Hey writing friends!! I hope you got a lot out of this video and that it inspires you to try to create your own series bible! Don't forget to download my free templates (link in the description) to help you get started! As you create yours, I would also love to know how it goes and if you find any alternate ways to to make or organize yours! Let's share our tips so we can all create the most effective tools for our stories :D
OMG! Thank you so much for putting all of this together. I just passed 80,000 words recently and have begun to have to reread chapters to make sure that I am keeping all of my characters straight. This is my first book, so I had no idea about the usefulness of a series bible! I was just trying to find some info on keeping my characters organized, but your organization methods are so much better than any I have found. I write everything first and then type it up, so your sheets are going to help me greatly. I loathed the idea of being tied to a program, your method allows me the creative freedom to write by the water, or in the park. :) I was very impressed that you give other authors credit and share their links to the information that you found. I am also impressed that you ask for feedback and tips to share :) Thank you again! You should write a book using these templates!
Aw you're so sweet Alice, thank you!! I'm so glad you found this video helpful and I hope you thoroughly enjoy creating your series bible!! And writing a book with these templates is a great idea, thank you!
This looks amazing!! Thank you for mentioning my channel. I'm so excited you liked the schedule sheet! As for a series bible, I used to have one written down but it was so much messier and less organized than yours, haha. My series got so big that I started one in a digital private wiki. I'm hoping to do a video on that soon. Love your templates, though. This is awesome.
Thank you so much Sarra!! I was so happy to refer people back to your channel, you have so much great content! And congrats on 1,000 subscribers by the way!!! 😆🙌 P.S. I would LOVE to see a video about your digital private wiki for your series!!
Thank you for this wonderful video. I have been away from my writing life for about a year or so--busy writing poetry and making art. Now that I am returning to my series this was helpful in reminding me how to organize all my novel information. Thanks again for the video and the templates.
Your bible looks great! I've always had a story bible for my epic fantasy novel, and I've tried explaining to others what a story bible is and they usually just think I'm weird. haha. I'm glad that others have giant bibles as well. Definitely interested in using some of your templates to go even further with my world building. :)
Yay! Love this. I am working on a series Bible too. I have not seen anyone make a video sharing one in this much detail. Great visual, very helpful video!
Thank you so much Shawneen! That's exactly why I wanted to make this video! There are some out there right now that talk about making one but don't actually show you step by step so I'm SOOO glad to hear this was extra helpful! Let me know how your series bible turns out and if you find any other ways to improve on what I came up with! I'm always trying to think of new ways to make mine even better 😁👍
Thank you so much for sharing this. I've started the 2nd book in my series. This should be helpful in keeping all of my facts straight. All the best to you in publishing your own fantasy series.
This is super helpful! Thanks! I love that you’ve organized all this. My mind works on organized chaos - I have notes about everything I need, but they’re scattered through a bunch of documents and journals. This summer I should take a few days to make a series bible like this! (Especially since I have several books to come!)
I've just been jotting down notes in my Scrivener file, but as I go into revisions and am about to re-read my novel, I think I am going to try to use your bible. Thanks for sharing!
I've been considering making my own series bible, but I wasn't entirely sure how to go about it, so this was perfect to watch! Will definitely be utilising your templates! Thank you heaps 😊
Ahh! That makes me SO happy to hear LazyBookWorm!!! 😆❤️🙌I hope the templates help you and let me know if you have any other questions or if I can help more in any other way!
Thanks so much for your helping me in my story writting method, I know some new story setting ideas from your portfolio, you have note details on every aspect, which is helpful in story building ideas, so how to create 🌟 starting middle and the end in-between many many things to add is very nice arrangements and many other things also in your portfolio.that is good for rethinking about the story.more than these I am also improving my language practice speaking and writting, and I know very well how much I can do because of this is my first experience about writing in English. I am very glad to know from you soon and thanks so much for your help.
For anyone confused, Song Ping is a Chinese Communist revolutionary and a retired high-ranking politician. He was a member of the CPC Politburo Standing Committee, which effectively rules China, and is considered the only living member of the Second Generation of Chinese Leadership.
I do something similar, but mine is electronic. I carry a hardware encrypted flash drive with me every day, and any time I make changes to the content, I copy it onto my home computer so that both are in sync. Being organized really helps for long-term success, as there are times when I have to go back and reread some research I did way back to refresh it in my mind. Thus far, my 'bible' has been all organized in a single folder tree under the title of my first book, Osiris, but now that it's finished and I'm working on the sequel, I've copied the information to the sequel's folder tree. I will ultimately combine them under a series tree, though. I'm also a huge nerd, and include things like floorplans to buildings, starships, maps, etc.
