# Story Bible

**Title:** ______________________  **Series / Book #:** ______________________
**Author:** ______________________  **Last updated:** ______________________

A story bible is the single place you record what your story has established, so
chapter thirty cannot quietly contradict chapter three. Fill in what you know,
leave the rest blank, and update it as you draft. The sections below cover the
places long stories actually break: characters, world rules, places, objects,
time, and who knows what.

*Template by [Bunsho](https://www.bunsho.io), the manuscript editor with a
built-in continuity checker. Free to use, share, and adapt.*

---

## 1. Story overview

| | |
|---|---|
| Premise (two sentences) | |
| Genre and tone | |
| Point of view and tense | |
| Story timeframe (how much time passes) | |
| The ending you are writing toward | |

---

## 2. Characters

Copy this block for every character who appears more than once. The fields are
the ones that drift most often in long drafts.

### Character: ______________________

| | |
|---|---|
| Also called (nicknames, titles, aliases) | |
| Role in the story | |
| Age at story start / birthday | |
| Appearance: eyes, hair, height, build | |
| Distinguishing marks, scars, tattoos | |
| Voice: how they talk, words they would never use | |
| What they want | |
| What they fear | |
| Key relationships | |
| First appears (chapter) | |
| Status at story end (alive, dead, missing) | |

**What this character knows, and when they learned it**

| Fact or secret | Learns it in (chapter) | How they learn it |
|---|---|---|
| | | |
| | | |

---

## 3. World rules

The hard rules of your magic, technology, or society. A rule written here is a
promise to the reader; note the limits and costs, because those are what
late-draft scenes tend to break.

| Rule | Limits and costs | Exceptions (if any) | Established in (chapter) |
|---|---|---|---|
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |

---

## 4. Places

| Place | Description in one line | Travel time to other key places | Who lives or works there |
|---|---|---|---|
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |

---

## 5. Objects and props

Objects break continuity by being in two places at once, or by coming back
after they were destroyed. Track state changes, not just descriptions.

### Object: ______________________

| | |
|---|---|
| Description | |
| Owner at story start | |

**State changes**

| Chapter | What changed (given away, broken, lost, found, destroyed) |
|---|---|
| | |
| | |

---

## 6. Timeline

One row per chapter or scene. The "time elapsed" column is where impossible
schedules show themselves: a healed wound too soon, a journey too fast, a
pregnancy that lasts fourteen months.

| Chapter / scene | In-story date or day | What happens (one line) | Time elapsed since previous |
|---|---|---|---|
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |

---

## 7. Secrets and who knows them

The most common continuity error in long fiction is a character acting on
information they have not learned yet. This table is the antidote.

| Secret | Who knows it | Who must NOT know it | Revealed to the reader in (chapter) |
|---|---|---|---|
| | | | |
| | | | |

---

## 8. Continuity log

Every contradiction you catch, and what you decided. Deciding once here beats
re-litigating it every revision pass.

| Found in (chapter) | The contradiction | The ruling (what is now true) |
|---|---|---|
| | | |
| | | |

---

### Tips for keeping the bible honest

1. Update the bible in the same sitting as the chapter, not "later".
2. When two entries disagree, the earlier published chapter usually wins;
   record the ruling in the continuity log either way.
3. Track what characters know as carefully as what they look like. Eye color
   errors annoy readers; knowledge errors break plots.
4. For a series, start each book's bible by copying the "status at story end"
   rows from the previous book.

*If maintaining this by hand stops being fun: [Bunsho](https://www.bunsho.io)
builds and updates this record from your manuscript as you write, and checks
new chapters against it on request. The template is yours either way.*