© 2020 Arabella K. Federico All Rights Reserved
How organizing all the elements of your story into a Series Bible can save time, boost efficiency, and keep you from giving your love interest the wrong colored eyes; again.
 A big, scary, and intimidating Series Bible!! Oooohhh, the horror!! God forbid a Pantser is reading this, I may get virtually slashed! All jokes aside, a Series Bible really isn’t that bad, and I have proof! Literally, I’m here to plan it all out for you. In one place, where you don’t have to do any hunting whatsoever. Now, can you get a better deal than that anywhere else online? I think not!
It's Series Bible Time
Let Us Begin.
 “Do I really need a Series Bible???” Â
In other words-YES!!! For instance, if you’re writing a book or plan to write a series (no matter how long) then you need to be making a Series Bible. Even if you’re writing a pretty large stand-alone, consider making one. You want a S.B. to remember all that little shit that you swore to yourself you’d remember-and then forgot. For example, what exact shade are your Love Interest’s eyes? What side of his face has the scar on it? Similarly, there’s tons of other small details like that which are difficult to remember. Therefore, I think you’re going to absolutely benefit from this blog, so buck up and lets do this!
In other words-YES!!! For instance, if you’re writing a book or plan to write a series (no matter how long) then you need to be making a Series Bible. Even if you’re writing a pretty large stand-alone, consider making one. You want a S.B. to remember all that little shit that you swore to yourself you’d remember-and then forgot. For example, what exact shade are your Love Interest’s eyes? What side of his face has the scar on it? Similarly, there’s tons of other small details like that which are difficult to remember. Therefore, I think you’re going to absolutely benefit from this blog, so buck up and lets do this!
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Step One to the perfect series bible-"Know Your Shit"
Above all, the most important step of them all. This is your golden goose of information that involves your series! I did my S.B. in a physical format, meaning I actually went and bought me some stuff to make one. Simply go to your local Target and get you THREE ESSENTIAL products. Moreover, if you wanna do it digitally, then go ahead and use an App like Evernote, Google Docs, Trillo, or Scrivener. Or use whatever you’d like, your mom won’t care!Â
You're basic essentials For Your Series Bible are as follows:
- A 3-ring binder
- Dividers (10 MINIMUM)
- 3-ring sheet protectors (clear)Â
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  This list is so basic, Mary Sue would approve! So, you have absolutely no excuse not to do this! I already hear your excuses, and I already don’t wanna hear them! Nobody forced you to come here, therefore it’s time to buck up!
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However, I’m already assuming you’ve got a computer with internet access, access to a printer, ink and paper to use that printer. That being said, what you need to do is get all these goodies together, and begin to plan you S.B.
Step Two-"Plan Your Shit"
In this paragraph I’m going to totally bum you out because-sorry, you’re actually going to have to plan something. Most importantly, it’s just apart of this holy process-because it’s where the meat of your bible is going to come from. For example, the way I did it was to divide my entire book into 10 basic and essential sections.Â
  Secondly, each section will have several or more sub-sections-and this is where all the details are going to be fleshed out and written down for you to snatch up at a moments notice! Or, just for when your brain decides to piss out on you.
The Main Squeeze
 **NOTE** Assuming your story doesn’t have these specific topics-CHANGE THEM!! I know we’re talking about bibles, but this isn’t the Godly gospel, okay? You’re able to change things, and make them your own, to fit your story the best. Make whatever adjustments you need to in order to fit the context of your story. Some things in my story will not apply to yours. I write YA Syfy/Fantasy, so there are some things in there that won’t apply to all genres and writers. Please take this into consideration when creating your S.B.
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Sections are listed in order of MOST IMPORTANCE. But you can also organize it however you want.
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- CharactersÂ
- Setting
- Backstory
- B-Story/Romantics & General Subplots
- Magic
- Aliens
- Weapons
- Clothing & AccessoriesÂ
- Style
- Glossary
Step Three-"Sub-Section Your Shit"
For instance, we’ve got your sections decided, creating the sub-sections are our next step. Why, you ask? Because for example, if your Sections are your bones, than the Sub-Sections are your meat.Â
And we’re hungry.
And we’re hungry.