That's so great Jeffery!! I also have a different video where I show people who I eventually created a digital series bible as well with a word doc or a google doc! So exciting though that you're already on your sequel! Way to go!
@@AuthorBrittanyWang Thanks! Actually, because I wrote the original rough draft of Osiris so long ago, the rough draft of the sequel is already about 75% finished. Osiris is being released the 15th, and my plan is to have the sequel released six months from that date. 😀
Third video I jumped onto! This amazing 👍 Just a quick question for this one - how about World Anvil and/or Scrivener ? Considering I'm watching this 3 yrs after you posted, I'd really like to know your views. Thanks :) Yes was really helpful!! :)
Wow I love your Series Bible and how organised it looks. I also have a Series Bible but there's barely anything in it lol as I need to sort out all of the papers I wrote in into sections. This video is very helpful, thank you for sharing :)
Lol We all have different processes, I tend to be over organized at times haha 😂Would love to know if you do anything differently or have sections that I didn't include here!
Loved this video! This is so incredibly helpful. I totally need to get my series bible up and you just handed me the tools to do it perfectly. I'm so grateful, thank you so much for sharing :) My current series is set in the contemporary world so I won't be using the world-building section as much but it'll definitely come in handy for my Fantasy series :D
That's all fabulous to hear Alison, you're so welcome!!! ❤️Would love to hear how it all works out for you after your create yours and if you come across any other things to add or do differently!
Great description of what a book bible is, lol. For months I've been following various fave authors and their editors and book bibles were often mentioned. I tried looking up the term book bible, as you can imagine, I got nothing but bible verses and scripture. It wasn't until looked up "series" bible that your video FINALLY came up. Thank you for the templates and for great TH-camrs to follow. I do have one question, how do you track your foreshadowing? Sometimes I don't even notice I'm writing foreshadowing until my friend prereads for me lol
Loved the format of your bible! I just have mine in a notebook, also divided by sections and such (as I am a huge organized freak) I just sub to your mailing list for the templates and all that’s to come🤗
Santana, I'm so stoked you are going to use the templates!! Please let me know how it all works out for you and if you find any other ways to make your series bible even better!! ❤️🙌
Personally, in my particular case, I would not have the patience to maintain a series bible on paper. The day I do sit down to start consolidating my own series bible, I think I will just use Campfire or similar software for that.
Thanks so much for sharing Brittany! Love seeing your thoughts and where we are similar and different in terms of story bible planning. How did you film this birds eye view? Do you recommend a certain kind of tripod?
Hey Rebecca! Great question! To film this overhead shot, I purchased a really affordable tripod and iphone adaptor (since I film with my phone). I just added links to the exact ones I use in the description of this video if you want to check them out! To make sure the tripod legs don't get in the shot, I have to tilt the tripod and secure it that way but until I can afford a more expensive option, this has been serving me really well. I've also used it to film BuJo videos in the past which you can see how that worked out on my "Positively Britt" channel if you would like! I would also LOVE to hear more about your series bible and what you did differently! I'm always looking to improve mine :) Maybe you could even do your own video to show yours! 😄
This is good for plotters, not so much for panzers. I have absolutely no idea what I want in my novel. I just write and what comes out comes out. Now for my self-help books I do plot those but there aren’t characters or plots in those books. Lol. Maybe one day I can learn to be a plotter for my fantasy fiction novel I’m writing.
This tool is definitely more for plotters in a way but you could ALSO use it after you writer your first draft to keep track of what you learn about your story as you write! I hope that's helpful :)
A Novel Bible seems a good idea, I have started using Scrivener which has several sections in it for creating research. However I do wonder about a written bible, for a start you can lose computer files if something breaks, secondly when I did my IT Degree I was told that you had to write lecture notes yourself as this helps you learn/remember. A subnote for those who have commented on my posts or followed me I have changed my Google handle to stuartjauthor as part of developing an author platform.
Totally! I've found I do process things differently writing by hand and it is a bit scary if your computer dies and you lose everything 😫I guess you can also lose a binder as well though so I do think it may just be up to a person's preference. I tried Scrivener as well but at least right now, a physical binder is doing wonders!
