![The template open in Strokes: a banner picture of a small coastal town seen across a bay in late afternoon, above the title “Story bible: [Working title]”.](/_next/image?url=%2F_next%2Fstatic%2Fmedia%2Fhero-light.2af29faf.webp&w=3840&q=75)
![The template open in Strokes: a banner picture of a small coastal town seen across a bay in late afternoon, above the title “Story bible: [Working title]”.](/_next/image?url=%2F_next%2Fstatic%2Fmedia%2Fhero-dark.67377a38.webp&w=3840&q=75)
When to use it
- A novel with a large cast, several timelines or an invented world
- A draft that runs for months, long after you stop remembering what chapter 3 said
- A revision pass where every chapter gets checked for contradictions
- Settling names and spellings before beta readers or a copy editor see the manuscript
A story bible is the reference file for one book: who the characters are, where and when things happen, how the world works and how every name is spelled. You fill it in as you draft and check each new chapter against it, so a detail set on page 40 still holds on page 340.
How to use this template
- Fill in the premise and tone first
Write the logline, the tone words and the point of view before chapter one. If you are a pantser who finds the book by drafting, write them after chapter one instead. Leave the tables mostly empty. They fill up as the book does.
- Log a fact the moment it reaches the page
When you give a character green eyes in chapter 4, add "green eyes (ch. 4)" to her row before you write the next scene. The chapter number is what makes the entry useful: when two chapters disagree, it tells you where to look. The manuscript is the authority. The bible is its index.
- Settle spellings as you invent them
Every name, invented word and hyphenated compound goes in the style sheet the first time you type it. Copy editors keep one for each book they work on, and yours gives them a head start.
What a filled-in story bible looks like
These entries come from a story bible for an imagined mystery set on a Maine island in 1993. Every fact carries the chapter that set it.
Premise. A ferry captain finds her late father's logbook with three days torn out: Aug. 14 to 16, 1979, when a summer visitor disappeared. Tone: cold, wry, patient. Close third person, past tense, one POV.
Character. Nell Garrity, protagonist, 41 (born March 1952). Gray-green eyes, burn scar across the left palm (ch. 2). Runs the 7:10 ferry to the mainland. Never learned to swim (ch. 2). Doesn't drink coffee (ch. 3).
Timeline. Aug. 15, 1979: Daniel Shaw last seen at the town landing (backstory, revealed ch. 19). Monday, Oct. 4, 1993: Nell finds the logbook under the wheelhouse bench (ch. 1).
Rule. The ferry doesn't sail when fog hides the bell buoy. Everyone on the island knows it, so a crossing in fog is evidence.
Motif. The bell buoy: comfort in ch. 1, warning in ch. 12, silent in ch. 30.
Style sheet. Haskins's, not Haskins', for the harbormaster's possessive. The Narrows with a capital N but a lowercase "the" mid-sentence. Sternman as one word. "From away," the islanders' term for outsiders, in roman type and without quotation marks in the text.
Fix in revision. Ch. 22 has Nell drinking coffee at the diner, but ch. 3 says she doesn't. Ch. 31 pays off her fear of the water, so check that ch. 2 plants it clearly.
The coffee is a small thing, but a reader who catches one contradiction starts hunting for more. Famous books have them. In A Study in Scarlet (1887), Dr. Watson's Jezail bullet hits his shoulder. By The Sign of the Four (1890), the wound is in his leg. In a later story, "The Man with the Twisted Lip," his wife calls him James, though his name is John. One row in a character table would have caught both.
Keep the story bible current
A story bible that is two months out of date is worse than none, because you trust it. Make updating it the last thing you do in a writing session: today's new facts, each with its chapter number.
- Write forward, log backward. When you change your mind mid-draft (the brother is now a sister), don't stop to fix chapters 1 to 13. Update the character row, add a line to "Fix in revision," and keep writing as if the change had always been true.
- Record what is on the page, not what you meant. If chapter 9 says Tuesday and your plan said Monday, the bible says Tuesday until you revise chapter 9.
- Store birth years, not just ages. With a birth year in each row and dates in the timeline, you can work out anyone's age in any scene, flashbacks included.
- Track motifs by chapter. A motif works through repetition and change. The chapter list shows you whether it has gone quiet for half the book.
One warning. Filling in tables is satisfying and feels like work. If the bible grows faster than the manuscript, stop adding to it until the draft catches up.
Story bible or outline: what goes where
The outline is the book you plan to write. The story bible is the book you have written so far. Once a fact is on the page, it moves into the bible, and later chapters have to respect it.
| Item | Where it goes | Why |
|---|---|---|
| ItemChapter-by-chapter plot | Where it goesOutline | WhyIt changes as you draft |
| ItemScene goals and turning points | Where it goesOutline | WhyThey describe intent, not fact |
| ItemAges, looks, relationships | Where it goesStory bible | WhyOnce written, they must stay true |
| ItemDates and the order of events | Where it goesStory bible | WhyThe outline holds chapter order, the bible the calendar |
| ItemSetups and payoffs | Where it goesBoth | WhyPlanned in the outline, logged in the bible once planted |
| ItemSpellings and invented words | Where it goesStory bible | WhyThey feed the copy edit |
| ItemA character's full history | Where it goesCharacter profile | WhyToo long for a table row |
Plan in the novel outline template. Give a character who needs more than a row a character profile, and keep an invented world's full history in a worldbuilding document. The bible keeps only what the story uses.
Frequently asked questions
What is a story bible?
A reference document for one book that records its characters, places, dates, world rules and spellings as the draft sets them. Television writers keep the same kind of document, a show bible, so a series stays consistent across episodes and writers.
When should I start a story bible?
With the first chapter, or before it if you outline. Plotters can fill in the premise, characters and rules up front. Pantsers can start with an empty file and log facts as they find them. Either way, it pays off mid-draft, when the early chapters start to blur.
What is the difference between a story bible and a series bible?
Scope. A story bible covers one book. A series bible covers several and adds what carries between them: who survived, what each book revealed, ages and dates that move forward, and threads left open. Many series bibles begin as the first book's story bible.
Should I send my story bible to an agent or editor?
Agents won't expect one. A submission is usually a query letter and sample pages, sometimes with a synopsis. Once the book is in production, your names and spellings give the copy editor a start on the style sheet. Ask your editor before sending anything more.
