How to make a Story Bible

Notes from an anthrocon panel lol

7 Rules for making a story Bible

1. There are no rules
   • These are more like guidelines
   • It can take any form, physical or digital
2. Use the crappiest art supplies
   • Story Bibles are meant to be rough and scribbly
   • You can just steal inspiration stuff like scrapbooks
3. A story bible is not a finished product
   • This is for your own reference, not for show
4. There is no right or wrong way to organize things
   • Do what makes most logical sense to your brain
5. Retcon things that don't make sense if they don't fit your final product
   • You can recycle unused ideas later
6. Make your story bible after your first draft
   • A first draft will help provide direction for what needs to be filled in
   • Helps prevent "productive procrastination"

What to add?

Seeding

Building the world from the ground-up

Sources:

Wikipedia, encyclopedias.

Keep an eye on cultural appropriation.

Draw from multiple sources when building something. For example, when building a country, don't pull exclusively from one real-life culture. Helps avoid "Fantasy Asia".

Culture

• Customs
• Traditions
• trades
• fashions
• laws
• weapons
• opposing cultures
• government
• social classes
• slavery
• religions
• are the deities real and present?
• major historical events
• level of science and tech
  • might be different in different cultures
• weather patterns
  • climate, food, wildlife
  • can push plot
  • building style

Grafting

Worlds set on earth

Flesh out only things that deviate from the real world

The Five W's

Who?

Characters Protagonists Antagonists

• not necessarily evil
• protagonists can be antagonists to each other
• truly evil antagonists are villains

Getting to know your characters

Treat it like an interview Pull from an online character questionnaire

Keep track of goals and motivations

Consider family trees and history

What's in their pockets/fridge/nightstand?

Can they kill? Under what conditions might they do so?

When

Timelines for characters and places Keep track of world events

Where

Key locations and settings Maps

• cultural
• natural

What

What is the norm? What is the everyday life like for the average person? What about your protagonists?

What are the rules?

• how does magic work?
• how does technology work?

What is going on? The plot and history

Why

Why are things the way they are?

Self Notes

Rely on your own interests and expertise as a lens to approach things