How To Create A Series Bible \\ How To Plan And Write A Series, Video #4

[@HeartBreathings]

This is the video so many of you have been waiting for! Yes, another long one, but again, it's FULL of info on how and where to create your series bible. Let me know in the comments if you're enjoying this series of videos and if you'd like to see a full setup of my series bible for The Witch's Key later this year. Also, don't forget that thumbs up!!

[@KayJay7000]

Yes please to seeing a full setup of a series bible!

[@kierasthoughts2480]

This was absolutely fantastic. I spent all day making templates etc. Such wonderful information! Thank you, Sarra.

[@authorchristinabutrum]

Yes! Would love to see you set up a Wiki for The Witch's Key!

[@queenofdarkness2387]

I published my first book today. Thanks for all the help!

[@HeartBreathings]

Oh my gosh!!! Congrats!!!!

[@queenofdarkness2387]

@@HeartBreathings Thanks!

[@TheKidsCookingSchool]

WOOT WOOT!

[@binaryspartan3261]

I leverage OneNote due to it's multi-tabs and in depth nested hierarchies, it spans across multiple devices and has some decent plugins like GEM and no, I don't have anything to do with the company, just something I find handy and thought I'd share. I still use notebooks for random notes or exploration of thought.

[@HeartBreathings]

Great! Thank you for sharing this. I have several friends who use OneNote, so I think it's a good tool for this!

[@binaryspartan3261]

@@HeartBreathings happy to share. I'd definitely encourage anyone using OneNote to look at also doing backups of their notebooks, being overly paranoid about data loss definitely helps me sleep better. :)

[@cecilywolfe4571]

I use OneNote, too, and I love it!

[@ronjaravenbell9663]

Can you make a video on tips and trixs and metods for time lines??.

[@HeartBreathings]

Great idea!! Yes I'll add it to my list!

[@TheKidsCookingSchool]

@@HeartBreathings a video demonstrating how you get setup with your stickers and such every sunday would be cool too. I know you talk about it a lot... but seeing you do it might help my hangups. Just my two cents. :)

[@ronjaravenbell9663]

@@HeartBreathings Some sort of work sheets for timeline would be perfect

[@xxmusicjunkiexx5882]

Loving this series, and fully agree with using a series bible. However, also being a paper user, I never thought about creating it on my computer and how much easier it would be to search. 🤔

[@zomarleyonwriting8322]

Can I just say RELATIONSHIP GOALS?! I would love to be able to brainstorm with my partner like you were talking about. How awesome! This series bible is amazing as well. I need to get started on nailing this stuff down once I get a little further along in my WIP!!! Thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge!

[@rachelrobertson7353]

Speaking from personal experience, using a Series Bible is soooo helpful! It is an amazing resource!

[@danagervais6594]

I use excel for my series bible. One sheet per character, location, setting, etc. It has the cross-referencing capability you mention in your video. I purchased a series bible template from an author on Etsy. And I can include images and external links.

[@scribbles7470]

Obsidian has been helping me a lot in setting up the wiki and writing my book. I love seeing how different elements relate to each other and it's features helped make writing easier

[@denisedodge]

Thank you so much for covering all of this information! I have everything written out in notes and organized in a binder but I like all the points you made about creating a wiki. I think now that I finalized the text in my first book I should go ahead and create an online wiki series bible. Thank you again! I look forward to the next episode.

[@MaePenCosplayerandauthor]

Yes please. I'm also using Campfire Technology for a series bible as well as a printed one. Thank you for these videos!

[@femsff7090]

A wiki is useful but you can easily do the interlinking in a doc (Word, Google, etc) too, by using the bookmark or cross-reference options. And you can also share a document with others through the Office cloud or Google docs etc, without risking someone 'hacking' your wiki. Also, they can auto-save and generate backups either online or on your computer. I personally use OneNote for all my research, plotting and outlining and with the great organization options it also functions as a story/series bible. You can create a notebook per story or series, use sections for certain subjects and within those sections you can make pages and subpages. You can click anywhere to start writing, easily paste stuff into it, use tags, draw, and so on. You can also work on it online or offline, share the notebook via email or a link. And the search functionality allows you to search through ALL your open notebooks, your current notebook, your current section, or current page. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who has access to MS Office and wants to try their hand at a digital bible or to plot etc.

