Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Series Bible

I write my books in series and I love reading books in series. My fantasy series are one story arc carried out over three or four books. My romance series are each complete stories on their own but occur in the same world and always with connections between characters. For example, in my Recon Marine romance series, all the heroes were connected by being part of the same disbanded regiment of genetically engineered soldiers. My latest series, Warriors of Gaviron, deals with the three warrior survivors of an alien race who come to the rescue of distant Earthling colonies.

One of the ways I keep track of the fantasy and futuristic worlds I create is by starting what I call a bible for each one. I use small writing journals where I write things that are not the plot, but other details of these fictional places and characters. Each main character has their own page where their age, physical traits and a short note about their fears and goals. On the page after theirs are related characters like family or work colleagues, etc.

Other pages will have special vocabulary or descriptions of the magic or science in that series. There will be climate facts and geographical notes and even a map. In my science fiction novels that often take place on other planets, I need to know how long each day is, are there moons and how close the next human colony is.

As those of you who are published know, you might have to write something promotional about a book long after you've moved onto the next book. Looking over the facts in the bible always helps me get back into the heads of my characters. I like to use durable little journals for my bibles. This picture shows just a few of them. I pick them up for one to two dollars at stores like Michael's craft store, BAM clearance table and even Walmart during their back to school sales.

Like most of you who live north of Florida, yesterday was a brutal day temperature wise. Here's a picture of the cozy spot where I prepared this blog post and answered some emails. Only problem was that I had to sit on the floor.

Don't forget to visit Alex J. Cavanaugh and add his upcoming release, Dragon of the Stars, to your Goodreads list and enter a contest to win a copy.

Have you heard the term, 'bible,' used in reference to the writing process for series? How do you keep everything in your fictional world straight? Were you chilly yesterday? Some wisdom for The Old Farmer's Almanac: According to scientists, Wednesday if usually the warmest day of the week. Agree?

14 comments:

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Susan .. love the writing spaces - we're still relatively warm. I'm sure I'll find Alex somewhere soon .. and yes bible - we used it in South Africa and since I've returned it's used here now too .. one's personal project reference tool ..

Cheers Hilary

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Thanks for the plug!
I keep notes for each book but never though of compiling them into a story Bible.

Melissa said...

Those journals are nice. Gotta stay true to one's canon.

I do a similar thing, but on my computer with documents and a folder for each book. I'm not neat enough for journals and fixed pages. LOL I need a fluid document.

That fire looks cozy. I'd sit on the floor for that. ;)

DRC said...

I have a bible! I have a fantasy series comprising of stand alone stories with new characters but set in the same world. A bible is a just the thing you need to keep your worldly things consistent. And the fire looks great. We have one that just has to be used when it's cold :)

Sheena-kay Graham said...

All I will say is that the warmest day is clearly not Monday. I have hears the term bible used in terms of series before including television series. Your journals look cute and cozy. I'm a pantser so my note taking is not the best. Good luck with your series.

Crystal Collier said...

Awesome. I do the same thing, only digitally. I've got a story folder for every book, and it BRIMMING with pieces, people, setting, blurbs, and the like. I'd love to say I'm super organized with it, but no. I can generally find everything I need, but sometimes it takes a little searching.

Unleashing the Dreamworld

Chrys Fey said...

I did the same thing when I was planning and plotting out a fantasy project I hope to tackle in the future. But my notebook looks sad next to those pretty journals.

Pat Hatt said...

I keep notes here and there but keep most of the bible stuff in my head. Seems to work so far.

Christine Rains said...

I'm always left in awe by the note-takers. I usually jump into my first drafts with no notes at all and just write until I'm done. For series, I'll start making notes, but generally, I just carry on writing. It's in the revision stage that I'll make the most notes.

ELAdams said...

This is one of the reasons I love Scrivener - it makes it so much easier to keep all my series notes organized! I have separate folders for each character, setting, worldbuilding, etc. It's useful to have something to refer to as I write!

mshatch said...

I live in Maine and it's definitely chilly here.

As for the 'bible' idea, I do something similar by having (at least) two files for each novel. One is the novel itself. The other is everything about the world and the characters, surroundings, history, etc. It helps me keep track of stuff.

Liz Blocker said...

You need a chair by that fire!

What a great idea. I wish I wrote fantasy so I could make these, too :)

Patrick Stahl said...

I've heard the term most recently linked to shared world anthologies (so that all of the authors are on the same page). I haven't written enough to really have a "bible," but I do keep all of my flash stories set in my Zento the Mercenary setting in one Word doc so that I can read over everything before I write anything with him in it.

The Happy Whisk said...

I don't write what you write but for my own stuff, bible gets used a lot in cookery and bake books. Bread Bible, Cake Bible, sort of thing. Which is not the same but that's all I've got to add to the conversation.