For novelists, before or mid-draft
Story Bible Template for Your Novel
Cast, places, rules and open questions in one doc you keep open while you draft. Fill it yourself, or build it from your chapters.
Cast
- Ines Varga, 34Ferry pilot. Wants the last ferry to keep running.
- Commissioner Hale, 60Relocation officer. Wants the town empty by October 1.
Places
- Low HarborHalf underwater. The drowned church's bell rings at high tide. Diesel and kelp on the wind.
- The Relay StationOn the ridge. Letters sorted by lamplight beside the only working phone.
What you'll get
Cast, places, rules and open questions for one book
- Your cast in brief, with what each one wants
- Places and rules, each tied to the chapter that shows it
- Open questions, plus facts that disagree between chapters
Before and after
Your chapter in. A working bible out.
Ines Varga had been on the Low Harbor run for nine winters, and she had never seen the water this high. Below the ferry steps, the drowned church's bell was ringing with no one at the rope. A notice on the harbor wall gave the rate in council type: three meters a month, no exceptions.
Cast: Ines Varga. Ferry pilot, "on the Low Harbor run for nine winters" (Ch. 1). Low Harbor: the drowned church's bell, "ringing with no one at the rope" (Ch. 1). Rules: The tide line moves inland "three meters a month, no exceptions" (Ch. 1). Open questions: Who posted the notice? How long until the water reaches the ferry steps?
Each fact keeps its chapter and the chapter's own words. Facts that disagree between chapters go under Continuity flags.
Why it works
What is a story bible for a novel?
A story bible is a reference document for your novel that records the cast, the places, the rules of your world and the questions you haven't settled. It keeps names, faces and facts consistent from the first chapter to the last. Lewis Jorstad at The Novel Smithy describes story bibles as quick one to two page cheat sheets you look through before making a change. This template keeps to that size: a short header and four sections, nothing else.
The four sections are the ones you check mid-scene. The cast table gives each person's key facts and what they want. Places get three sensory details, and rules get their limits. Every fact points back to the chapter that first shows it, so checking the page takes seconds. Open questions collect what you haven't decided, and a short Continuity flags table catches facts that disagree between chapters. A filled example for an invented novel opens beside yours.
Click Edit with AI and the bible opens empty. Give River a sentence or your notes for a first pass you can change. Already drafting? Drop in your chapters once it opens. River records every name, place and rule with its chapter and a short quote, and adds nothing your pages don't say, so you can trust what's there. For people in depth, use a character bible; for promises that run across books, use a series bible.
What lands in your doc
What's inside the story bible
- At a glance
Title, one-line pitch, genre and readers, point of view and tense, time span and length. - Cast table
Name, role, key facts, what they want, and the chapter they first appear in. - Places
Three sensory details, who is there, what happens there, and where it's first shown. - Rules
What readers will hold you to, with limits, exceptions and the chapter that shows it. - Open questions and flags
Undecided points as a checklist, and a table of facts that disagree between chapters. - A filled example
A finished bible for an invented novel, Low Harbor, opens beside yours to compare.
How it works
From first idea to a bible you'll use
Open the bible
Click Edit with AI. Your story bible opens in River, with a filled example beside it.
Give River your story
Optional. A premise, your notes, or your chapters dropped in once it opens. There's no form to fill.
Get a first pass
River fills the cast, places, rules and open questions. From chapters, each fact carries its chapter and a short quote. For a book over about 85,000 words, upload it as a PDF so River reads every page.
Keep it current
Add each new chapter as you write, then run the plot hole finder on your finished draft.
Questions authors ask
Common questions
What is a story bible, and how is it different from an outline?
A story bible records what is true in your book: who people are, what places look like and how the world works. An outline plans what happens, scene by scene or chapter by chapter. The Novel Smithy treats a story bible as the narrower of the two, mainly an aid for editing. For the plot side, use the novel outline template.
What should a story bible template include?
At minimum: your cast with key facts, the places that appear on the page, the rules readers will hold you to, and a list of open questions. Atmosphere Press's guide to story bibles also lists timelines, plot outlines and themes. Add those only if you'll keep them current, because a story bible only helps when you trust it.
How is a story bible different from a character bible or series bible?
Each does one job. A character bible goes deep on people: fixed facts, how they change and how they talk. A series bible spans several books, tracking what book one sets up and later books pay off. A story bible covers one book's cast, places, rules and open questions, kept short enough to check mid-scene.
When should I make a story bible?
Whenever it saves you scrolling back through your draft. Some writers start one before drafting; The Novel Smithy suggests building it during editing. Either way, add each new name, place or rule the moment it reaches the page, and give the whole bible a quick pass when you finish a chapter.
Can it build a story bible from my chapters?
Yes. Open the bible and drop in your chapters as a Word file, a PDF or pasted text. River records every name, place and rule with its chapter and a short quote, without copying your prose or inventing facts. When two chapters disagree, both lines go in the Continuity flags table, so you can fix one before a reader notices.
Is this a children's story Bible?
No, though it's an easy mix-up. A story Bible can also mean a retelling of Bible stories, often for children, which is a different book entirely. This page is for novelists tracking the people, places and rules in the book they are writing. If you came for the other kind, a bookshop's children's religion section is the place to look.
Your next step
More for your book
Stop scrolling back to check
Open the story bible beside your chapters. Fill it yourself, or build it from your notes or the chapters you've written.