You know that thing when you pick up a book, the third in a series you’re getting addicted to. You settle in, snuggle down, start reading and WAIT! What? Your beloved hero is now a brunette, not a blonde. The villain no longer has a limp. The comedy alien now comes from planet zap, not planet zoop. How can the author do this to you?

Well, it’s easily done, but a character bible could have avoided all your grief.

OK, so what exactly is a character bible?

It’s a simple mechanism for authors to keep track of their characters. I’ll come on to the mechanics of making one, and I’ll explain what you can include. But first, think about why you should create one as soon as you write that first book.

Why Bother?

Well, apart from the examples I’ve already given you, you can’t remember everything. Sorry, but you just can’t. Yes, you are passionate about your characters and know their every whim, now. But what about in five years’ time when you’re writing three series and dreaming about yet another? Writing is addictive. You will write more than one book. You owe it to those characters and readers to give them consistency. As your readers become fans, they will tell you want they love, or hate, about your favourite fictional people. I’ve even heard of fans actually creating a character bible for an author. They will be that passionate, even if not, they will notice errors, so why not try to avoid the simple ones?

Why at the start?

Like anything, working in a backlog can be soul-crushing and demoralising. By getting ahead, starting as you mean to go on, it’s all so much easier. On you and your reader. Drop bullet points into the bible as you go. This will help you avoid the nightmare of reading over older books, again and again to remember exactly who did what to whom and why. 

What else do I need?

I’d strongly suggest a plot and timeline, not in your head but written down. Broken into bite-size chunks. But we’re not here to discuss the plot. Let’s get back to the character bible.

What to include?

Think of it as a CV for each character. It needs to be a quick reference point but also comprehensive enough to give you what you need as you write yet another story or spin-off series. Your bible can be a quick list of bullet points or a massive binder of pages of beautiful images and descriptions. I’ll give more ideas later. For now, let’s think about what to put in it.

Name 

Yes. Really. What is your character’s full name? Now I’m sure you’ve already got a given name. What about a middle name or two? Pronoun, title, think about it. Were they named after a relative, a hero of their parents? Is the name indicative of their race, culture, or nationality? 

Physical Description

Obvious. You can go one further here and include a picture. I create Pinterest boards for each work in progress and drop Google images of people who ‘become’ my character, in my head at least. I can then refer to the image to describe them in detail. Your reader will still create their own image in their head, but at least you’ll be consistent in your descriptions.

Background

Think about their upbringing. How has it impacted their life? Boy wizard under the stairs, poor boy in the desert who dreams of being a fighter pilot, child kidnapped and trained to be an assassin. You get the idea. And yes, these are extremes to make the point. Your main character might just be an ordinary person to whom extraordinary things happen, but if they have siblings or got bullied at public school, it’s helpful to know.

Address

You can create a real one, refer to it, or just have a rough idea of where they live. The choice is yours. But by writing it down it helps it become an actual place, in your mind at least. And if you decide in a later book to write a scene from their childhood or home, you know where it is. It’s an important part of their back story. This can also influence the dialogue style you choose.

Personality

Are they a fight or flight person, introvert, extrovert, victim and / or survivor? What are their political or ethical views? You don’t have to like them, but they need to have them. If they are a right wing racist, they could, probably will, react differently to situations than someone at the other end of the spectrum. This can be the time to think more roundly about the character. Is there a reason in their background why they became this person?

A – B Journey

In each story, you need a character arc. They need to find themselves ‘elsewhere’ at the end of the book from where they were at the beginning. Physically, morally or spiritually, or all three. Keep track of these shifts so each book will build on the last. This helps if you need to include any sort of flashback. Which takes us on to the next point.

Timeline

Did they cut their hair, move house, have a catastrophic event occur in their life? When did your i.e. their story start and end? Attach a date and/or time to each so you are building a timeline for them as you move through your book or series.

Who to include?

Create a basic list to include every character. With more comprehensive records for the main ones. You may only mention someone in that first book, but by the fourth, realise they need a spinoff of their own. Prequels and sequels are so much easier to build if you can easily check your character’s status and place on a timeline. 

Which book or story do they feature in?

Sounds obvious, but list this anyway. It might just become invaluable if you want to come back to an older book later. You might choose to launch some fan merchandise and forget who was even in the story, and with whom. Crossovers between series or books are a brilliant marketing tool as you build your brand.

OK, so you have the basics, but how do you compile it?

Digital

I use Scrivener. I have a file set up purely for characters, yes my bible. Each one has a document, from a template, in a folder based on each book or series. I list by name and yes, I include an image. I list my short story characters too, so I can revisit them later. Some of those are purely names with an image and the name of the story with a file link. Anything to make my life easier. My brain can’t be expected to hold all that stuff and supply my imagination with new ideas at the same time. 

You might be more confident or familiar with Google docs. Or an excel spreadsheet for each series and characters. Choose your favourite tool. This is to make life easier, not give you more stress. When you find the perfect setup, create a template. Make it easy to add to. Save it somewhere you can access anytime. If you are writing in a coffee shop, you might need to find out if your character was born on zap or zoop.

Hard Copy

I try to be digital, so I can back it up in numerous places, but I love a paper and pen. You might have the perfect thick journal that’s waiting for a purpose, but that might not be the best idea. A ring binder will enable you to add to move pages as you write. Dividers for each series, with sheets for each character, could suit you better. You can stick things in, scrap book style, or type up a checklist. Choose your tools to suit your writing style and personality. Pinterest is a great place to supplement your ideas, but I wouldn’t recommend it as a storage area for your precious people. Apps and systems can fail or close. Don’t trust them with your life’s work. I back things up in technology I own, cloud-based storage, usbs, etc. If you choose a ring binder and hand drawn images, it’s a good idea to take photographs of each page and back it up that way. Don’t lose your work if something bad happens.

Do you have a character bible? What do you include? How has it saved your life or your sanity as you write or research?

I’d love to know.