Series bible: [Series title]
How to use this template
Fill in the promise, the overview and the books first. Then keep the bible as you write: when a fact reaches the page, log it with its book and chapter, and when a draft contradicts the bible, decide which version wins and change the other.
After each book, update the timeline, the ages and the open threads before you plan the next one. Send a copy to anyone who works on the series: an editor, a co-author, a cover designer, an audiobook narrator.
Series promise: what every book delivers, in one or two sentences: the kind of story, the feeling, the ending readers can count on.
Series question: the question the whole series answers, and the book that answers it.
Series type: one continuing story, standalones with a recurring cast, or connected standalones in a shared world.
Overview
Series promise | |
Series question | |
Genre | |
Series type | |
Planned length | |
Readers | |
Reading order |
See an example
The Saltmarsh Inquiries, a cozy mystery series, five books planned
Series promise: Every book is a fair-play puzzle solved by a retired ferry pilot in one Suffolk village, with a body by chapter three, a village that closes ranks, and a solution that keeps the community whole.
Series question: Who really sank the Marigold in 1987? Answered in book 5.
Continuity log entry: Ruth's left hand, scarred by a mooring line. Established in book 1, ch. 4: “the rope burn across her left palm.” Rules out: she can't grip an oar with that hand in cold weather.
Books
Book | Title | Main arc | Status |
1 | |||
2 | |||
3 |
Series arc
Where it starts, how it escalates, how it ends.
Book | Where the series arc moves | Hook into the next book |
1 | ||
2 | ||
3 |
Characters across books
Ages by book
Character | Born | Book 1 | Book 2 | Book 3 |
How each character changes
Character | Book 1 | Book 2 | Book 3 |
World rules
Magic, technology or law: what it allows, what it costs, what it can never do.
Rule | What it allows | Cost and hard limit | First shown |
Travel times between places:
Calendar:
Master timeline
Backstory, each book's first and last day, and the gaps between books.
In-world date | Event | Where it appears |
Continuity log
Fact | Established in | Exact detail | What it rules out |
Open threads
Thread | Set up in | Pay off in | Status |
Series style sheet
Term | Spelling and usage | First use |