How do you keep your world notes useful while drafting?

[kush_core_39]

Hi everyone. I’m exploring how fantasy writers turn their worldbuilding ideas into a reference they can actually use while writing. I’m considering building a tool in this area, but I’d like to understand how people work first.

What do you refer to while drafting—paper notes, a document, a wiki, or something else? And when you change an established fact halfway through a story, how do you find and update the other parts of your world that it affects?

I’d especially appreciate a real example of the last time this happened. If your current approach works well, I’d love to hear about that too. I’ll be here to read and respond to replies.

 

[pmmg]

My notes are pretty sparse. Mostly just bullet points. It might look like:


Places:

Midgarl
Worf's Howl
Gateskeep


Languages:
Tieran
Marish
Durish

Currency:
Tolents
Crowns
Pearls


Nothing more fancy than that. I keep it all in scrivener and rarely look at it.

I have one character I named Ginoux, but I am often forgetting if it was Ginoux or Giroux, so I am constantly looking up the spelling.