Planning guide
How to build a novel story bible that stays useful
A story bible is a working reference for facts the manuscript needs to remember. It should make decisions easier, not duplicate every scene. The best version is selective, explicit about what is settled, and updated from the book as the book changes.
01
Give the story bible one clear job
Use the bible to hold information that must remain available across distant chapters: stable character facts, world rules, timeline anchors, names, relationships, unresolved plot obligations, and intentional language choices. Scene-level texture can stay in the manuscript unless it constrains later action.
A useful test is simple: if forgetting this detail could create a contradiction or force repeated research, it belongs in the bible. If the detail matters only while reading one scene, it probably does not.
- Keep durable facts that affect more than one scene.
- Record decisions that are expensive to rediscover.
- Link to chapter evidence instead of copying long passages.
- Leave speculative decoration out until the story needs it.
- Prefer a short current entry over a long history with no status.
02
Separate hard canon from working possibilities
Not every note has the same authority. Mark facts that are already established in the manuscript as hard canon. Keep planned but unwritten decisions, open questions, discarded options, and character beliefs in separate states.
This prevents an outline idea from being treated as if the reader has already seen it. It also lets you change a plan without accidentally “correcting” finished chapters to match a note that was never adopted.
- Hard canon: established facts the current manuscript commits to.
- Working decision: the present plan for unwritten or unsettled material.
- Open question: an issue the author has not decided yet.
- Character belief: information that may be incomplete or false in-world.
- Retired idea: an option kept for history but excluded from current context.
03
Build character records around story pressure
A character entry should support scenes and continuity. Start with identity, relationships, current goal, constraints, knowledge, and any physical facts the manuscript repeatedly references. Add biography only where it explains a present choice or future consequence.
Track changing fields with a timeline or chapter marker. “Distrusts Inez” is ambiguous in a novel where that relationship changes; “Distrusts Inez through chapter 12; learns the truth in chapter 13” is usable.
- Names, aliases, pronouns, age or birth information, and identifying details.
- Current goal, fear, pressure, and practical constraint.
- Relationships and the events that change them.
- Knowledge by chapter, especially secrets and mistaken beliefs.
- Capabilities, injuries, possessions, and access that affect action.
- Voice cues or recurring language only when they are intentional and specific.
04
Record places, systems, and rules at the level the plot uses
Worldbuilding entries should describe constraints as well as atmosphere. A place record can include entrances, distances, access, ownership, and sensory anchors. A system record can state what magic, technology, law, or custom permits, costs, and forbids.
Write rules so they can answer a scene question. “The city uses memory magic” is a premise. “A memory can be copied only with touch, the source retains it, and the copy degrades after three days” is a rule a scene can obey or break intentionally.
- Stable names, spellings, titles, units, and terminology.
- Spatial relationships that constrain travel, sightlines, or access.
- Rules, costs, exceptions, and who understands them.
- Institutions, authority, and the consequences of breaking norms.
- Resources and technologies available in each place or period.
- Chapter evidence for rules already demonstrated on the page.
05
Keep chronology and plot promises beside the facts
A chronology records when events happen, including off-page events that constrain the manuscript. Use exact dates where the book provides them and relative sequence where it does not. Avoid inventing calendar precision merely to make the table look complete.
Track promises separately: mysteries opened, objects emphasized, plans announced, warnings issued, and consequences still owed. Chronology says when something happened; the promise list says what the reader is still waiting for.
- Event, participants, location, and the best available time anchor.
- What changed because of the event.
- Which characters know about it afterward.
- Open question or promise created by the event.
- Payoff, reversal, or deliberate deferral when it is resolved.
06
Let the manuscript remain the source of truth
Update the bible after a story decision is made on the page, not every time an idea appears in notes. When the manuscript and bible disagree, inspect the evidence before choosing a winner. The prose may contain a mistake, or the reference entry may simply be stale.
Use a regular maintenance rhythm: after drafting a chapter, after a structural revision, and before a dedicated continuity pass. Small updates at clear checkpoints are safer than an enormous cleanup at the end.
- Add new durable facts with a chapter reference.
- Update changed facts and record the point where the change occurs.
- Retire contradicted plans rather than silently leaving both active.
- Recheck dependent entries after moving or deleting chapters.
- Keep a short change history for rules that affect many scenes.
07
Give AI only the relevant parts of the bible
A larger context is not automatically a better context. Select the character, place, canon, chronology, and voice entries relevant to the requested scene or revision. Too much unrelated material can obscure the instruction and make it harder to see why the output made a choice.
Review what was actually sent. Exclude retired ideas and label character beliefs so they are not mistaken for objective facts. When an AI response conflicts with the manuscript, treat it as a review item, not as a reason to rewrite canon automatically.
- Send current entries rather than the complete history of every note.
- Include hard constraints and the evidence needed for the task.
- Keep speculative and retired material out of default context.
- Record which entries were supplied with a generation.
- Require author review before generated details become canon.