Character Timelines
Appearances, groups, relationships, and everything else on character pages.
The story arc
Every character page has a story arc section that shows what happens to them across books. This is the core of OpenFiction - a book-by-book timeline of a character's journey.
The story arc is organised by book, then by chapter within each book. This lets you see exactly where a character appears and what changes they go through.
Appearance types
Each appearance is categorised by how the character features in that chapter:
- Point of view- The chapter is told from this character's perspective. You see events through their eyes.
- On page- The character physically appears and takes part in the scene, but the chapter isn't from their perspective.
- Mentioned- The character is talked about or referenced but doesn't appear in person.
Appearances can also include notes - brief descriptions of what happens in that chapter, like "Fights Szeth on the tower" or "Receives a mysterious letter".
Life events
Life events are big moments that change a character's situation in the story. These appear alongside appearances in the timeline.
Examples of life events:
- Deaths and resurrections
- Serious injuries
- Transformations (gaining powers, changing species, etc.)
- Other major turning points
Life events are pinned to specific chapters, so you can see exactly when something happens in the story.
Reading order
Chapters follow the book's own structure. If you've set a reading order preference for a series or universe, books appear in that order. Otherwise, books follow publication order.
Groups and factions
Groups are organisations, factions, and teams that characters belong to - things like Bridge Four, House Stark, or the Outer Planets Alliance.
A character's group memberships are shown on their character page with their role (leader, member, etc.) and the timeframe of their involvement if known.
Groups themselves don't belong to a specific series or universe. Instead, a group becomes visible on a series or book page when at least one of its members has an appearance there. If none of a group's members appear in a particular book, that group won't show up on that book's page. This keeps things spoiler-safe - you won't see a faction listed until characters from it actually appear in the story.
Other character data
Beyond appearances and life events, character pages can include:
- Relationships - connections between characters (family, allies, enemies, mentors) with notes on how the relationship develops.
- Abilities - powers, skills, and magical abilities the character possesses, with the book where they first appear.
- Physical attributes - appearance details like eye colour, hair, or distinguishing features, tracked over time if they change.
- Occupations - jobs and roles the character holds.
Many of these are tied to specific books or chapters, so they respect your spoiler filtering settings. You won't see a character's abilities from a book you haven't read yet.
Series character views
On series pages, the Characters section has three view modes you can switch between using the tabs in the section header:
- Table - the default view. A sortable, filterable list of all characters in the series with aliases and roles. You can search by name, filter by role, and sort by different columns. Good for quickly finding a specific character.
- Heatmap - a visual grid showing which characters appear in which books across the series. Each cell is colour-coded by appearance type: solid for POV chapters, medium for on-page appearances, and faint for mentions. Empty cells mean the character doesn't appear in that book at all. This is useful for spotting patterns - which characters are central to the whole series and which only appear in certain books.
- Cast - enriched character cards with role badges, description snippets, and which books each character appears in. Useful for reminding yourself who everyone is before picking up the next book, or for getting an overview of a series you're considering reading.
All three views respect your spoiler filtering settings. If you haven't read all the books in a series, the heatmap will only show appearance data for books in your reading profile, and the cast view will only show details from books you've read.
Adding to a character's story arc
If you're signed in, you can contribute to any character's story arc. Characters with no appearances yet show an empty Story Arc section with an + Add button to log their first appearance in a book segment.
Once a character has appearances, you can add more using the + buttons that appear next to each book in the timeline when you're signed in.
How spoiler filtering applies
If you have spoiler filtering active, all character data - appearances, life events, relationships, abilities, and group memberships - is filtered based on your reading progress.
For books you're currently reading, you can set your chapter position for even more precise filtering. Only data up to your current chapter is shown.
This means you can safely look up a character mid-series and see their journey so far without learning what happens in later books - or even later chapters.