[@SaraLea]

Started setting up my wiki today and it’s actually kind of fun. Mine is probably a lot more simple than many writers will need but I’m glad I’m doing this now rather than 3 or 4 books in.

[@tunnelvisionforjesus]

Thank you!❤️

[@kcinkcity]

Yes, please do make a video when you set up The Witch's Key series bible! I can see how helpful this would be, but it feels overwhelming. Thank you for the checklist, that definitely helps!

[@CJ-gc1xw]

Thank you 🙏🏾 just thank you!

[@cerahazelrigg7103]

Yes- Please make a video on how you set up your bible on Wiki

[@bunnyrose9525]

Style guide is a great idea! I have words that I capitalize, and I often can't remember how I spelled this or whether I capitalized that. Thank goodness for search and replace! I also just had to format what a sign said. Decided to space and center, using different fonts, font sizes, and italics, because it wouldn't have the same punctuation as a normal paragraph.

[@SunshineLeclair]

Thanks so much for the amazing info! So informative ... my gosh you certainly have a talent for presenting information ... and something about your voice is wonderful to listen to. I'm learning so much from you ;) Thanks tons for sharing, hugs Sunshine

[@HeartBreathings]

This is such a kind and encouraging comment. Thank you!

[@KennethLawsonAuthor]

I created a "Writing" playlist in my YT account for writing and all of these videos are going in the playlist for future references. I have playlist for several topics too. So when I find a video that has actual useful information on a topic I'm interested in it goes to that particular playlist. I also have 3 KZbin/google accounts, One is for one set of topics, and a second one for another set of topics, each has their own subscription list and set of playlists, and the3rd account is my throwaway account for stuff I watch that I don't want filling up one of the other two accounts feeds. BTW I watch most of my YT on the Roku on a 4k tv.

[@ninamimi6622]

Yeah! A new video! My treat for finishing my word count today! :)

[@HeartBreathings]

Great job!!

[@dianagarland4907]

I am enjoying the series immensely. Love the information on what to include. I would be interested in seeing an in-depth demonstration of setting up your series bible for book two when you create it.

[@lalong9253]

I would love to see The Witch's Key Series Bible Set up. All your walkthroughs are so great! Thanks for all you do for the writing community!!! You're the awesome sauce!

[@essammahdy]

So amazing and useful

[@stefanielozinski]

This series is so perfect timing wise. Trying to delve back into fiction writing and I’ve decided on a romance series! Nervous but excited :)

[@HeartBreathings]

So exciting!!

[@stefanielozinski]

Heart Breathings you have been a HUGE inspiration. Thank you.

[@talinaperkins]

Yes!! A walk-through of the Witch's Key Bible would be awesome!

[@juliaduquette7927]

The style guide is genius! I love that!

[@c.e.higgins2609]

I've been using Campfire Pro and love it. It's like the wiki you described but an actual software. Great info! Loving the series.

[@ryan6140]

Honestly I'm learning so much. You make everything seem so easy xD

[@HeartBreathings]

So glad to hear this! Makes my day, thank you!

[@JKPippa]

Trello is a great tool for creating a digital Story Bible. I've been using it for years and it is amazing. Edit: oh! And Microsoft OneNote is also great. I have both apps in my phone so I can create my world and characters when I'm queueing!

[@neopagan1976]

An app called storyboard is really good for this type of thing. This app doesn't cost a dime.

[@junetakey]

Yes I want to see how you set up the Witches Key

[@MissHolliday3110]

This is great! Also, a research page might be a great page to add if you need to do research for your book.

[@nadinewaymyers]

Love, love, love the series!

[@FeistyFelineYT]

I am eagerly waiting for your August Notebook Challenge!

[@nildam.bonilla5849]

This was an amazing video full of great info and tips. And of course I would love to see the Witch's Key bible set up♡

[@lizziestarr]

Great info. I'd forgotten that I've started a couple wikis for series. 😁 now I'm thinking the series I'm writing with other authors needs a few templates. We've got our bible documents in dropbox, and templates would certainly help unify the information. Thanks!

[@mergesviz]

I would like to add that you can link other other Google doc pages and folders in a Google doc (you can link pretty much anything, honestly) I plan on making my series Bible via docs and creating my own link system. Another big perk of docs is that I can make documents available offline.

