Non-spoiler tips

[tyloniusfunk]

A lot of the fun is maintaining momentum and rolling through things. Here are some general tips for progress.

0. Guessing randomly isn't fun, but guessing when you've narrowed it down to two or three is totally legitemate and I used it repeatedly without feeling like I cheated. Assigning two fates you are certain of and guessing at a trickier third is also a legitemate strategy.

1. Identity is parsed a number of different ways in the game.

1a) Ship's stations (mate, topsman, etc.) are defined in the glossary of the book and are very useful at times for narrowing things down. Topsmen are up in the crows nest and mates and stewards are fancier dressed. The portrait of life on the ship shows people playing the role of their station.

1b) There are often audio/visual distinctions based on race and language.

2) Real world knowledge is necessary to understand many hints. Google is your friend.

3) Some corpses are well hidden and unlock others. Blank chapters read where a corpse to start with is found.

4) Hammocks are labeled with numbers in some memories.

[Ryusui]

5) The sketches reveal a lot of useful information that won't be obvious until you start filling out identities. Roles, races, and other relations are often grouped together.

[MysticAlloy305]

I was and never would be aware of tip 4. Thank you so much

[Algray Solipso]

None of the fates in the game require guesswork - not a single one. I wouldn't call guessing "legitimate", even between two options.

Fate validation is merely a gameplay convenience, to give the player a quicker and more satisfying payoff. Using it to resolve a pick you aren't sure about definitely feels like an exploit, and serves only to rob you of the full puzzle.

[SDSkinner2011]

Pressing E lets you match an individual to the sketchbook. Pressing tab while looking at a body opens the relevant page.

[Miff]

If you are really stuck start again. I got hopelessly stuck with 30 fates done then restarted to play with somebody else and flew through.

I don't think you need real world knowledge, I'm pretty sure I didn't use any. Everything you need is in game.

That said use the WHOLE BOOK. There is nothing in that book that is superfluous to requirements.

I agree with the other poster who said that guessing isn't legitimate, you really don't need to and you'll rob yourself of the "ah ha!" moment when you figure the key to working it out. Sometimes it's a process of elimination but it's never a guess.

[tyloniusfunk]

The frequency of fate validation is proportional to the validity of guessing. This is intentional and intelligent game design.

[Lim-Dul]

We are deeply into semantic theory as to what constitutes "guessing". Almost none of the fates in the game are 100% bang-on facts but they are not pure guesses either.
More like educated assumptions where one scenario is far more likely than the other and evidence keeps piling up? :)