Template
Story bible template
A story bible is the record of what is true in your book: who everyone is, where things are, what the rules are, and when it all happened. Copy the template below into Notion, Google Docs, Scrivener, or a plain text file. No signup, no email, nothing to download.
The template
The book itself
Fill this in once. It is what everything else has to stay true to.
- Title / working title
- Genre and comparable titles
- Point of view and tense
- Timespan the story covers
- One-sentence premise
- The promise made to the reader in chapter one
Characters — one block per person
Only record what has appeared on the page. Anything else is a plan, and plans change.
- Name, and every alias, nickname or title used for them
- First chapter they appear in
- Age, and the chapter that states it
- Appearance: only details actually written down
- Voice: how they speak, what they never say
- Wants (stated) and needs (unstated)
- Relationships, and how each one changes
- What they know, and the chapter they learn it
Places
A place needs an entry the moment two scenes happen there.
- Name and what kind of place it is
- Who lives or works there
- What it looks like, as described in the text
- How long it takes to get somewhere else
- Chapters it appears in
World rules
The rules you must not break. Write the exception down the first time you make one.
- The rule, in one sentence
- Where it is established in the text
- What it costs to use or break
- Known exceptions, and who knows about them
Timeline
Even a contemporary novel has one. Most continuity errors are timeline errors wearing a costume.
- Event
- Story date, or day number if dates are vague
- Chapter
- Who was present, and who found out later
Threads and promises
Every question the story raises is a debt. This is the ledger.
- The thread, in one line
- Chapter it opens
- Chapters it appears in
- Chapter it resolves — blank means it is still owed
How to actually keep it
Every story bible template on the internet is roughly the one above. The reason most of them end up abandoned is not the fields — it is that filling them in is a second job, done in a second window, at the exact moment you would rather be writing.
Three habits are what make the difference:
- Record after, not before. Write the scene, then write down what it established. A bible full of intentions goes stale the first time you change your mind.
- Cite the chapter. Every fact gets the chapter that states it. When two entries disagree, the citation tells you which one the reader actually saw.
- Re-read it before a new act. Not as maintenance — as a reminder of the debts you have taken on.
Which format should you use?
- Google Docs — best if you want it readable on a phone and shareable with a beta reader. Use a heading per section so the outline pane becomes your index.
- Notion — best if you want a database per character and to filter by chapter. More setup, and worth it only if you will actually use the filters.
- Scrivener — best if your draft already lives there, because the bible sits beside the manuscript instead of in another app you have to remember to open.
- A plain text file — genuinely fine. Searchable, portable, and it will still open in twenty years.