Story Bible for Fiction

Build the reference document that keeps a novel or series consistent: characters, rules of the world, timeline, and open threads.

Build a story bible for my project.

What I have so far:
"""
[PASTE YOUR PREMISE, DRAFT CHAPTERS, NOTES, OR OUTLINE. MESSY IS FINE.]
"""

Genre and intended length: [e.g. "adult fantasy trilogy" / "cozy mystery series" / "one literary novel"]

Produce the bible in these sections:

1. **Premise and promise**: the story in one sentence, and the promise the opening makes to the reader that the ending must pay off.

2. **Characters**: for each named character, a block with name, role, age, what they want, what they need (usually different), the wound behind it, their defining contradiction, their speech pattern in one line, and their arc in one line. Mark characters as MAIN, SUPPORTING, or MENTIONED.

3. **World rules**: the constraints that must never break, whatever the genre. For fantasy or science fiction: how the magic or technology works, what it costs, what it cannot do. For grounded fiction: the social rules, the institutions, the money. State each rule as a hard constraint, because a rule with no cost creates no tension.

4. **Places**: each significant location, what it looks and smells like in one line, and what it means to the story.

5. **Timeline**: events in chronological order with relative dates, including backstory events that happen before page one. Note where the reader learns each one.

6. **Continuity ledger**: physical details already committed to on the page (eye colors, scars, who knows what, the layout of a house, the day of the week). This is the section that prevents the errors readers write in about.

7. **Open threads**: every question the text has raised, with the chapter it was raised in and whether it is answered yet.

8. **Contradictions found**: anything in my material that conflicts with itself. List each one with both versions and ask me which is canon. Do not silently pick one.

Rules: derive everything from my material. Where the bible needs an entry my material does not cover, write [UNDECIDED] rather than inventing canon, since an invented detail you accept by accident is harder to remove later than a blank.

How to use

The continuity ledger and the contradictions section are what make this worth building mid-draft rather than before you start: a bible written from an outline is a wish list, while one built from actual pages is an audit. Regenerate it every few chapters and paste the previous bible in alongside the new pages. Keep [UNDECIDED] entries visible rather than filling them in for tidiness, since a blank you can see is a decision waiting, and an invented detail is a decision already made without you.

Originated fromStan SedberryUpdated
Fictionintermediate

More writing prompts

Rewrite the text below in plain language for [AUDIENCE, e.g. "patients with no medical background" / "customers reading a policy update" / "new hires on day one"].

Target reading level: [e.g. "8th grade" / "as simple as the content allows"].

How to rewrite:
- Lead with what the reader must DO or what happens to them. Background comes af

Plain Language Rewrite

Rewrite dense policy, legal, medical, or technical text at a target reading level without losing a single obligation or number.

Writingbeginner
Write a comparison article for the query: [e.g. "Notion vs Obsidian" / "best Mailchimp alternatives"].

Options to compare: [LIST 2-8 OPTIONS]
Who is searching this: [READER + WHAT THEY ARE TRYING TO DECIDE]
My relationship to these products: [e.g. "I make one of them" / "I use two of them daily" / "none, I am researching"]
Facts I can su

Comparison Article

Write an honest X vs Y or best alternatives article: real differentiators, a decision table, and a clear pick for each type of reader.

Writingintermediate
Build an FAQ page for [PRODUCT/SERVICE/TOPIC].

Real questions people ask me:
"""
[PASTE SUPPORT TICKETS, SALES CALL NOTES, SEARCH QUERIES, OR COMMENTS. RAW IS FINE.]
"""

Facts I can state as true: [PRICING, POLICIES, LIMITS, TIMELINES]

Do this:
1. **Cluster** the raw questions into distinct questions people actually ask. Merge duplicat

FAQ Page From Real Questions

Turn support tickets and sales objections into an FAQ page that answers in the first sentence and is structured for AI search engines.

Writingbeginner

Search prompts

Find a prompt by title, description, tag, or category.