Writers in the Storm

Have you ever forgotten the color of your character's eyes, or worse her name? Writing a novel or series of stories can be a long process with lots of little but important details. The more characters and locations you have, the more details to remember. A story bible can help you create a strong and cohesive narrative. But a novel or a series of books is long and complex.. And learning how to create a story bible? The advice available can be confusing. Learn what a story bible is, how to create one, and how to organize it,.

What is a Story Bible?

Much like a set of encyclopedias, a story bible is a reference guide for your story. You create it for your use (not for publication, though some authors publish theirs). It contains details about the world you’ve created, the characters who inhabit it, and the plot you’ve designed. This reference guide can refer to a single book or a never-ending series of books in a format that works for you. It’s a document you can create before you write, during the writing process, or after you’ve finished the book. Often it is helpful to start your story bible first. Add to it when writing the draft version, then change it as you edit your story. 

From my experience, it’s much easier to start a story bible before or during the writing than after you’ve finished book one of a series. 

Why is a Story Bible Important?

Organization

A story bible most important function is to help you keep track of all the details of your story. When you’re writing a novel or other long-form work, there are tons of details sprinkled throughout your manuscript. A story bible can help you keep everything organized in one place.

Consistency

The more complex the world, the more characters or settings, you write about, the easier it is to forget details. Your story bible is a one-stop reference for all your details. Having a usable and comprehensive story bible will help you write a consistent story from beginning to end.

Save Time

Finally, a story bible can also help you save time. You can’t remember everything. There are lots of reasons writers forget the details of their stories. Perhaps you wrote the first draft months ago and have written something else while that draft “cooled.” Or you may have written a stand-alone book that you now want to turn into a series. If you’ve written a long series, it can be especially difficult remembering all the details you may need for book 10 or 20. While you’re writing, you can simply consult your story bible instead of having to go back and reread parts of your manuscript. This can help you stay focused on your writing and avoid distractions.

How to Create a Story Bible

A story bible is as unique as you and your story are. Follow these steps to be certain it’s as comprehensive as you need.

Step 1: Determine What Information to Include

The first step in creating a story bible is to determine what you need. The genre and sub-genres of your book will influence what you need for your reference. So will the length of the project.

The two most common things included in a story bible are the world and the characters. Include details about the setting, even if you’re writing a memoir or a story in your own neighborhood.

Details about the characters will help you avoid reader confusion.

You may also want to include information about themes or motifs that are important to your story. Photographs, schematics, and maps can be part of your story bible.

Below is a list of topics commonly found in story bibles. Pick as few or many topics that are useful to you. Or add ones unique to your story.

Writing & Publishing Deadlines

• About the Book
• Book Sentence or tag line
• Blurb or synopsis
• Theme
• Tone and style
• Structure (3 act, hero’s journey, etc)
• Genre & tropes
• Comp titles 

Book’s Table of contents or Outline

Character List (alphabetical)

• A character list will help you double check for similar sounding names that might confuse your reader.

Character Profiles

Create a detailed one for each major character. Minor characters may not require as much detail.

• Physical characteristics
• Behavioral characteristics
• Story purpose
• Story arc
• Secrets
• Goals
• Clothing preferences
• Socioeconomic status (job, independently wealthy, etc.)
• Supports/Opposes
• Initial impressions of other characters
• Relationships
• Family members/family tree
• Character specific important dates

World

• Geography
• Politics
• Socio-economics
• Science, Magic & Technology
• Races - how many, where located, differences and similarities
• Cultures - clothing, housing, food, religion,
• Language - structure, clichés, terminology, naming traditions, curse words, etc.

Timeline

• Events of the world 
• Events of the culture
• Events of the story
• Events related to POV Characters
• Timeline of the story, whether that is hours or days or months or years

Settings for each scene

• Tone of the scene
• Weather
• Images
• Buildings
• Descriptions

Story Words

• Story specific glossary
• Power words
• Theme words

Other

• Merchandise ideas
• Series ideas
• Reader Magnet ideas

Data

• Start writing date
• Finish first draft date
• Begin revisions
• End revisions
• To Beta readers
• To editor date
• To proofreader date
• Formatting
• Cover
• Launch plan
• Launch date
• ISBN 
• Book categories
• Venues

Step 2: Decide on the Format

Next, decide on the format for your story bible. There are several options to choose from, including:

• Physical notebook or binder
• Digital document, such as a Word file or Google Doc or OneNote, etc.
• Specialized software program, such as Scrivener
• Book Wiki
• Pinterest board
• White board or bulletin board

Choose the format that works best for you and your writing process. 