Author Brittany Wang Being more of an I.T guy I do tend to focus more on the tech solutions rather than anything else. An example of this would be using the cloud to store stuff, this would get round the problem of losing stuff on a broken computer, but I do wonder what to do if the computer the cloud storage is on breaks down.
these templates look so helpful but i think i would make them myself as i would be worried there not enough room on printed out versions lol although it looks neater lol i need to get a binder and actually set up my printer, kind of scared that i will make the computer blow up though. i tend to look at things and they break lol, thats why the printer hasn't been opened yet
I went to your page, became a member because I loved your templates and thought it would be helpful. But your website is impossible to navigate, it won't let me even get to the templates area let alone download them.
Sorry about that Cynthia, I'm not sure why that is happening. If you send a message to me through the contact form on my website, I can send them to you.
Hey writing friends!! I hope you got a lot out of this video and that it inspires you to try to create your own series bible! Don't forget to download my free templates (link in the description) to help you get started! As you create yours, I would also love to know how it goes and if you find any alternate ways to to make or organize yours! Let's share our tips so we can all create the most effective tools for our stories :D
You're so welcome Jody!! Would love to how they work out for you!! 😄🙌
Kim Chance's took their vid down, sadly.
Thanks for sharing your creative processes and your Series Bible templates.
I waited too long to watch this. So informative and now I have to backtrack in my series and document! Thank you so much for sharing!!
OMG! Thank you so much for putting all of this together. I just passed 80,000 words recently and have begun to have to reread chapters to make sure that I am keeping all of my characters straight. This is my first book, so I had no idea about the usefulness of a series bible! I was just trying to find some info on keeping my characters organized, but your organization methods are so much better than any I have found. I write everything first and then type it up, so your sheets are going to help me greatly. I loathed the idea of being tied to a program, your method allows me the creative freedom to write by the water, or in the park. :) I was very impressed that you give other authors credit and share their links to the information that you found. I am also impressed that you ask for feedback and tips to share :) Thank you again! You should write a book using these templates!
Aw you're so sweet Alice, thank you!! I'm so glad you found this video helpful and I hope you thoroughly enjoy creating your series bible!! And writing a book with these templates is a great idea, thank you!
Had to drop in and say thanks! Your videos are very helpful
This looks amazing!! Thank you for mentioning my channel. I'm so excited you liked the schedule sheet! As for a series bible, I used to have one written down but it was so much messier and less organized than yours, haha. My series got so big that I started one in a digital private wiki. I'm hoping to do a video on that soon. Love your templates, though. This is awesome.
Thank you so much Sarra!! I was so happy to refer people back to your channel, you have so much great content! And congrats on 1,000 subscribers by the way!!! 😆🙌 P.S. I would LOVE to see a video about your digital private wiki for your series!!
Thank you for this wonderful video. I have been away from my writing life for about a year or so--busy writing poetry and making art. Now that I am returning to my series this was helpful in reminding me how to organize all my novel information. Thanks again for the video and the templates.
Awww I'm so excited this helped you Renee and good luck with your series!!!
Your bible looks great! I've always had a story bible for my epic fantasy novel, and I've tried explaining to others what a story bible is and they usually just think I'm weird. haha. I'm glad that others have giant bibles as well. Definitely interested in using some of your templates to go even further with my world building. :)
Same here Chase! haha 😆I hope these templates help you!!!
thank you for the templates
Yay! Love this. I am working on a series Bible too. I have not seen anyone make a video sharing one in this much detail. Great visual, very helpful video!
Thank you so much Shawneen! That's exactly why I wanted to make this video! There are some out there right now that talk about making one but don't actually show you step by step so I'm SOOO glad to hear this was extra helpful! Let me know how your series bible turns out and if you find any other ways to improve on what I came up with! I'm always trying to think of new ways to make mine even better 😁👍
Thank you so much for sharing this. I've started the 2nd book in my series. This should be helpful in keeping all of my facts straight. All the best to you in publishing your own fantasy series.
This is super helpful! Thanks! I love that you’ve organized all this. My mind works on organized chaos - I have notes about everything I need, but they’re scattered through a bunch of documents and journals. This summer I should take a few days to make a series bible like this! (Especially since I have several books to come!)
For sure!! Let me know if you end up using my templates and what you think of them! Either way, GAME CHANGER! Good luck!!
This is fantastic thank you! I have been plotting a 4 book series and its all in a spiral notebook and I NEED to organize it!!! Ty!!
