Why Characters Must Appear in a Story to Publish

The rule

You can create a character at any time — give them a name, a tagline, an avatar, a bio. But you cannot publish a character (make their page public) until they appear in at least one published story.

This is intentional. We call it the thesis gate.

Why this exists

FableHatch is a storytelling platform, not a character wiki. Characters on this platform are meant to live inside stories — to have context, to be part of a narrative, to mean something to a reader who discovered them through the work.

Without the thesis gate, the character directory would fill up with placeholder entries: "coming soon" avatars with no stories, no appearances, no reason for a reader to care. The gate ensures that every public character page links back to real work that a reader can actually experience.

How to publish a character

1. Create the character from your Dashboard → Characters → New Character. Fill in the name, tagline, bio, avatar, and cover.

2. Tag them into a story. Open the story editor, click Settings (gear icon), and scroll to the Characters section. Search for your character and add them. You can assign a role (protagonist, antagonist, supporting, cameo).

3. Publish the story. The character tag only counts once the story is live.

4. Go back to the character editor and click Publish. The button is now enabled because the character has at least one published appearance.

What happens when a character is published

• They get a public page at /characters/[slug] with their avatar, cover, bio, and a list of every story they appear in
• They show up on your profile page in the Characters section
• Readers can follow them and get notified when they appear in a new story
• They become eligible for the weekly email digest ("Character X appears in a new story")

What if you unpublish or delete the story?

If you unpublish or delete the only story a character appears in, the character stays published but their appearance list will be empty. They won't be auto-unpublished — that's your call. If you want to take them down, go to the character editor and click Unpublish.

Can a character appear in multiple stories?

Absolutely. That's the whole point. A character can appear across many stories, many series, even many creators' work (if the character creator gives permission in a future collaboration feature). Each appearance strengthens the character's page and gives readers more reasons to follow them.

This is FableHatch's unique moat: characters as first-class entities that transcend individual stories. The thesis gate is what keeps that moat real.