
no one on Kargholm wanted to say out loud.
## Escalation between volumes
- B1 → B2: Personal truth (Arne's brother) → public truth
(Hannes Holm)
- B2 → B3: Present-day truth → historical truth
- B1+B2+B3 together: three narrators, same March day in 1987,
three complementary (not contradicting) versions
## Character growth
- **Arne:** B1 protagonist → B2 important supporting (mentor
for Inga) → B3 memory in Mönckeberg's frame
- **Inga:** B1 sidekick → B2 protagonist → B3 anchor to the
present in the framing story
- **Mönckeberg:** B1 cameo → B2 important supporting → B3 protagonist
- **Pastor Thaden:** B1 antagonist → B2 unresolved shadow →
B3 as a younger man, co-conspirator in 1987
series/kargholm-saga/series-arc.md is saved. Maja approves.
Claude walks each volume and collects:
Book 1: The Lighthouse Keeper
Working title: locked
Focus: Arne, personal suppression, family guilt
In the series arc: opening — personal truth
New characters: all four (B1 is everyone's first appearance)
Plot threads carrying forward: Pastor Thaden unresolved,
Hannes Holm as Inga's backstory
Book 2: The Homecoming
Working title: The Homecoming (Maja confirms)
Focus: Inga, search for father, Hannover trip
In the series arc: public truth
New characters: Birgit Holm (Inga's half-sister),
Markus Holm (Hannes' second family, half-brother)
Plot threads from B1: Arne as mentor, Pastor Thaden still
on Kargholm, Mönckeberg ferries Inga to Husum
Book 3: The Last Light
Working title: The Last Light
Focus: Mönckeberg, 2025 framing + 1987 main strand
In the series arc: historical truth
New characters: Young Pastor Thaden 1987 (same person, own
tracker for the 1987 era), Hannes Holm 1987,
Jürgen Kruse 1987
Plot threads from B1+B2: every gap closed
Maja approves.
series/kargholm-saga/world/canon.md:
# Canon — Kargholm Saga
## Geography (immutable)
- Kargholm: 4.5 x 1.8 km, North Sea island, 180 inhabitants
- Karhallig (only village)
- Husum as the closest mainland town
- Ferry connection MS "Kargholm II", 2x daily, 1 h crossing
## Historical anchors
- 1897: Kargholm Lighthouse built
- 14.3.1987: Jürgen Kruse's boat drifts to the cliffs.
Hannes Holm disappears the same day.
- 1984: Pastor Thaden becomes pastor on Kargholm
- 2017: Helga Kruse dies
- March 2025: B1 main action
- September 2025: B2 main action
- December 2025: B3 framing
- March 1987: B3 main strand
## Canonical character facts
- Jürgen Kruse lives in Hannover under another name (revealed
in B1 — non-retractable in B2/B3)
- Hannes Holm had a second family in Hannover (revealed in B2 —
pre-canon because B3 looks back at it from 1987)
- Pastor Thaden knowingly lied in 1987 (revealed in B1 — B3
shows it happened at Jürgen's and Hannes' request)
## Language conventions across the series
- "moin" as universal greeting on the island
- No one on Kargholm says "Tschüss" — always "Moin" or
"Bis denn"
- Pastor Thaden uses du with old islanders, Sie with newcomers
series/kargholm-saga/characters/ gets one tracker per recurring character. Example arne.md:
---
name: "Arne Kruse"
slug: arne
role: "supporting" # series-scope role — in B1 he's protagonist
recurs_in: ["B1", "B2", "B3"]
tracker_type: "thin"
status: "Profile"
---
## Snapshot
72-year-old former lighthouse keeper on Kargholm. Widowed since
2017. 35 years on the island. Speaks short, often in fragments.
Drinks coffee too strong, smells the mug before drinking. Carries
a guilt he can only name late.
## Evolution per Band
### B1 The Lighthouse Keeper
- **Start:** Peace through isolation. Sealed Jürgen's
disappearance 38 years ago.