Step 3: Organize Your Information

Organize your information in a way that is easy to use. You can organize by topic. Or perhaps you’ll organize it by scene. Someone else may organize it alphabetically. Don’t worry about what others do. Make it useful for you. 

Step 4: Start Adding Information

It’s time to add information to your story bible. Some details planned before writing will change as you write. Remember, your story bible, like your story, is a work-in-progress. Add additional details and update your story bible when you change things.

Step 5: Use Your Story Bible

Once your story bible is complete, use it. It’s your reference for writing your novel or planning the next book in your series. If you need to look up a detail about your story, consult your story bible instead of having to reread parts of your manuscript. 

Update it or change it as needed. Re-organize it if it's not as convenient as you like. It's for your use, so make it work for you.

In Conclusion

A story bible is a valuable tool for writers. However, creating your story bible is not the most important thing to do. Your priority is always to write your book(s). 

Otherwise, there is no right or wrong. Your story bible can be as long or short as you need it to be. 

You will forget details and your story bible will probably not be complete, but that’s okay. It will help keep you focused on that story, those characters, and that world. 

Do you use a story bible? What is your favorite way to create or organize one?

About Lynette

Lynette M. Burrows is an author, blogger, creativity advocate, and Yorkie Wrangler. She writes chillingly realistic stories about characters challenged to waken their unrealized villain or hero within.

In My Soul to Keep, Miranda Clarke lives a charmed life until she breaks the rules. But it’s 1961 in Fellowship America. The rules aren’t optional.

My Soul to Keep, the first book in the Fellowship Dystopia series, is sold online. Book two,  If I Should Die, and the series companion, Fellowship, are also available everywhere books are sold online. The third book in this series, And When I Wake, will be published in 2024.

Lynette lives in the land of Oz. When she’s not avoiding housework and playing with her dogs, she’s blogging or writing or researching her next series. You can find Lynette on her website, Facebook, or on Twitter @LynetteMBurrows. 

Image Credits:

Top image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay 

Middle image by Jenneth from Pixabay 

Final photo by Lynette M. Burrows

by Lisa Norman

Are you feeling any tech stress? I know that I am. Hang with me for a moment, and I promise there is a happy ending to this post.

Some things I've heard authors say recently:

• I'll never learn all of the stuff I'm supposed to know as an author!
• I thought I could at least handle ____ (social media platform) but now they've changed it!
• Why can't they at least leave my word processing software alone???

Change is the only constant, it seems.

But the problem is: change isn't a constant. Change is an exponential function!

When I was in college, we talked about Moore's Law — about how the speed and storage capacity of computers would increase exponentially. Moore thought we would reach a point where they couldn't get any better. Moore's Law was replaced by the Law of Accelerating Returns.

Here's an executive summary:

An analysis of the history of technology shows that technological change is exponential, contrary to the commonsense “intuitive linear” view. So we won’t experience 100 years of progress in the 21st century — it will be more like 20,000 years of progress (at today’s rate). The “returns,” such as chip speed and cost-effectiveness, also increase exponentially. There’s even exponential growth in the rate of exponential growth. Within a few decades, machine intelligence will surpass human intelligence, leading to The Singularity — technological change so rapid and profound it represents a rupture in the fabric of human history. The implications include the merger of biological and nonbiological intelligence, immortal software-based humans, and ultra-high levels of intelligence that expand outward in the universe at the speed of light.

Ray Kurzweil

That was written in 2001.

Skip the grandiose predictions for the future and just recognize the prediction that the 21st century's progress will be like 20,000 years of what has gone before. We are living in a time of change so astronomical that it is hard to keep up.

The AI revolution is here, and even the most technically minded and future-looking experts are getting worried.

And despite the requests for a pause, most experts believe that not only will development not pause, it will speed up. AI is the nuclear arms race of technology, and we're only seeing the first glimmers of the supernova that is coming to our culture.

Let's talk for a moment about basic survival as artists in times of change. I grew up in a world without computers. I've seen a lot of technological change in my life, and I've watched a lot of creatives struggle.

When we talk about culture change, writers and creatives are critical in helping the rest of society adapt.

We have two basic choices: to adapt or not.

Do you want to adapt?

This is a nuanced question as each person faces their own limitations and challenges. I know writers who still write with pen and ink. Someone on Reddit accused me of being overly snarky recently for suggesting that choosing not to adapt was an option.

But I was being honest and trying to be caring. It is an option, and, for some writers, a powerful one. I wrote the first draft of this article with a stylus, because I wanted something close to the feeling of a pen. I wanted to slow down and think.

Don't judge those around us who choose not to embrace the latest technology. They are respecting their creative spirit. They may need to feel the flow of words tactilely.

Others may choose to embrace the change, bringing that new power into their writing. Likewise, don't judge.

Why? Because the one constant is change. Respecting the choices of others is powerful.

I know a NYT bestselling author who maintains an old version of a word processor on a non-internet-connected machine just for writing. Certainly hasn't hurt her success.

But what if the change goes deeper than just adaptation? What if you start to feel the walls closing in and the tension building?

You have choices. You can choose to ignore some new technology, wait until it is more developed, or play only with the toys that will make your life easier. Exercise your right to choose how and what you adapt to.

Technological stress is real. Don't ignore it. Don't downplay it.

Have a plan.

Disconnect

Step one is often to step away. Get outside. Walk in nature. Take a tech holiday. Tell everyone you're going off the grid for a bit. A day… A week… Longer if necessary.

As creatives, we must respect and protect our mental health. Writing and creating takes time, and when the world around you is spinning at the speed of a super-computer, filling your mind with every ping of your phone… step away. Take a moment.

If you find you are losing yourself in the day-to-day pressures, do what is necessary to step away.

Like my author friend who picked up a fountain pen to reconnect with his creative spirit, find what you need.

You may find that after a time away, you are more adaptable. Or you may find your priorities are clear and you know this change can wait for you.

Practice Just-in-Time Learning

Just-in-time (JIT) is a powerful technique developed by the manufacturing industry and applied to making parts available for assembly just as they were needed.

The concept here is not to learn what you don't need right now. If you think you will need to learn how to edit a video next year, don't study it now. Study it next year. Why? Because technology will change by then, and what you learn today will be obsolete then.

Use this principle to take away some of the "should" stress in your life. When someone suggests that you "should" be a master of advertising on a particular platform, think: do I actually need this today? If not, then you "should-not" study it today. Study it when you are ready to use it.

Here's a very modern example. Want to automate your social media posts? (By the way: there are reasons not to do this...) How you would do this a month ago is different from how you can do it today.

Give yourself grace. You aren't behind on your technical skills. You're practicing just-in-time learning.

Find Your Peace

While the world is spinning faster and faster, don't be afraid to look to the past for peace. Consider meditation or prayer, yoga, or other options to help you reconnect with yourself and the spirit that drives your creativity.

Enjoy time with your pets. Work on a tactile hobby that you may have set aside.

Remember your goals and what drives you as a creative. This is especially important for introverts.

Connect with Others

If you are an extrovert, connect with humans. Talk about the experiences you are having. Explore options together. Maybe you connect with a group of other writers and each of you commit to explore one new technology and share it with the group. Work together. Also: keep an eye on your friends during these stressful days. Be there to help and encourage each other.

Play

This may be counter-intuitive, but if you see a new technology that catches your interest, play! When I was first teaching computers, I noticed that those who used them to play games became more comfortable with the new technology. When we feel like we must race to learn and perform, play can feel wrong. Play can feel like a distraction. I assure you: play is one of the best things you can do for your stress that will actually help you manage technological change with ease.

The World Needs Creatives

As creatives, we are more needed today than ever before. Our creations can influence change and improve the possibility of a brighter future.

Your pen, your voice, your next AI–inspired creation, could be exactly the thing someone on the planet needs in order to see that brighter future. Or it might be the healing that helps them adapt and survive.

Respect your creative spirit. Know that no matter how fast the world is changing around you, you have control over your responses.

Have you been feeling any tech stress lately? What ideas do you have for survival?

About Lisa

Lisa Norman's passion has been writing since she could hold a pencil. While that is a cliché, she is unique in that she wrote her first novel on gum wrappers. As a young woman, she learned to program and discovered she has a talent for helping people and computers learn to work together and play nice. When she's not playing with her daughter, writing, or designing for the web, you can find her wandering the local beaches.