[@admiral_red_shirt]

Thank you so much! Once I'm a bajillion-zillionaire author I'll have to include you in my acknowledgements. 😎 Thanks.

[@lashellcollins1172]

I've written several series and my series bible game is the pits. This was very informative, so thank you! I would love to see the Witch's Key bible setup.

[@snack528]

Yes, I would love to see you set up the witch's key wiki! That will be extremely helpful 🙂

[@teribakerreads]

Thank you for this series and this video in particular. And yes, I would like a video on the wiki set up for Witch's Key. Thank you 😃

[@daniad8611]

Thank you for this video please do a series bible book on the Witcher key🥰🥰🥰🥰

[@sylviamayhew8652]

Yes would love to see a walk through of TWK wiki! Another great video by the way! Thank you!

[@sarahlovespaper4577]

I created a series bible on PBWorks after watching your other video. I love the ability to link things, makes it so user friendly. I am tempted though to purchase Campfire Pro as it seems another great option. I would love to see you create a series bible for The Witch's Key :)

[@candellina6]

My novels has a sequel but don't think it needs a trilogy. This was so helpful. Thank you so much!

[@aisazia]

Great information Sarra! Thanks for sharing! I'd also love to see you set up a wiki for The Witch's Key!

[@DogWalkerBill]

YES I want to see a walk through of Witches Key.

[@AlexVeeGee]

Thanka for this! I would love to see a walk through. ❤

[@StampinDivaUK]

This was super useful, Sarra! Please please please can we have a video on the Bible set up for Witches Key?! I would love to see it. Thanks!

[@fayz-dayz]

Love these tips! The (xx) strategy is something I want to try!

[@bluovalgal]

Seems like I'm doing the right thing so far while (still) working on my first story... currently keeping my "bible' in an unused A5 Kikki K binder. If/when I ever become published, maybe then I'll spend the money to keep it online/digital.

[@somberhoney]

I personally like to have a combination of paper and digital stuff. General worldbuilding stuff and character profiles and things like Save the Cat beat sheets go on paper because it's easier for me to explore my ideas that way, but maps and profiles and outlines and drafts are digital.

[@nadinewaymyers]

yes, I want to see a walkthrough of the witch's key series bible.

[@raeg.4119]

Dunno if this was mentioned, but with google docs, you can actually link other docs you may have by using @. So like @characters sheet, and it’s kinda the same thing as the wiki thing I think.

[@DeeBlaregold]

Yippee! Thanks for the template!

[@bunnyrose9525]

Could you maybe do a video about managing timelines? I try to do mine on a spreadsheet because I have multiple plot lines running concurrently. Having a werewolf, there are the moon phases I have to keep up with, and I learned early on that I had to keep up with the date (as in August 10) because this occurred just before Fall semester was supposed to begin. Then there were the days of the week since I needed to keep up with events and dating. Then there were the characters who were only active at night vs those in the day, and the thing that had to happen in this timeline that might affect another timeline and what order to put those in. Then you had the murder mystery timeline. And a romance timeline. By the time I get to 54 chapters, it wasn't just long because dates ran horizontally across the columns, it was several rows deep! :D Then, Book Two... how many days since that timeline ended and this one started, make sure I haven't started the werewolf cycle two weeks after the cycle in the last book, etc.

[@femsff7090]

Have you considered using a website to create your timelines? I've used tiki-toki for one of my series, its basic service is free and worked well enough for what I needed. Mine covered a decade in its entirety but only about 5 years for the series itself. You can zoom in/out to show it per year or day. Use different colors for different kinds of events, add little summaries with images and external links per point/date on the timeline. My four stories covered about a year each and they were sequential, so I used a different background image per story as well as a matching color on the timeline bar to be able to see which story covers what events. And you can scroll through the timeline bar to find the events you're looking for or just look up the date.

[@bunnyrose9525]

@@femsff7090 Thank you for the response! I'll check it out! I'm willing to experiment to see if something works. :) Thanks!