- **Ende:** *(written by /storyforge:harvest-character-evolution
at B1's end)*
### B2 The Homecoming (geplant)
- Important supporting. Mentor for Inga. Doesn't travel to
Hannover with her, but gives her the courage to go.
- First scene with Inga in the keeper's cottage where he
admits: "I was in Hannover too. Two weeks ago."
- Last scene: Inga back on Kargholm, Arne hands her a coffee.
Silence.
### B3 The Last Light (geplant)
- Cameo + memory. The 1987 strand sees him as a 34-year-old
brother. The 2025 framing: Mönckeberg sits with Arne in the
keeper's cottage, the storm comes.
## Beziehungen über die Bände
- **Inga:** B1 mistrust → B1 ende paternal care → B2 mentor
→ B3 memory in Mönckeberg's frame
- **Pastor Thaden:** B1 40-year friendship breaks → B2 silence,
both still on the island → B3 1987 as men of the same age,
before the rift
- **Mönckeberg:** B1 childhood-friend cameo → B2 ferries Inga
→ B3 narrator, sees Arne with the ferryman's eyes
## Updates Log
- 2026-04-25 — Tracker scaffolded by series-planner
Same for inga.md, pastor-thaden.md, moenckeberg.md. Four trackers for the series.
Note:
pastor-thaden.mdis the tracker for the present-day character. For 1987 a separate trackeryoung-pastor-thaden.mdwithrecurs_in: ["B3"]will be added, because the younger man is narratively a different character (different content, different voice). The series-planner can hold both side by side.
Book 1 already exists — it has to be linked retroactively:
mcp__storyforge-mcp__add_book_to_series(
series_slug="kargholm-saga",
book_slug="the-lighthouse-keeper",
band_number=1
)
This writes into the book README:
series: "kargholm-saga"
series_number: 1
From this point on every series skill knows that the-lighthouse-keeper is Book 1.
Standard pass as in the single-book example:
/storyforge:manuscript-checker the-lighthouse-keeper --interactive
/storyforge:chapter-reviewer the-lighthouse-keeper <slug>
/storyforge:voice-checker the-lighthouse-keeper
Every chapter at Final → book status auto-promotes via the rebuild_state sync to Proofread or higher.
Once Maja sets the status manually to Export Ready (or leaves it there once the indexer derives it), the actual end-of-book lifecycle begins.
The central rule: Harvest first, export second. Anyone who exports before harvest has run loses the findings from book N for book N+1. Order is mandatory.
/storyforge:harvest-author-rules the-lighthouse-keeper
Status gate: book must be Revision or higher. ✓
The skill reads:
CLAUDE.md (rules, callbacks, workflows Maja set during writing)And proposes promotions:
Harvest summary for the-lighthouse-keeper → maja-sundberg:
18 candidates total
9 recommended to promote
7 recommended to keep book-only
2 flagged for discussion
I'll walk you through them one at a time.
────────────────────────────────────────
Candidate 1/18 — banned_phrase
Value: "overwhelmed"
Context: Manuscript-checker found 4 hits in Ch 7,
12, 14, 17 — all in interior monologue.
Already banned in author profile, but
filed under "vulnerable".
Evidence: Cross-chapter repetition, 4x
Recommendation: Promote (as synonym cluster with "vulnerable")
Why: Pattern confirmed — Maja drifts toward
abstract weakness vocabulary systematically.
A cluster in the profile saves individual
bullets.
Target section: vocabulary.md banned cluster
[Promote] [Keep book-only] [Discard] [Edit and promote] [Skip]
User: Promote
→ /home/markus-michalski/.storyforge/authors/maja-sundberg/vocabulary.md
updated (cluster "vulnerable/overwhelmed/exposed"
consolidated)
────────────────────────────────────────
Candidate 2/18 — style_principle
Value: Arne never speaks in complete sentences
when alone
Context: Book CLAUDE.md rule #3 (set by hook in Ch 5)
Evidence: 18 of 18 chapters honor the rule
Recommendation: Keep book-only
Why: Arne-specific. Other Maja books have other
protagonists — this does NOT belong in the
author profile.