I've just been jotting down notes in my Scrivener file, but as I go into revisions and am about to re-read my novel, I think I am going to try to use your bible. Thanks for sharing!
I've been considering making my own series bible, but I wasn't entirely sure how to go about it, so this was perfect to watch! Will definitely be utilising your templates! Thank you heaps 😊
Ahh! That makes me SO happy to hear LazyBookWorm!!! 😆❤️🙌I hope the templates help you and let me know if you have any other questions or if I can help more in any other way!
i also can't wait to read your story! I love fae books, and anything to do with fantasy really, but it sounds so good hope you get it published
Aww thank you so much!!!
It really is so helpful having a writing "bible" and knowing the details of your story, it makes everything easier. Great video! Have a blessed day!
Thank you Timea!! Do you have your own or are you thinking of making one? 🤗
Physically not yet :)
Super video! I applauded for $2.00 👏
Thanks so much for your helping me in my story writting method, I know some new story setting ideas from your portfolio, you have note details on every aspect, which is helpful in story building ideas, so how to create 🌟 starting middle and the end in-between many many things to add is very nice arrangements and many other things also in your portfolio.that is good for rethinking about the story.more than these I am also improving my language practice speaking and writting, and I know very well how much I can do because of this is my first experience about writing in English.
I am very glad to know from you soon and thanks so much for your help.
I'm songping to steal pieces from this. I love the multiple check-ins for character goals.
For anyone confused, Song Ping is a Chinese Communist revolutionary and a retired high-ranking politician. He was a member of the CPC Politburo Standing Committee, which effectively rules China, and is considered the only living member of the Second Generation of Chinese Leadership.
Such a great video!! I’m planning on starting a new project in about a month so I’m trying to get as much advice as I can!!
I love this idea. My story is also very complicated and this would definitely help keep it more organized.
I just wanted to let you know that I found this super helpful! Thank you for sharing :)
You're so welcome Sarah! Are you jumping in to creating your own series bible now? Would love to hear how that goes for you!! 😁🙌
I do something similar, but mine is electronic. I carry a hardware encrypted flash drive with me every day, and any time I make changes to the content, I copy it onto my home computer so that both are in sync. Being organized really helps for long-term success, as there are times when I have to go back and reread some research I did way back to refresh it in my mind. Thus far, my 'bible' has been all organized in a single folder tree under the title of my first book, Osiris, but now that it's finished and I'm working on the sequel, I've copied the information to the sequel's folder tree. I will ultimately combine them under a series tree, though. I'm also a huge nerd, and include things like floorplans to buildings, starships, maps, etc.
That's so great Jeffery!! I also have a different video where I show people who I eventually created a digital series bible as well with a word doc or a google doc! So exciting though that you're already on your sequel! Way to go!
@@AuthorBrittanyWang Thanks! Actually, because I wrote the original rough draft of Osiris so long ago, the rough draft of the sequel is already about 75% finished. Osiris is being released the 15th, and my plan is to have the sequel released six months from that date. 😀
Third video I jumped onto! This amazing 👍
Just a quick question for this one - how about World Anvil and/or Scrivener ? Considering I'm watching this 3 yrs after you posted, I'd really like to know your views. Thanks :)
Yes was really helpful!! :)
Wow I love your Series Bible and how organised it looks. I also have a Series Bible but there's barely anything in it lol as I need to sort out all of the papers I wrote in into sections. This video is very helpful, thank you for sharing :)
I love my series bible but yours looks a lot more organized than mine. ha ha. Thanks for sharing your templates!!
Lol We all have different processes, I tend to be over organized at times haha 😂Would love to know if you do anything differently or have sections that I didn't include here!
Loved this video! This is so incredibly helpful. I totally need to get my series bible up and you just handed me the tools to do it perfectly. I'm so grateful, thank you so much for sharing :) My current series is set in the contemporary world so I won't be using the world-building section as much but it'll definitely come in handy for my Fantasy series :D
That's all fabulous to hear Alison, you're so welcome!!! ❤️Would love to hear how it all works out for you after your create yours and if you come across any other things to add or do differently!
I've never made a novel Bible before. But now that I'm thinking of planning a series...I might have to!
That's awesome!! I hope these templates help you Krystle!!
