The Story Bible
Imagine: You're writing Book 4 in your series, and there's suddenly a detail from earlier in the series that's now super important.
Maybe it's a certain character's eye color or the distance between two planets or the meaning of a specific word in the language you created. Whatever it is, it wasn't all that significant when you wrote it originally, but now it's key to a plot twist you're planning, and you don't want to get it wrong.
But you can't find the note where you wrote it down, and the Search function isn't bringing anything up, and now you're faced with rereading all the first three books again to hunt it down. Your writing progress could be stalled for hours!
Fantasy and sci-fi are packed full of tiny details, and readers are sharp—they'll find any discrepancies and point them out, sometimes not so kindly.
But what if you had a way to find little details like this in minutes, or even in seconds? What if all the details of your story were compiled in one place, organized and searchable? And even better, what if you didn't have to create it yourself?
That's exactly what a custom story bible is: a place where all the small yet important story details go to live, created just for your series!
Say goodbye to disorganized piles of haphazard story notes, and say hello to organization and functionality, all put together for you while you get back to writing!
So what exactly is a story bible?
The phrase comes from screenwriting, where they call it a "show bible." It's a document that contains detailed information about various aspects of a story so that details won't accidentally or unwittingly be changed later. TV writers compile this document so that new or returning writers won't accidentally alter something important, but authors compile this document because who has the brain space to keep track of all that stuff???
You might have heard other authors refer to this as a "series bible," a "story encyclopedia," or a "lore wiki." They're all the same thing: a big ol' database of story stuff.
Your custom-made story bible will contain detailed info about:
-
Narrative Style. Tense, point of view, story structure, number formatting, etc.
-
Characters. Physical appearance, relationships, possessions, backstory, etc.
-
Setting. Place names, populations, relative distances, climate, etc.
-
Vocabulary. Made-up jargon or languages, spelling choices, etc.
-
Timeline. Dates and times, historical records, major events, etc.
-
Chapter Summaries. A brief breakdown of what happens in each chapter, so you can easily find what you're looking for without having to reread the whole book.
Basically, if you wrote it, it'll get put into the story bible.
And even better: It's color coded!
Every detail of your story will be right at your fingertips.
What will I actually get, though?
Your story bible will arrive in a set of 2 to 4 documents, depending on what software you choose.
-
The story bible. This is what you're here for! It will be delivered to you in the software of your choice. (Scroll down to see software options!)
-
Story bible user guide. This PDF booklet (cover pictured left) gives you a tour of your story bible and explains exactly how to use and maintain it.
-
Story bible parts.* Microsoft Word and Google Docs exclusive. (Other software allows me to include this as part of the story bible itself, so it will still be included, but not as a separate document!) It contains any parts you might need to maintain your new story bible yourself, easily copy-pasted over as you wish.
-
Custom dictionary.* Microsoft Word exclusive. This is a custom .dic file to install in Microsoft Word, where it will keep track of all the unique words and spellings in your story—no more squiggly red lines! (Unless you spell one of your unique terms wrong, that is!)
Codices
Don't want a full story bible that covers everything? Get a codex instead! Each codex focuses in on one element of your story and records all the details pertinent to just that element. Codices are set at a lower price and don't take as long to complete as full story bibles.
Character Codex
Track all the characters in your story, from the protagonists all the way down to the unnamed innkeeper in Chapter 14.
Names, physical and personality traits, relationships, possessions, skills and abilities, and backstory details all noted and organized so that nobody in the story gets forgotten.
Who knows? That innkeeper could come back later!
$600
Worldbuilding Codex
Track all the facts of your story world, from magic systems to scientific discoveries to individual settings and locations.
Location descriptions and distances from other locations, magic or science system rules, races, beasts, and organizations all mapped out so no detail of the world you created gets glossed over.
From spellbooks to alien military ranks!
$600
Chronology Codex
Track your story's plot and timeline, from chapter summaries to a log of every single relevant event in your world's history.
Every single chapter summarized for easy later reference, plus a timeline (or multiple) to keep track of the chronological order of events, not just the order the story presents them to the reader.
All timelines accounted for!
$600
Story Bible Software Options
Microsoft Word
Notion
Google Docs
Microsoft OneNote
Scrivener
Other software of your choice (as long as it's not Apple-exclusive)
When's the best time to get a custom story bible made?