Target section: —
[Promote] [Keep book-only] [Discard] [Edit and promote] [Skip]
User: Keep book-only
→ Rule stays in book CLAUDE.md, no author write.
────────────────────────────────────────
Candidate 3/18 — style_principle
Value: Vague-noun "thing" as fallback
Context: Manuscript-checker found 6 "thing" hits in
abstract uses ("the thing was",
"this thing in him")
Evidence: Pattern from manuscript pass
Recommendation: Promote (as discovery, not banned phrase)
Why: Cross-book style tic for Maja. Discovery
section warns future drafts without hard
banning — sometimes "thing" is correct.
Target section: profile.md ## Writing Discoveries → Recurring Tics
[Promote] [Keep book-only] [Discard] [Edit and promote] [Skip]
User: Promote
→ profile.md updated with bullet:
**Vague-noun "thing" as fallback** — Cut on sight unless POV
explicitly demands the abstraction.
_(emerged from the-lighthouse-keeper, 2026-04)_
[...15 more candidates...]
────────────────────────────────────────
Harvest complete.
Promoted to author maja-sundberg:
- "overwhelmed" → vocabulary.md (cluster with "vulnerable")
- "embraced" as verb → vocabulary.md banned
- "Vague-noun thing fallback" → profile.md ## Recurring Tics
- "Adverb-stuffing in dialog beats" → profile.md ## Don'ts
- "Slow-build pacing as default" → profile.md ## Style Principles
- "Coastal dialect markers (aye, wee) sparingly" → profile.md
- "Coffee-as-character-establishment" → profile.md ## Style Principles
- "Negation as opening sentence" → profile.md ## Style Principles
- "fog from the sea — banned as opening trope" → vocabulary.md
Removed from book CLAUDE.md:
- rule #1, #4, #7, #9 (now in author profile)
Kept book-only (4 rules):
- "Arne never speaks in complete sentences when alone"
- "Pastor Thaden uses du with islanders, Sie with newcomers"
- "Coin callback: Ch 3 → Ch 17"
- "MS Kargholm II captain Mönckeberg, no other name"
Skipped (1, deferred):
- "Sentence rhythm in storm scenes" (too vague, Maja wants
to wait for Book 2 to confirm)
Discarded (4):
- false-positives from the manuscript pass
Effect: When Maja starts Book 2, the chapter-writer sees the new banned words and discoveries automatically. The knowledge from Book 1 is anchored in the author identity.
/storyforge:harvest-character-evolution the-lighthouse-keeper
Status gate: book must be Final / Export Ready / Published. ✓
Series gate: book must declare series: in README. ✓ (added in Phase 1.6)
Harvest plan for the-lighthouse-keeper → series kargholm-saga (B1):
4 recurring trackers found
0 already have B1 Ende content (fresh run)
4 need first-time harvest
I'll walk you through them one at a time.
────────────────────────────────────────
Tracker 1/4 — arne (Arne Kruse, supporting)
Book file: projects/the-lighthouse-keeper/characters/arne-kruse.md
Snapshot as of: chapter 18
Recurs in: ["B1", "B2", "B3"]
Existing B1 Ende:
(none)
Proposed B1 Ende:
Accepts that Jürgen is alive but no longer the brother he
knew. Has not forgiven Pastor Thaden, but no longer hates
him. Lighthouse back in service. Coffee-mug ritual unchanged.
Ready to be a listener — which he never was before.
Source signals:
- inventory: ["1987 silver coin", "Jürgen's diary"]
- clothing: ["worn dark-green wool jumper"]
- injuries: []
- states: ["acceptance-without-peace", "newly-listening"]
- relationships: Inga (paternal care), Thaden
(no hate, no forgiveness)
[Accept proposed] [Edit before writing] [Skip] [Keep existing]
User: Edit before writing
→ User writes: "Accepts that Jürgen is alive but no longer
a brother. Pastor Thaden is not forgiven,
but no longer the enemy. Has seen Inga the
way he never really saw Helga — that will
change him in B2."
→ series/kargholm-saga/characters/arne.md updated:
### B1 The Lighthouse Keeper
- **Start:** Peace through isolation. Sealed Jürgen's
disappearance 38 years ago.
- **Ende:** Accepts that Jürgen is alive but no longer a
brother. Pastor Thaden is not forgiven, but no longer
the enemy. Has seen Inga the way he never really saw
Helga — that will change him in B2.
Updates Log:
- 2026-04-25 — Tracker scaffolded by series-planner
- 2026-05-01 — Harvested from B1 final state (edited)
────────────────────────────────────────
Tracker 2/4 — inga (Inga Holm, supporting)
Proposed B1 Ende:
Has built an alliance with Arne. Has dropped her mistrust
of older men. Her own missing-person case (Hannes Holm) is
open — she now knows he didn't simply drown.
Source signals:
- states: ["allied-with-arne", "father-mystery-reopened"]
- relationships: Arne (ally), Pastor Thaden (mistrust built)
[Accept proposed]
User: Accept proposed
→ Tracker written.
────────────────────────────────────────
Tracker 3/4 — pastor-thaden (Pastor Thaden, antagonist)
Proposed B1 Ende:
Has had to give up the secret. Stays on Kargholm, but the
40-year friendship with Arne is over. Cannot preach without
Arne in the second pew — preaches now with sloped shoulders.
[Accept proposed]
User: Accept proposed
────────────────────────────────────────
Tracker 4/4 — moenckeberg (Captain Mönckeberg, supporting)
Proposed B1 Ende:
Did not abandon Arne in the crisis, but did not intervene.
Has known more since 1987 than he said. His silence is not
Pastor Thaden's silence — it is loyalty to Jürgen.
[Accept proposed]
User: Accept proposed
────────────────────────────────────────
Harvest complete for the-lighthouse-keeper (B1):
Total trackers: 4
Accepted proposed: 3
Edited then written: 1
Kept existing: 0
Skipped: 0
Updated trackers:
- series/kargholm-saga/characters/arne.md
- series/kargholm-saga/characters/inga.md
- series/kargholm-saga/characters/pastor-thaden.md
- series/kargholm-saga/characters/moenckeberg.md
Next steps:
- Review the updated trackers visually
- When ready:
/storyforge:bootstrap-book-from-series the-lighthouse-keeper the-homecoming
to scaffold the next book's characters from B2 (geplant)
What's actually happening here: The book character file (
characters/arne-kruse.md) stays untouched — it is the source of truth for Book 1. The series tracker (series/kargholm-saga/characters/arne.md) gets the cross-book bridge. When Maja writes Book 2 six months from now, the chapter-writer reads the tracker — it knows: "Arne shows up? B1 ended at X, B2 plans Y, relationships across volumes are Z."
Same as the single-book example. No series-specific changes — the series tracker is untouched by the export.
Only cover adjustment: cover/brief.md should mark the series branding — recurring typography, series logo, volume number. Maja picks:
Cover convention for the Kargholm Saga:
- Title: serif (Caslon Pro), centered
- "Kargholm Saga" as series marker on top
- Volume number lower-right ("I", "II", "III")
- Color palette: B1 grey-blue (winter) | B2 amber-gold (autumn)
| B3 black-silver (storm)
Maja saves this convention in series/kargholm-saga/README.md under ## Cover Convention so it doesn't have to be re-decided for B2 and B3.
The B2 (geplant) sections were initially set by series-planner. Now — after B1's end — Maja can refine them, because she knows where the characters actually landed.
Example series/kargholm-saga/characters/inga.md:
### B2 The Homecoming (geplant)
**Before (set by series-planner):**
- Protagonist. Travels to Hannover. Finds her half-sister.
- Conflict: family resists her existence.
- Arc: acceptance over truth-at-any-cost.
**After B1 Ende (Maja sharpens):**
- Protagonist, POV. Does NOT travel to Hannover immediately —
stays two weeks on Kargholm because Arne needs her.