[@StampinDivaUK]

Hi Sarra! Oh my gosh, this video is life changing! It also sent me down a whole rabbit hole of youtube videos (both those you recommended and a few that you didn't), world anvil, private wikis, hiveword and campfire. Then I found a few images (sadly no videos and not much info to go with it) about using Scrivener for a Series Bible. That lead me down a whole other rabbit hole and I decided to build my own Series Bible template in Scrivener since I already own it. I then found videos on how to tag in Scrivener, which makes it all completely searchable! Yay! Anyway, so now I'm wondering if you'd be amenable to me using your character arc, plotting and other templates inside my Scrivener Series Bible? I've also found some ideas from a couple of the youtube videos you recommended that I want to add, as well as some templates from a book I found on Amazon.

[@charleighplays2508]

Milanote is another good app for loading up a series Bible.

[@TheKidsCookingSchool]

Although I"ve been watching your videos for about a year now, I'm just settling down to actually trying to write a book. Would you work through the plotting your novel workbook first and then this series workbook, or vice versa? Also - just bought your HB90 planner and plan to do the Q4 bootcamp. #bingeheartbreathings

[@HeartBreathings]

That a good question. I think if you know you're interested in writing a series, start here with this workbook on series and get a good idea of the genre and type, overall arcs and so on. You don't have to figure it all out but I think maybe just getting thinking about the overall series is better. Then start plotting that first book in detail.

[@annelyle5474]

I'd love to see how you set up your wiki! I keep my world-building notes in Scrivener, but I'd also like to create a more "official" series bible in World Anvil that I can share with beta-readers and copy-editors

[@nikkiguerlain]

💓💓💓

[@heathergagnon354]

I don't always have internet depending where I'm going so instead of a wiki I've done a word document that I've backed up on a removable drive. as I know I'd not be able to keep track of or even read a hand written one.

[@joleehill5597]

Thanks Sarra - every helpful! Can I ask when you started adding ads to your videos I have never gotten ads in the middle of your content...just wondering 🤪

[@HeartBreathings]

I have been doing ads for two years but there usually aren't midroll ads. If there are on this one I must have missed a setting.

[@anandavanderwesthuizen1484]

Thank you for this video. It’s so helpful. I have a question: do you create a pbworks wiki for every series or so you have an author pbworks profile with a folder for each series? So in other words 1 pbworks wiki with multiple sub wikis or multiple pbworks wiki for each book series?

[@AprilHayman]

I use Notion for my series bible. It's web and desktop based. I'd also suggest two things if you need help with world building. First is WorldBuildWithUs.com, which is a weekly podcast, and the "How to create magic systems" series of posts by C.R. Rowenson. Not paid by either just found them super helpful.

[@jennfischetto]

Oh the number of times I've opened the Word doc version of books and searched for hair and eye color on recurring characters that aren't the leads. :P

[@bobbiecarlton-hess9322]

Are you still using Wiki? Before you chose Wiki, what did you use? A software (which one), spreadsheet or document? Thank you!

[@SWVNGGVNG]

My question is do you have an editor? My first book took me 7 years(writing off and on) and then I had to wait another 7 months for my editor to finish.

[@MG-vx4rk]

Heart Breathings. I tried downloading your series bibles checklist as a PDF info word because I wanted to edit the information and add my story info to it. However the PDF only goes to the internet. I don't feel comfortable printing it out and having it out somewhere. I prefer to have it securely on my computer. If you can help I'd appreciate it.

[@Neil-writer-author]

Does the private wiki cost money?

[@HeartBreathings]

The one I use is free. I think there is technically a limit to how many gigabytes of data you can put into it before you pay, but I've never reached it.

[@Neil-writer-author]

Ok thank you

[@waynekey1]

I really like the idea of a Wiki, but have been held back by the worry of data loss. Do you know what happens to your Series Bible data/info if your wiki web "provider" goes down or closes?

[@scribbles7470]

This is why I use Obsidian as my "wiki". All files are locally stored so I don't sorry about web-caused data loss.

[@kaoa31]

Lol!👏👏

[@SaraLea]

I am not sure if I need this... 🧐

[@HeartBreathings]

Maybe not! Will your books be linked or mostly standalone?

[@SaraLea]

Heart Breathings they are linked but ... The main characters change in each book. 🤔

[@HeartBreathings]

@@SaraLea you probably don't need anything extensive. Maybe just a running document of anything that crosses books, like setting or characters.

[@SaraLea]

Heart Breathings yea I think so too.... something very basic.

[@jasonhevans01]

In the middle of your video you said you would talk more about PBworks but you didn't. Kinda dissapointed.