How to make a story bible that stays up to date

To make a story bible, give every character, place and group your story names one short entry: a name, a word for what it is, a one-line summary, a few traits ranked by importance, and every other name the prose calls it. Add one paragraph for the setting, covering where and when the story happens, what is true there, and how it should feel. Then update the bible from the pages you actually write, not from the plans you made before you wrote them.

The rest of this post covers why each part earns its place, and how to keep the bible from going stale by chapter five.

What is a story bible?

A story bible is the reference you check so the book agrees with itself. It records who Tom is, what Café Mercer looks like, when the buses stop running, and what Lisa’s family calls her. It isn’t an outline. An outline says what happens next. A bible says what is true.

Most writers start one and abandon it. Usually the template is the problem.

Why do character profile templates go stale?

A typical character profile template asks for eye color, birthday, star sign, favorite food and a fatal flaw. You fill in forty fields for Lisa before writing a scene. Then three things happen:

1. Most of the fields never matter. The story never mentions her birthday, so the entry is noise you scroll past.
2. The template doesn’t fit everything else. The story names a thieves’ guild, a ferry that only runs at night, or the depot where Tom works the night shift. None of them has an eye color. You start a second template, then a third.
3. The draft moves and the bible doesn’t. In chapter six Tom switches to days. The bible still says nights, and now it’s wrong in the one place you were going to check.

A bible that works is short, uses one shape for everything, and gets updated from the prose.

What should a story bible entry include?

Use the same five parts for every entry, whether it’s a person, a place or a rumor.

• Name. What the entry is called on the page.
• Kind. One word for what it is, in your own terms: Character, Place, Group, or just as well Thieves’ Guild, Ferry or Rumor. Don’t force a guild into “Organization” because a template only had that box.
• Summary. One or two sentences: who or what this is, and why it matters to the story.
• Traits. Short sentences, one per line, in order of importance.
• Other names. Nicknames, titles, and the phrases the narration uses.

Here is a before and after for the same character.

Before, a filled-in template:

Name: Tom Hale · Age: 34 · Eyes: gray · Height: 6’1” · Occupation: depot worker · Siblings: Lisa · Star sign: Virgo · Fatal flaw: stubborn · Favorite food: —

After, one entry in the five-part shape:

Tom · Character Lisa’s brother. Works nights at the depot.

1. Never late, and notices when other people are.
2. Keeps his phone on loud, even at work.
3. Hasn’t forgiven Lisa for the move. Also called: her brother, Hale

The second version is shorter and more useful. Every line is something a scene could get wrong.

How do you rank character traits?

Put first the trait you’d most hate to see a scene contradict. For Tom, that’s “never late,” because the story turns on Lisa noticing he isn’t there. A detail like his phone volume comes later. It’s true, but a scene could leave it out and nothing would break.

Ranking helps when you reread an entry in a hurry, because the first line is the one to hold on to. It helps even more when someone, or something, is working from a shortened version of your notes. Then the top of the list is what survives.

Why list every name a character goes by?

Prose rarely uses one name. Lisa is “Lisa” in the narration, “Lise” to her brother, and “Ms. Hale” to the café owner. Café Mercer is sometimes “the Mercer.” If those names aren’t written down together, a search for “Lisa” misses every scene where her brother is talking. A later reader, or you in draft three, can also take “Lise” for a second character.

Collect the other names as they appear. They’re cheap to record and they save you from a whole kind of continuity error.

How do you write the setting paragraph?

Write one paragraph for the setting, in plain sentences, and cover three things.

• Where and when: the place and the time, at the level the story needs.
• What is true there: the facts that shape scenes, like a transport strike, an early closing time, or a law everyone knows.
• How it should feel: the tone, in a few words.

For example:

A wet October in a harbor city. Buses run late; cafés close early. Quiet, close, a little wry.

That’s a full setting paragraph. It tells you why Lisa might arrive and find the shutters down, and it reminds you what register to write in. Keep it separate from the entries: the setting belongs to the whole story, not to any one card.

How do you keep a story bible up to date?

Update the bible from the draft, not from memory.

1. Write the scene first. Don’t stop to fill in an entry mid-sentence.
2. Read the scene back for names. A new name gets a one-line entry. A new way of referring to a known person goes under their other names.
3. Read it back for changes. If Tom switched to days, change the summary. If a trait stopped being true, edit it or drop it.
4. Re-rank when the story shifts. A trait that moved to the middle of the plot moves to the top of the list.

A little after every scene keeps up. A lot once a month usually doesn’t get done.

To see who appears in which scene, read how to keep track of characters in a novel, scene by scene.

How ProseSpun keeps a story bible for you

ProseSpun is built around this shape. In ProseSpun an entry is called a card, and every story has its own cards and one Setting.

• One shape, your words. A card has a name, a kind, a summary, traits and “Also called.” The kind can be any word you like. ProseSpun suggests your story’s kinds first, then Character, Place, Group and Object.
• Traits in your order. You drag traits to rank them. When a writing tool has to fit a crowded scene into a request, it drops traits from the end of the list first, so your top line goes last.
• Drafted from your prose. After you save a scene, ProseSpun reads it. For a name with no card yet, it drafts a one-sentence card. For a card you already have, it proposes changes, such as “works nights” becoming “works days,” shown with the old words struck and the new ones marked.
• Nothing changes until you answer. Drafts and changes wait in the deck, a sheet at the foot of the scene that shows one card at a time. For a new name you can add it with ProseSpun’s guess at its kind, choose another kind, mark it Same as… an existing card (the name then joins that card’s other names), or say Not a card. For changes you choose Keep or Skip.
• The Setting goes with every writing tool. Draft, Compose, Describe, Dialogue and Rewrite all read your Setting paragraph, along with the cards in the scene.

Why every change waits for your answer is in how to use AI without losing your voice.

For how cards, scene summaries and facts pinned to a scene work together in a long manuscript, see A novel is bigger than any model’s memory.

Related reading: How to write a character arc and How to avoid continuity errors in writing.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a story bible and an outline?

An outline records what happens and in what order. A story bible records what is true: who the people are, what the places are like, and what rules the world runs on. Most novels use both, and they change at different times. The outline changes when the plot does, and the bible changes when the characters do.

Should I write my story bible before or after the first draft?

Start small before you draft: a setting paragraph and a line for each main character. Then let the draft fill in the rest. Entries written ahead of the prose tend to describe a book you didn’t end up writing. Entries updated from the prose describe the one you did.

How many traits should a character have?

As many as a scene could get wrong, and no more. Three to six short, specific traits are often enough for a main character. A minor character may need only one. Rank them, so the one that matters most is always first.

Do places and groups need their own entries?

Yes, if the story names them more than once. A café, a guild or a ferry route gets contradicted just as easily as a person. Giving it the same short entry, with a kind, summary, traits and other names, keeps it consistent without a separate template.

When you’re ready to keep your notes next to your scenes, try ProseSpun, a fiction writing app that proposes cards from your prose and waits for your answer.