- Sept 2025: Hannover. Meets Birgit Holm (half-sister) and
Markus Holm (half-brother, younger).
- Conflict: Markus actively resists her existence — he
experienced Hannes as his "sole" father.
- Arc: acceptance that truth doesn't have to heal.
- End: back on Kargholm, Birgit comes with her.
Tracker update direct in the file. No skill required — Maja edits manually or calls series-planner again if she wants to walk the B2 (geplant) blocks systematically.
/storyforge:new-book the-homecoming \
--series=kargholm-saga \
--copy-recurring-from=the-lighthouse-keeper
Output:
Book created: the-homecoming
Slug: the-homecoming
Directory: ~/projekte/book-projects/projects/the-homecoming/
Series link: kargholm-saga (Book 2 of 3)
Auto-copy of recurring character files:
Source: projects/the-lighthouse-keeper/characters/
Trackers with recurs_in containing "B2":
✓ arne → arne-kruse.md copied
✓ inga → inga-holm.md copied
✓ pastor-thaden → pastor-thaden.md copied
✓ moenckeberg → moenckeberg.md copied
Excluded (B1-only or deceased):
✗ kevin-meyer (B1-only subplot, recurs_in: ["B1"])
✗ helga-kruse (deceased 2017, no tracker —
appears in B2 only as memory)
First-appearance characters for B2 (create manually):
⚠ birgit-holm (recurs_in: ["B2", "B3"], scaffolded
in series tracker, no source file
to copy from)
⚠ markus-holm (recurs_in: ["B2"])
Next step:
/storyforge:bootstrap-book-from-series the-lighthouse-keeper the-homecoming
The projects/the-homecoming/characters/ directory now has 4 1:1 copies from B1. Untouched, however, they're wrong — they show B1-end state, but B2 starts six months later. That's where bootstrap comes in.
/storyforge:bootstrap-book-from-series the-lighthouse-keeper the-homecoming
The skill reads per tracker:
B{prev} Ende (what harvest wrote)B{new} (geplant) (what series-planner wrote)prev_book_snapshot (POV state at the end of B1)And proposes a B2 start snapshot Maja walks character by character:
Bootstrap plan for the-homecoming (B2):
4 recurring trackers found
4 have a source file in the-lighthouse-keeper (will mutate)
0 are first-appearance (skip — manual)
────────────────────────────────────────
Tracker 1/4 — inga (Inga Holm, supporting)
Source: projects/the-lighthouse-keeper/characters/inga-holm.md
Dest: projects/the-homecoming/characters/inga-holm.md
[exists — will mutate]
B1 Ende (from tracker):
Has built an alliance with Arne. Has dropped her mistrust
of older men. Her own missing-person case (Hannes Holm) is
open — she now knows he didn't simply drown.
B2 (geplant) (from tracker):
Protagonist, POV. Stays two weeks on Kargholm. Travels Sept
2025 to Hannover. Meets Birgit + Markus Holm. Conflict:
Markus actively resists. Arc: acceptance. End: back on
Kargholm, Birgit comes with her.
Last snapshot in B1 (Ch 18):
inventory: ["Hannes Holm's letter, unopened"]
clothing: ["waterproof North-Sea-green jacket"]
injuries: []
states: ["allied-with-arne", "father-mystery-reopened"]
Proposed B2 start snapshot:
inventory: ["Hannes Holm's letter, now opened",
"Birgit Holm's address Hannover-Nordstadt"]
clothing: [] — new season, new wardrobe
injuries: []
states: ["allied-with-arne", "preparing-confrontation"]
limiters: ["half-sibling existence-denial expected"]
as_of: (empty — book hasn't started)
[Accept proposed] [Edit before writing] [Skip]
User: Edit before writing
→ User refines:
inventory: ["Hannes Holm's letter, opened, re-read several times",
"Birgit Holm's address"]
states: ["allied-with-arne", "preparing-confrontation",
"tentatively-curious-about-half-siblings"]
→ projects/the-homecoming/characters/inga-holm.md updated:
Frontmatter:
series_evolution_imported_from: B1
current_inventory: [...]
altered_states: [...]
