Today’s post is by RJ Thesman. Thesman is the author of 18 books (so far) and 800+ articles and stories. She is a certified life coach with a focus on writing, an editor, and a workshop presenter. Currently, she is finishing another novel, pulling weeds in the garden, and petting the cat during breaks. Connect with RJ on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube, then subscribe to her channel Coaching for Writers.
Creating a Series Bible
When I first met my fictional protagonist Reverend G, I was certain I would never forget her. Yet as her story evolved into a series, I needed a tool to keep the details credible.
My research and ideas were compiled in a manila folder with Post-it notes on various pages. I’m a paper person, and I often think of things during the night. Thus, the Post-it notes. Also the white space on Sunday’s bulletins.
As I started thinking about books two and three of the series, I had to go back and forth through all my papers. Sometimes I was distracted by an idea, which led to a thinking walk, which led to a piece of chocolate, which led to some procrastination time.
I needed a better idea. Then I discovered the idea of the series bible.
What Is a Series Bible?
Originally used in scriptwriting and TV shows, this tool was called the show bible or pitch bible. It helped producers, scriptwriters, and directors to keep all the details straight. Imagine a show like M*A*S*H and all the details a scriptwriter would need through ten years of episodes.
As much as we live and breathe our stories, after 80,000+ words for one novel, it’s easy to forget those minute details within the next 80,000+. But readers will find mistakes, point them out in emails and refuse to write a five-star review because the author has made a major faux pas.
For my purposes, the series bible needed to be an easy-to-read chart where I kept details about each novel. Easy to access when needed with details clearly defined. So I spent a few days designing my personal series bible, using an Excel chart, then printed it out. Again, the paper person.
What to Include in Your Series Bible
The fields in my chart included: characters’ appearance, characters’ motivations, characters’ problems, closest relative or friend, greatest fears, favorite foods, quirks. Some writers also include the enneagram personality or a Meyers-Briggs profile.
Here’s another list of possibilities for your series bible:
- Places / Settings including the type of house. A Victorian gives off a completely different vibe than a mid-century modern.
- Décor within the house.
- Organizations your characters belong to. The Masons have a different culture than the Rotary Club. Think of the club depicted in The Help and how the “help” were never invited.
- Foods. These can be overdone, but the details of smells and tastes bring flavor to a scene.
- Objects of Significance – what I call motifs.
- Language or Dialect. Less is more.
- Important legacies such as a beloved grandparent or immigration from a particular country. These facts become important for family sagas.
Although the protagonist and the antagonist take up most of the mental space, secondary characters also drive the conflict so they need special attention. Note the place Melanie plays in Gone with the Wind or the additional characters seeking asylum in American Dirt.
Major and Minor Characters
The series bible becomes especially important when a secondary character becomes your main character in a later book. What were the color of her eyes? How did she feel about her childhood home? Are you progressing through a family tree? If so, you need to authentically write about that tree and how it holds each book together.
In my series, Chris was merely Reverend G’s friend at the beginning, but later – he becomes more of a romantic interest. In the last book of the series, Chris becomes the main caregiver. I had to know from the beginning that he had a compassionate heart and a persistent spirit.
Notes about the location become important in a series, especially when researching for a historical novel or traveling through time. In my Reverend G trilogy, it wasn’t so much the town’s location, but the places where Reverend G lived and eventually evolved through her Alzheimer’s journey.
What are the differences between independent living, assisted living, memory care, and nursing home? Each location has its own rules, different types of support staff, food regulations, and activities. And each location in your novel will have its own culture, even within the same country.
Being able to easily access that information, then recheck it during revisions, will keep you from gnashing your teeth and waking up at three in the morning because you suddenly remembered Uncle George has a southern accent.
Motifs
A motif listed in the series bible can bring reality to your novel. As Reverend G progressed through her last months of life, I used a particular motif idea — carefully preserved within my series bible.
To indicate the various months, her bedside table held a vase of autumn leaves, then a poinsettia, then a Valentine, then an Easter basket. Readers could travel through the seasons by visualizing the motif in the room. I did not have to tell them the month or the date.
Your series bible can be as bulky as a huge binder with separate categories or an expanded file for each book in the series. Another idea is to color code for each book. Beware of this method as it is easy to dissolve into the fun of scrapbooking and procrastinate about your writing time.
Whatever works for you is best, but the idea is to keep your series bible as simple as possible so you can quickly find the info. And before you begin the next book in the series, read through your series bible so your notes will be fresh. You’ll probably find something that earlier slipped your mind.
As you begin to structure your novel, design your series bible. It will save you hours of searching for clues about a character’s favorite color or flower.
But above all, keep writing. Because your words matter.
If you’re interested in checking out the Reverend G series, you can find it here.
And check out my website at RJThesman.net