Lisa writes as Deleyna Marr and is the owner of Deleyna's Dynamic Designs, a web development company focused on helping writers, and Heart Ally Books, LLC, an indie publishing firm.

Interested in learning more from Lisa? Sign up for her newsletter to see upcoming classes on her brand new learning platform!

Top Image by Stefan Keller from Pixabay

by Jaime Buckley

I was asked to do this article, and I thought it was a mistake. Attempting to write something, to say something profound or inspiring, that belief intensified. Sitting alone in my office, looking at the creations that fed and clothed my family for decades, the truth poked its head out from the collections and waved tiny fingers at me.

“Your purpose isn’t to inspire these readers, you fool,” it whispered. “You’re supposed to warn them!”

That made a lot more sense.

After 11 fantasy novels, more than a million downloads of my comic books and graph novels, I still frown at myself in the mirror. Publishing thousands of articles, building blogs, creating podcasts, games, and illustrating for many famous and hundreds of not-so-famous clients wasn’t what I had planned. I’d taken the wrong path. Riddled with guilt and anxiety, my fractured heart beat with sorrow and disappointment, tormenting my every thought. Each character I’d grown to love, each fantastical place I walked in my imagination, was tainted.

Without warning, my mind cracked.

In less than 48 hours, I’d yanked my works from the world. Every book, every novel, every newsletter and cookie I could find, I deleted, wiping 20 years of dedicated effort from the internet. My heart still pounds thinking about it — trembling fingers trying to end my existence in the eyes of the world. Hell, I even deleted my Instagram, Twitter and In-Yer-Facebook accounts.

Dear reader, I don’t want you to make the same mistakes I did.

I want you to consider pulling the plug sooner.

It’s Not As Crazy As It Sounds

I’m pretty confident that you don’t know me, but I know you.

You’re the smart, creative one. Underestimated by those around you, there’s something special inside trying to get out. You want to give birth to this idea so the world can experience it.

You may not know what this idea is, but you know it’s important. If crafted, it’ll improve minds, hearts, perspectives, maybe even inspire the life of a reader. You know it’s important because that ‘feeling’ inside you won’t leave. It catches your attention repeatedly, tugging at your mind, because it wants to be given life. It wants direction and purpose, which is why this idea chose you.

Did you love it, nourish it, wrap your arms around it when it tried to walk on its own? Did you defend and protect it from those wanting to harm or even kill it? Have you even considered these things?

I didn’t.

When the greatest idea of my writing life was born, Wanted Hero, I fed it coffee and cigarettes, stunting its growth. As it hungered for nourishment, I kept it alive on doughnuts and pain killers. When it looked to me for validation, I didn’t speak the truth or provide sound instruction like any good parent would. I feigned encouragement, ignored its critical development, then linked its value to the screwed-up opinions of those around us who never gave a damn. That’s right, those who had nothing invested, nothing to contribute, became the taskmaster and gatekeeper of my fictional child.

I’d earned a place in hell, alongside puppy haters and those who talk during movies.

What was my great sin?

I allowed outside influences to change the original, beautiful content of my story. Wanted Hero was a creation that had called to me from the void of creativity, pleading to be loved, nurtured, and cherished, and I betrayed it.

I compromised.

Tainting The Original Idea (Tsk. Tsk.)

The idea of Wanted Hero was a simple one. Being a new father, I hoped to craft a fictional world to inspire my children where challenges were solved and overcome by everyday people. Stories that would allow my kids to discover critical answers, even if they wouldn’t listen to their father. Stories to encourage them, learning more about themselves, discovering what they thought about various subjects all on their own.

Being raised by a marketing executive father, this ‘simple’ idea soon became a career for me. The possibilities of this story blazed in my mind like a neon ‘OPEN’ sign. I envisioned stories in every genre and projects to span every demographic. Monetizing became my first compromise. Not that making money is wrong, but it became my obsession, rather than the story itself.

I could publish the story, sell it as digital PDFs, make games, t-shirts, mugs, and a message board kids would interact on. To make the dream even bigger, I envisioned a ‘culture’ fostered by a website that would connect readers. Contacting programmers in India, I requested bids to construct my dream.

This was back before World Anvil, and the internet was ruled by those who wrote HTML, and I’d forgotten my foundation.

The story.