+ Tracker Updates Log: "2026-05-02 — Bootstrapped to B2 start
state from B1 ende (edited)"
────────────────────────────────────────
Tracker 2/4 — arne (Arne Kruse, supporting)
B2 (geplant): Important supporting. Mentor for Inga. Stays
on the island. First scene: Inga in the keeper's cottage.
Proposed B2 start snapshot:
inventory: ["1987 silver coin"] — keeps the coin as a
marker, B1-relevant diary items dropped
clothing: ["worn wool jumper"] — carry-over because Maja
likes that detail-fidelity
injuries: []
states: ["acceptance-without-peace", "newly-listening"]
limiters: []
[Accept proposed]
User: Accept proposed
────────────────────────────────────────
Tracker 3/4 — pastor-thaden (Pastor Thaden, antagonist)
B2 (geplant): Silent shadow. Less screen time. Crosses Inga
twice — both encounters short, both cold.
Proposed B2 start snapshot:
inventory: []
clothing: ["pastor's robe Sundays only"]
injuries: []
states: ["isolated-on-the-island", "unresolved-with-arne"]
[Accept proposed]
User: Accept proposed
────────────────────────────────────────
Tracker 4/4 — moenckeberg (Captain Mönckeberg, supporting)
B2 (geplant): Ferries Inga to Husum, brings her back.
Decisive scene on the ferry — Mönckeberg says something
about Hannes Holm he didn't say in B1.
Proposed B2 start snapshot:
inventory: ["MS Kargholm II logbook"]
clothing: ["captain's cap, blue, worn"]
injuries: []
states: ["loyal-to-jürgen", "weighing-when-to-speak"]
[Accept proposed]
User: Accept proposed
────────────────────────────────────────
Bootstrap complete for the-homecoming (B2):
Total trackers: 4
Bootstrapped: 3
Edited and bootstrapped: 1
Skipped: 0
First-appearance noted: 0
Updated character files:
- the-homecoming/characters/arne-kruse.md
- the-homecoming/characters/inga-holm.md
- the-homecoming/characters/pastor-thaden.md
- the-homecoming/characters/moenckeberg.md
First-appearance characters for B2 (create manually):
- birgit-holm (half-sister, recurs_in: ["B2", "B3"])
- markus-holm (half-brother, recurs_in: ["B2"])
Next steps:
- Review the four files' frontmatter snapshots visually
- Create first-appearance characters with /storyforge:character-creator
- Then: /storyforge:book-conceptualizer the-homecoming
- Or: /storyforge:plot-architect the-homecoming
Bootstrap can't help if the character doesn't exist in B1. Birgit and Markus need full treatment:
/storyforge:character-creator the-homecoming "Birgit Holm"
/storyforge:character-creator the-homecoming "Markus Holm"
14-step process as in the single-book example. Important: in the frontmatter set series: and recurs_in: so the indexer recognizes them for trackers:
---
name: "Birgit Holm"
slug: birgit-holm
role: "deuteragonist"
status: "Backstory"
series_recurring: true
recurs_in: ["B2", "B3"]
---
After that manually or via series-planner the series tracker series/kargholm-saga/characters/birgit-holm.md is filled in — for first-appearance characters this is non-trivial because B2 start = themselves.
/storyforge:book-conceptualizer the-homecoming
Important: the book-conceptualizer reads the series arc. Phase 1 (Premise) doesn't start from zero — Maja sees the proposal from the series arc and can build on it or deviate.
/storyforge:plot-architect the-homecoming
The plot-architect also reads the series tracker for the B{N} (geplant) notes. It proposes a 3-act structure that respects the tracker plan.
/storyforge:chapter-writer the-homecoming 01
The chapter-writer brief carries a new field for every recurring character that appears:
characters_present:
- slug: arne-kruse
name: Arne Kruse
series_evolution:
previous_book_end: "Accepts that Jürgen is alive but..."
current_book_plan: "Important supporting. Mentor for Inga..."
relationships_evolution:
inga: "B1 mistrust → B1 ende paternal care → B2 mentor"
pastor-thaden: "B1 40-year friendship breaks → B2 silence"
- slug: inga-holm
name: Inga Holm
series_evolution:
previous_book_end: "Has built an alliance with Arne..."
current_book_plan: "Protagonist, POV. Stays two weeks..."
relationships_evolution: ...
The writer knows without manual lookup: Inga is no longer the suspicious stranger from B1 Ch 4 — she starts B2 as an ally. That saves Maja several "wait, where was Inga at the end?" loops every day.
The lifecycle repeats, more compactly:
Finish B2 quality gates
/storyforge:harvest-author-rules the-homecoming
→ Maja Sundberg now collects B2 findings. Two examples:
/storyforge:harvest-character-evolution the-homecoming
→ Trackers gain B2 Ende sections. Updates Log grows.
Example inga.md:
### B2 The Homecoming
- **Start:** [from bootstrap]
- **Ende:** Has accepted Birgit as a sister. Markus stays
distant. Understands that Hannes' second family wasn't a
lie against her, but a separated truth. Brings Birgit to
Kargholm — the loop closes.
Export, promo (with the series cover convention)
/storyforge:new-book the-last-light --series=kargholm-saga --copy-recurring-from=the-homecoming
Here it gets interesting: Mönckeberg is the protagonist. He was supporting in B1 + B2. His tracker exists across all volumes. His book file in B3 inherits from B2 — but B3 has a 1987 strand where he is 34. Maja solves that:
projects/the-last-light/characters/moenckeberg.md — the present-day Mönckeberg (2025 framing)projects/the-last-light/characters/young-moenckeberg.md — separate character for the 1987 strand, with its own tracker series/kargholm-saga/characters/young-moenckeberg.md (recurs_in: ["B3"])/storyforge:bootstrap-book-from-series the-homecoming the-last-light
character-creator for 1987 characters (young Pastor Thaden, young Hannes Holm, young Jürgen Kruse)
book-conceptualizer + plot-architect for B3
Drafting
When all three volumes are finished (every one Export Ready or Published), there's no dedicated box-set skill, but the standard workflow is:
Combined EPUB manually: Pandoc with all three manuscripts in one file. Maja writes a series/kargholm-saga/box-set/build.sh:
pandoc \
../../projects/the-lighthouse-keeper/chapters/*/draft.md \
../../projects/the-homecoming/chapters/*/draft.md \
../../projects/the-last-light/chapters/*/draft.md \
-o output/kargholm-saga-box-set.epub \
--epub-cover-image=cover-trilogy.jpg \
--metadata title="The Kargholm Saga (Books I-III)"
Promo separately: /storyforge:promo-writer for each book individually. Box-set marketing is outside the skill set — Maja writes a combined newsletter manually.
Cover for the trilogy: Maja runs /storyforge:cover-artist series/kargholm-saga — the skill is not series-aware, but if she gives a pseudo-book_slug and the brief notes "trilogy box, combine the three cover colors grey-blue / amber / black-silver into one collection cover", it works as a one-off.
→ Leave the tracker with recurs_in: ["B1"], but ## Beziehungen über die Bände notes "in B2 only as memory in Inga POV". Bootstrap skips the character (no file in projects/the-homecoming/characters/). Maja writes the memory passages without a dedicated char file — the indexer doesn't need one for non-present characters.
→ Correct. Bootstrap surfaces this in the final summary under "First-appearance characters". Maja runs /storyforge:character-creator separately. The tracker for Birgit was already added in Phase 1.5 (recurs_in: ["B2", "B3"]); now character-creator fills in the book file.
→ Bootstrap shows both versions. Maja picks Edit before writing and combines manually. The skill never overwrites hand edits without consent.
→ Set book_slug: in the tracker frontmatter. Example:
---
slug: young-moenckeberg # tracker slug
book_slug: moenckeberg-1987 # book file is moenckeberg-1987.md
recurs_in: ["B3"]
---
Without this mapping the chapter-writing brief returns series_evolution: null for the character (graceful degrade — no error). With the mapping the bridge works immediately.
→ B1 is mystery + literary, B3 has a historical strand (1987). The tracker primary_genres stays constant at series level (mystery + literary-fiction); the book primary_genres may diverge (B3: + historical). The chapter-writer loads both — series genre + book genre — and blends the craft loads.
→ Once per book, at the end, is standard. If you notice mid-way through Book 2 that your style is solidifying, you can use /storyforge:promote-rule for individual findings without the full harvest run. Bulk harvest stays at the end of the book.
→ Canon is sacred (see series-planner rules). If Maja realizes in B2 that a B1 establishment no longer holds, she has two options:
series/kargholm-saga/world/canon.md must never be silently mutated — changes go in with date + reasoning under ## Canon Updates.
→ It doesn't. Maja calls it manually again when the tracker B{N+1} (geplant) section is too vague. Ideally after every book end before the next new-book.
→ No drama. Set the book status back to Final, run harvest retroactively. The export itself is untouched. But if you've already started Book 2, the B1 findings aren't in the author profile — Maja has to harvest them belatedly and then possibly back-edit in-progress B2 drafts.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Phase 1: Set up the series (one-time) │
│ /storyforge:series-planner kargholm-saga │
│ → series/, canon.md, trackers/ (skeleton) │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
↓
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Phase 2: Book 1 (follows the single-book workflow) │
│ /storyforge:new-book the-lighthouse-keeper │
│ ... concept, plot, characters, world, drafting ... │
│ │
│ chapter-writer Step 7.8 writes snapshots into │
│ each char file's frontmatter at chapter close. │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
↓
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Phase 3: Book 1 end-of-book lifecycle │
│ │
│ 3a: /storyforge:harvest-author-rules │
│ → vocabulary.md + profile.md (Discoveries) grow │
│ │
│ 3b: /storyforge:harvest-character-evolution │
│ → trackers gain `### B1 Ende` content │
│ │
│ 3c: cover-artist + export-engineer + promo-writer │
│ → EPUB shipped, promo running │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
↓
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Phase 4: Book 2 transition │
│ │
│ 4a: Sharpen the B2 (geplant) sections in trackers │
│ │
│ 4b: /storyforge:new-book the-homecoming \ │
│ --series=kargholm-saga \ │
│ --copy-recurring-from=the-lighthouse-keeper │
│ → 4 char files copied 1:1 (old states!) │
│ │
│ 4c: /storyforge:bootstrap-book-from-series │
│ the-lighthouse-keeper the-homecoming │
│ → snapshots morphed to B2 start │
│ → series_evolution_imported_from: B1 marker │
│ │
│ 4d: character-creator for first-appearance characters │
│ │
│ 4e: book-conceptualizer + plot-architect │
│ │
│ 4f: chapter-writer (with series_evolution brief) │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
↓
[Repeat phases 3-4 for B3]
↓
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Phase 6: Box set (manual) │
│ Pandoc combined build, joint promo, trilogy cover │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Harvest first, export second. Anyone who exports before harvest-author-rules and harvest-character-evolution have run loses the findings from book N for book N+1. Order is mandatory, not advisory.
Trackers are cross-book, char files are per-book. A single character has multiple files: one tracker per series, one char file per book they appear in. Bootstrap and harvest are the bridges between them — not manual copy-paste.
Series canon is sacred. What's marked ESTABLISHED in
series/kargholm-saga/world/canon.mdcannot be silently retracted in a later book. Conflicts mean either a plot adjustment in the new book or a formal series-revision pass.
Tracker slug ≠ book slug? Set
book_slug:. One-line fix againstseries_evolution: nullin the brief. Common stumble for title-prefixed trackers (king-caelanvs.caelan.md).
Standalone-connected is the most beginner-friendly series form. Each book stands alone; trackers carry the bridges. Sequential is more demanding (through-line plot), Episodic is even looser (no series arc required). Pick by ambition.