Evidence & Sources

Evidence is the source material behind a claim.

In Arc, evidence is what keeps canon from becoming an unchecked summary. It connects entities, relationships, and review items back to the manuscript or other accepted source material.

Sources

A source is the document or section Arc used during analysis. Examples include:

• a chapter file;
• a scene file;
• a worldbuilding note;
• an author-approved story bible entry;
• a later revision imported into the project.

In the current preview, manuscript source files should be simple and traceable.

Evidence

Evidence is the specific support for a claim. It may include:

• source file;
• chapter or section;
• excerpt;
• nearby context;
• entity mentions;
• generated diagnostics;
• review state.

A claim with no evidence can still be an author note, but it should not be treated the same as source-backed canon.

Evidence does not remove judgment

Evidence can be explicit, weak, ambiguous, or contradictory. Arc can surface it, but the author still interprets it.

For example, an excerpt may strongly support that two characters met. It may not prove that they trust each other. That second claim might need a different relationship type or a review note.

Good evidence hygiene

Use these practices:

• keep original source files stable;
• avoid importing unrelated notes into the same batch;
• inspect excerpts before accepting important claims;
• preserve uncertainty when the source is unclear;
• prefer explicit author decisions over hidden assumptions.