Screwing Up A Good Comic Book

I’d always intended to create Wanted Hero as comics, so that’s the route I went. Drawing them traditionally, I scanned each page onto my desktop and published them as PDFs, selling them years before the Kindle existed. I dubbed them ‘eComics’ and sold them for ¢.97 each. Buy one, print as many as you wanted, so long as you didn’t alter them or sell them. Before the year was out, I had over 750,000 visitors from 60 countries.

Still don’t understand how that happened.

One customer would pay me extra to print each issue at the local copy shop and mail it to him. He sent me an email, asking if he could tell a few friends about the comic book. I said, “Sure. I don’t advertise, so that would be a kind gesture. Thank you.” He replied the following day, informing me he’d shared the comic with thousands of his fraternity brothers over Facebook.

With the increased sales, I could pay my mortgage that month.

As the comic grew in popularity, I made my next compromise. There were people online who impressed me, and I thought it would be awesome to make them into comic book characters and show kids that ‘heroes’ exist. It was a good intent, and many people I wrote about became friends. They also shared the comics within their circles, expanding the story’s reach.

I shifted and changed the story to include more and more people. New characters, never part of the original story, took over the comics. Before long, I couldn’t recognize the storyline. I’d built a world I no longer knew… or loved.

Flipping Off The Universe

Now that I look back, I’m grateful for the car accident. I think it was the Universe taking to me. It was saying, “You screwed up, Jaime, but I’m going to give you a second chance. Get with the program.”

If only I was smart… and less desperate.

With mangled hands and losing my fine motor skills, the comics died. In depression, I walked away… never telling my readers what happened. I know that sounds bad, but my life’s dream had ended. My wife and oldest daughter soon convinced me to take Wanted Hero and write them as novels in place of comic books.

It was a crazy thought — I wrote comic scripts, not books — but they applied the thumbscrews of love with a heavy dose of female perspective… and won. I started writing and found I didn’t suck at it. As another perk, my new boss had connections with a famous New York Times author in the fantasy genre. He introduced me to the author, and I received encouraging feedback and instruction. Enough to catapult me from depression into a creative frenzy once more.

In 2011, I published the first book in the series. With little to no marketing, the first book sold roughly 23,000 copies. Writing was also more fun than drawing, prompting six more novels the next year. Rebuilding the website, I sold digital copies and connected with readers through a blog. All I’d changed, though, were a few details to appeal to a wider demographic.

The Universe had smashed the ‘reset’ button, giving me a second chance, and I’d ignored the offer. The books had the flavor of the idea, with little to none of the substance. My writing became focused more on world building, not the hero or the adventure.

I’d compromised again.

Never-ending Conflict

The thing about telling a lie is you maintain that lie as questions arise. I’d lied to myself about what I was doing, and each time the Universe whispered over my shoulder, questioning my actions, I’d adjust my answer to justify my current position.

I told myself the books weren’t selling enough because:

• each cover needed to be remade;
• all the prices needed to be adjusted;
• they don’t have enough exposure;
• the website isn’t interesting enough;
• there wasn’t enough marketing;
• I’d done the wrong marketing;
• my focus wasn’t on the right audience.

Blah-blah-blah-blah-blah.

I’ll never know what could have happened. I never wrote the actual story. What I dreamed up in 1990 never saw the light of day. On this corrupted path, I created something else. I built what I believed people would want, instead of crafting the story that called to my soul. Can’t recall when I turned down the wrong path, but I’m not sure it matters.

What does matter is taking full responsibility and accountability for compromising on the best creative idea I’ve ever had.

Then correct it.

You Get To Choose Your Path

It wasn’t too late to do the right thing.

That’s why I pulled the plug, dear reader. The weight of my grave decisions destroyed me. The core of my very nature is that I love people. My own children and the surrounding youth are a significant part of who I am and why I do what I do. I’m a father of 13 children, grandfather to 23 grandchildren and I’ve taught over 1000 youth over 20+ years that they matter.

Yet I spent my professional career telling a lie.

That isn’t what I want to be remembered for.

Take this personal and painful life lesson I’ve shared with you, and prevent your own heartache. Avoid disappointment and shame when you look in the mirror. Take your time. Give life to your brilliant idea. Nourish and encourage your characters. Help them fulfill the measure of their creation, to connect with readers and spark the wonder within minds and hearts.

Do… not… compromise your story.

You will regret it. Of that, I know.

What do YOU want to be remembered for?