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1.Characters:
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- Descriptions
- Details & Special Characteristics & quirks (physical & emotional)Â
- ARCS
- Motivations
- Fatal Flaws
- Wants and Needs
- Roles-Who are they and why the heck are they in your novel???
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2.Setting:
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- The World
- Main places where your characters hang out
- Government
- SocietyÂ
- Norms
- PoliticsÂ
- Economics
- Transpiration
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3.Backstory:
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- Characters
- Government
- Past/current wars
- The World
- Policing force
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4.B-Story/Romantic & Generic Subplots:
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- B-story relationships (For example these are relationships that help your character through their true change. They’re the voices in their ear that tell them to do the RIGHT THING (The lesson that must be learned). Secondly, think of a B-Story character as your MC’s conscience. Thirdly, there can be multiple B-Story characters, but they need to focus on different aspects of your character’s growth and ARCS.
- Romantic relationships
- Love trianglesÂ
- SubplotsÂ
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5.Magic:
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- History of magic systems
- Secret or wildly known?
- Rational or irrational?
- Who has magic? Everyone? Or a few chosen?Â
- Why does it exist NOW, if it hadn’t existed before. In addiction, why does it exist NOW when it had previously thrived but then ceased to be? In other words, what awoke it and why? Be very specific.
6.Aliens/Other Races:
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- Races-Names, descriptions, habits, religions, etc.
- Planets-For instance names, descriptions, habitat, weather, planets from the star. Star type that it revolves around
- Skills
- LanguageÂ
- Motivations
- Clothing
- Technology
- Medical Technology
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7.Weapons:
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- Individual character weapons & their descriptions.
- Weapons origins & uses
- Alien weapons
- Human weapons
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8.Clothing & Accessories:
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- MCs wardrobeÂ
- Secondary and tertiary characters wardrobe
- Villain/bad guys wardrobe
- How different types of economic classes dress
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9.Style:
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- Keeping your words the same. For example, is it: “T-shirt” or “t-shirt” ?? Write these little details down, because your readers (and editors) will notice the discrepancy!
- Similarly, keep all words that are repeated must be the same across the board. If you capitalize it once, you better be damn sure you capitalize it every other time. Trust me-they’ll notice.
- After that, look for your weak spots in grammar. Identify major mess-ups, and make sure EVERY SINGLE ONE is fixed. Â
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10.Glossary:
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- For example, anything created for the story that isn’t associated w/ our everyday lives. Anything created specifically for THIS story.
- Terms
- Magical names, incantations, spells, chants, your mom, anything!
- Acronyms
- Foreign races, planets, places of importance, landmarks & their general locations, etc.
- ReligionÂ
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 Alright, my little demons, you’re almost done.
Step Four-"Combine Your Shit"
 In addition to having all these goodies, what you’re going to wanna do is put them all together.Â
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- Take your 3 ring binder,Â
- Label all of your dividers with the names of each Section you’ve selected
- Put them in the binder.
- Type out your Sections with their corresponding Sub-Sections on your computer (For instance I color coded mine but that’s not completely necessary-unless you’re boring).Â
- Print them
- Slip them in those sexy little sleeves…
- AND BAM!!! You’ve got yourself a Series Bible!Â
Step Five-"Complete Your Shit"
 Lastly, Step Five-for instance-is a simple one. You type out all the stuff that’s in your Sections and Sub-Sections, add pics, do whatever your little heart desires, and pop it all in your binder!! That’s really it.
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  See, that isn’t so bad now, was it? Above all, I’m happy to push you right on out of that feeble little conform zone of yours.You’re SOOO welcome! Now, get on to filling out your bible my dear Padawans…may it be as great as the novel you have yet to actually write!
Give this post a BOOP! Share and leave your comments below! Tweet me your bibles @ArabellaKFed
Or else.
Give this post a BOOP! Share and leave your comments below! Tweet me your bibles @ArabellaKFed
Or else.
You got a very fantastic website, Glad I discovered it through yahoo.
I really am loving what you have posted. All of your 4 posts. Am a newby writer and this is a TON of good “shit”. 😀
Ohh gosh, thank you so much!! I know when I was new to writing how much other bloggers helped me and how lost I’d have been without them. So I am so glad to be able to go full circle and help others like yourself. Please come back for the next one!!
It’s good page, I was looking for something like this