A story bible is a reference document holding everything a book has established: characters, places, rules, timeline, and the decisions you have to keep consistent.
Worth knowing before you go looking for a template: "story bible" is industry jargon with no authoritative definition. Merriam-Webster's entry for "bible" gives the scriptural senses plus "a publication that is preeminent especially in authoritativeness or wide readership", which is the "the bible of X" usage. The production-document sense is absent from the dictionary of record, and I could not source a definition from any guild or broadcaster either.
So nobody can tell you what belongs in one. What is defined is the editorial style sheet, which does the same job under a name the professional bodies actually use.
The Definition That Does Exist
IPEd, the Australian editors' body, defines a style sheet as a:
"List, usually alphabetical, developed by an author while writing or an editor during an edit, detailing points of editorial style for a particular publication or series."
Note "developed by an author while writing". A professional body explicitly endorsing authors keeping this document during drafting rather than leaving it to an editor.
Editors Canada's standards require copy editors to "Develop a style sheet, or follow one that is provided, to track, identify and consistently apply editorial style (e.g., abbreviations; treatment of numbers; vernacular usages; Canadian, British or American spelling)", and the EFA describes copy editors as "preparing the style sheets that guide consistency and accuracy across the manuscript."
So the mechanics half of a story bible is a real, defined professional artefact. The world half is yours.
What to Actually Include
Two categories. The first is sourced from the style sheet definitions above; the second is craft judgement.
Mechanics, which an editor will otherwise build for you:
- Spelling variant, British or American
- Treatment of numbers
- Serial comma or not
- How dialogue interruptions and internal thought are rendered
- Any invented word's exact spelling and capitalisation
The world, which nobody but you can build:
- Characters: names with exact spellings, ages, physical details, relationships, what they want
- Places: geography, distances, travel times, what is north of what
- Chronology: what day it is, elapsed time, seasons
- Rules: how the magic, technology or institution works, and what it cannot do
- Objects and terms: anything recurring that must stay the same
The test for inclusion is simple: if you would have to check it, record it. Everything else is worldbuilding for its own sake, which is enjoyable and is not this document.
Build It While Writing
The one piece of real guidance available, from IPEd's definition, is that this is a document made during writing.
Reconstructing one from a finished manuscript means a full read-through with a notebook, which is the expensive version and the reason most authors never do it. Adding an entry when you invent something takes seconds.
It is also the mechanism that prevents the errors in how to catch continuity errors, most of which enter during revision rather than drafting.
What It Is Not
Not the novel's backstory. A history of your world that never reaches the page is worldbuilding, not reference. Both are legitimate; only one is this.
Not a series pitch. Television series bibles serve a commercial purpose, pitching a show's premise and characters to a network. That is a different document with a different audience, and it is where much of the confusing advice comes from.
Not a substitute for the book. A rich reference document can feel like progress while the manuscript stands still.
What Deckle Does
The Codex is Deckle's version of this, and it is structured rather than a free-text document.
Entries are grouped by type, characters, places and whatever else you define, and each type has fields you specify. Since no authority dictates what belongs in a story bible, fields you define yourself is the honest design: you build the schema your book needs.
Two things follow from it living inside the project rather than in a separate file:
It is beside the manuscript, so updating an entry when you invent something does not mean switching applications, which is the difference between a reference that stays current and one that rots.
It cannot be lost separately from the book. A story bible in another app is a second thing to back up and a second thing to migrate.
For chronology specifically, the Timeline holds events in story order independent of the order they appear, which is the part of a story bible that a plain list handles worst.
See also tracking character consistency and how to build a worldbuilding bible.
Common Mistakes
- Looking for a standard template. No authority defines this document.
- Building it after the draft. IPEd's definition assumes it is built while writing.
- Recording everything. If you would not need to check it, it is not reference.
- Confusing it with a television series bible. That is a pitch document for a network.
- Letting it substitute for writing. A detailed world with no manuscript is a hobby.
- Keeping it in a separate app. It rots, and it migrates separately.
FAQ
Q: Is there a standard story bible format? A: No. The term has no authoritative definition. The nearest defined artefact is the editorial style sheet.
Q: When should I start one? A: While writing. IPEd's definition explicitly describes it as developed by an author during drafting.
Q: How detailed should it be? A: Detailed enough that you never have to search the manuscript to check a fact, and no more.
Q: Is it the same as worldbuilding? A: No. Worldbuilding invents; the bible records what the book has committed to.
Q: Will an editor want it? A: They will build a style sheet regardless. Supplying yours saves them time and keeps your choices.