How to create and use a series bible

It can be a challenge to keep all of your character and world-building details consistent across just one book, so when you expand your plot into a whole series, that becomes even harder – and all the more important. So how do you keep track of those details simply? The answer is with a series bible, sometimes called a lore bible.

A series bible is especially helpful in genres like sci-fi and fantasy, when you’ve likely created a lot of new things. You don’t want to be editing Book 3 and suddenly realise that you’ve changed how your magic system works, misremembered what one of your side characters looks like, and forgotten to wrap up a plot thread you started in Book 2.

Do you need a series bible?

Much like most things with writing, you don’t need to do anything. You don’t need to outline before you start. You don’t need to do multiple editing passes. You don’t need to hire a professional editor before you publish. But doing any or all of these things can be helpful, and the same applies here.

If your series is on the simpler side and doesn’t contain a lot of locations, characters, invented details etc, then you’ll probably manage just fine without one. But pulling a series bible together is certainly not going to do you any harm either, and in some cases it can even make you pay closer attention to how you build out your world. If you’re looking to populate, say, the ‘politics’ section of your bible, it might encourage you to think deeper about your world’s political system and power structures than you otherwise would have.

What to include in your series bible

The aim of a series bible is for it to be a valuable resource you can refer back to, so you only need to include whatever is going to be of use. You can get really granular with it and turn your bible into a 30+ page reference guide, or you can keep it limited to a simple collection of bullet points that span a couple of pages max. At the end of the day, this is supposed to be something that helps you, not something that should feel like a chore to keep updated.

So let’s take a look at what kinds of details you might want to include in your series bible:

• Characters – their names, any physical description, their role in the story.

• A summary of the plot/s – this can be as fleshed out or as bare bones as you like, but it can act as a little refresher for yourself when you’re working on later books in the series.

• Locations – this can be a list of every place name, the distance between them, the type of terrain, or perhaps even a simple map.

• Races/creatures/monsters – everything from vampires, dragons and gnomes to faeries, humans and selkies; track them all, along with any notable traits or abilities.

• Magic system – the potential, the limitations, the requirements.

• Politics and economics – who is the ruling power? What social classes exist? Is there democracy? What laws impact the characters and the story? How does currency work in your world?

• Languages – if you’ve got different races that speak different languages, keep track of any important details.

• New words – if you’ve invented something new, note down the spelling, formatting, and definition.

• Timelines – is the clock and calendar the same as we know it or different? Is time measured in seasons? Over what duration does your story take place?

• Style guide – spelling, formatting, capitalisation choices (read more about style guides here).

Tips for creating a series bible

As I mentioned above, a series bible is supposed to be a resource, which means you can design it in whatever way works best for you, but here are a few tips to get you started.

Start it early

The absolute best time to start creating a series bible is during your first draft of the first book in a series, adding the details to it as you come up with them. That’s not to say you can’t start it further down the line, but the longer you leave it, the more work it’s going to be pulling everything together and cross-checking all of the details. Ultimately, the sooner the better.

Update as you go

Whether you’ve started your series bible early or pulled it together late in your drafting journey, once you’ve got it underway, update it regularly. Introduced a new character? Add them to the bible. Decided to change how your protagonist uses their magic? Edit the reference.

Pick a medium that works for you

There is no right way to create a series bible, only the best way that works for you. Maybe you love Scrivener, or Word or Google docs. Maybe you want to create your own online Wiki or website. Or maybe nothing beats good old-fashioned pen and paper. Whatever feels right for you, and whatever is going to be of most use, is what you should pick. That said, it’s worth considering the next two points when choosing a medium.

Make it searchable

One of the most important aspects of a good series bible is that it should be easy to search for the information you need. Brain-dumping everything in one stream-of-conscious paragraph might help you get everything down to begin with, but when it comes to checking whether your hero’s scar cuts through their left eye or right, or whether the villain’s death magic comes with a cost, or what you named the capital city, you’re going to want to be able to find that information easily. That’s why using digital mediums tend to work best, so you can use separate headings, tabs or a search function.

Make it accessible and shareable

A series bible is ideal for the author, but it can also be a valuable resource for your editor or agent, so making it in a format that can be easily shared is helpful. Even if you don’t intend to share the series bible with anyone else, having only a hard copy of it means you have to take it with you if you ever want to write while you travel, which is something else to consider – digital versions are much easier to access wherever you need them.