Great description of what a book bible is, lol. For months I've been following various fave authors and their editors and book bibles were often mentioned. I tried looking up the term book bible, as you can imagine, I got nothing but bible verses and scripture. It wasn't until looked up "series" bible that your video FINALLY came up. Thank you for the templates and for great TH-camrs to follow. I do have one question, how do you track your foreshadowing? Sometimes I don't even notice I'm writing foreshadowing until my friend prereads for me lol
Loved the format of your bible! I just have mine in a notebook, also divided by sections and such (as I am a huge organized freak) I just sub to your mailing list for the templates and all that’s to come🤗
Santana, I'm so stoked you are going to use the templates!! Please let me know how it all works out for you and if you find any other ways to make your series bible even better!! ❤️🙌
Of course!
Hey, Brittany! It's me K.J from Instagram. Cool Video.
Hi K.J! Thanks so much!! 😁
This channel is very different from my own channel but it's nice.
Personally, in my particular case, I would not have the patience to maintain a series bible on paper. The day I do sit down to start consolidating my own series bible, I think I will just use Campfire or similar software for that.
Thanks so much for sharing Brittany! Love seeing your thoughts and where we are similar and different in terms of story bible planning. How did you film this birds eye view? Do you recommend a certain kind of tripod?
Hey Rebecca! Great question! To film this overhead shot, I purchased a really affordable tripod and iphone adaptor (since I film with my phone). I just added links to the exact ones I use in the description of this video if you want to check them out! To make sure the tripod legs don't get in the shot, I have to tilt the tripod and secure it that way but until I can afford a more expensive option, this has been serving me really well. I've also used it to film BuJo videos in the past which you can see how that worked out on my "Positively Britt" channel if you would like!
I would also LOVE to hear more about your series bible and what you did differently! I'm always looking to improve mine :) Maybe you could even do your own video to show yours! 😄
This is good for plotters, not so much for panzers. I have absolutely no idea what I want in my novel. I just write and what comes out comes out. Now for my self-help books I do plot those but there aren’t characters or plots in those books. Lol. Maybe one day I can learn to be a plotter for my fantasy fiction novel I’m writing.
This tool is definitely more for plotters in a way but you could ALSO use it after you writer your first draft to keep track of what you learn about your story as you write! I hope that's helpful :)
Author Brittany Wang yes thanks.
Author Brittany Wang another helpful thing in my own author journey is becoming friends with all you TH-camrs and Instagramers that are authors.
Thank you! 😊
A Novel Bible seems a good idea, I have started using Scrivener which has several sections in it for creating research. However I do wonder about a written bible, for a start you can lose computer files if something breaks, secondly when I did my IT Degree I was told that you had to write lecture notes yourself as this helps you learn/remember. A subnote for those who have commented on my posts or followed me I have changed my Google handle to stuartjauthor as part of developing an author platform.
Totally! I've found I do process things differently writing by hand and it is a bit scary if your computer dies and you lose everything 😫I guess you can also lose a binder as well though so I do think it may just be up to a person's preference. I tried Scrivener as well but at least right now, a physical binder is doing wonders!
Author Brittany Wang Being more of an I.T guy I do tend to focus more on the tech solutions rather than anything else. An example of this would be using the cloud to store stuff, this would get round the problem of losing stuff on a broken computer, but I do wonder what to do if the computer the cloud storage is on breaks down.
these templates look so helpful but i think i would make them myself as i would be worried there not enough room on printed out versions lol although it looks neater lol i need to get a binder and actually set up my printer, kind of scared that i will make the computer blow up though. i tend to look at things and they break lol, thats why the printer hasn't been opened yet
You can always download my templates as a word doc and adjust the sizes of the sections, BeautyB! Good luck! 😄🙌
Can you do one for single novels
You can totally use this series bible for single novels :)
Thank you :)
I create a bible as well!!!
where do I download the template? unless you respond today it will be to late, so i am looking else where thanks
Can I have that Character Profile?
Of course! You just have to go to my website and sign up for my Newsletter!
I went to your page, became a member because I loved your templates and thought it would be helpful. But your website is impossible to navigate, it won't let me even get to the templates area let alone download them.
Sorry about that Cynthia, I'm not sure why that is happening. If you send a message to me through the contact form on my website, I can send them to you.
Link doesn't work for the series bible!!
You are a goddess thank you so much ❤️
Wow kinda complicated on characters profile im pretty simple with mine
I included a bunch of things but if you download my templates, you can delete or add anything you want to make it your own :)
Anyone out there know of any authors or companies that are looking to hire someone to write series bibles for them? Thanks for any info!
Thank you!