Good: When the book is with the copyeditor/proofreader.
If you've sent your book off to a copyeditor or proofreader, that means most of the stuff inside isn't going to change much, aside from some fiddly stuff like grammar and spelling. That's a great time to have a story bible made, because it means you won't have to go back and update many things that might change in the course of editing.
Better: When you've reached the final draft at last.
Once you've got the final draft in your hands, you know not much is changing anymore! This is a fantastic time to get a custom story bible, because you can leave all the work to me without having to worry about going back in and updating the details if they get changed.
Best: When you're getting ready to write the next book.
After the first book is published is the perfect time to have a custom story bible made. All the details are set in stone at that point, so you can leave all the work to me while you get going on the next book in the series. It'll also make it that much easier during the next book's revision phase!
Who's putting the story bible together?
I'm Toni (she/her): SFF editor, bookworm, hobby writer, and obsessive list maker.
I have a bachelor’s degree in creative writing and a certificate in editing. I'm also a lifelong bookworm—which means I've read A LOT of books, and I have a knack for knowing what kinds of details are important to keep track of in a story!
A story bible is basically a giant list, and I LOVE making lists.
You can rest assured that all your story details are safe in my hands. And as a longtime fantasy and sci-fi fan (20+ years!), I won't get overwhelmed by unique terms, complex worldbuilding, converging and diverging plot threads, or made-up languages, critters, or settings. I live for this stuff, and it'll all go into your story bible in an organized fashion.
$1,500 USD
to start a brand-new story bible for the first book in a series.
$2,800 for 2 books in the same series booked all at once.
$4,100 for 3 books in the same series booked all at once.
*Discounts also available for adding future books to an already established story bible. Email me directly (toni@editsbytoni.com) to work out the details.
How much will it cost?
What makes a story bible created by you worth it compared to a DIY one?
Having me create your story bible for you has one huge benefit:
It saves you time.
Creating your own story bible takes a lot of time and effort! In fact, depending on how complex your story's timeline is, how many characters you have, how many languages you created in your worldbuilding, how many different setting pieces there are, and whatever other amazingly detailed and complex stuff you have going on in your book, it could take more than 30 hours to create your story bible. How much of the next book in the series could you get done during that time? How much is your time worth to you?
Plus, it's more accurate to what's actually in your book.
As the author, you know your book back to front. Which is great! Except you also know every single version of your book up to now. It's easy as the author to lose track of what you once wrote and edited out, what you added last minute, and what you changed along the way. I won't have that problem: I see your book only as it appears now, after all the editing is done. So when I create your story bible, there's no risk of me putting stuff in there that actually isn't accurate anymore. I can only see what's on the page, so that's all that goes in.
Besides that, my story bibles come with cool bells and whistles, like color coding!
You can use my extensive experience compiling story bibles to your advantage by letting me set up handy stuff like custom dictionaries and color-coded styles to make your story bible even more useful. All while you keep working away on the next book. (Or take a well-deserved break!)
But with all that said, you absolutely can create your own story bible. I'm not here to tell you that you can't, and there's never any shame in the DIY game!
In fact, I've even got story bible templates over in my shop! Check 'em out if DIY is more your jam.
FAQ
Do you do story bibles for all genres?
I primarily work on fantasy and sci-fi, since those genres are where I have the most experience. But if you're still interested in having a story bible done for your book that's a different genre, I'm willing to discuss. Send me an email!
How soon will my story bible be finished?
Most story bibles take three to six weeks to complete, but if you're booking multiple books or if you've requested a software I have less experience in, then it may take eight to ten weeks. I'll provide a timeline estimate when you book.
Is there anything you don't read?
Thanks for asking! I can handle most content, but my tolerance does go up and down depending on my current life circumstances. If you could provide a list of content warnings when you contact me, I would really appreciate it!
Can I get a story bible for a standalone book?
Sure! Typically, story bibles are for books that are part of a series (where it's easier for the author to forget stuff throughout the course of the story), but I'd be happy to provide a story bible for your standalone book as well. Ask and ye shall receive!
Other questions? I'm just an email away!
Or, get on the wait list to be notified when new editing slots open for booking: