Bible Copy

In addition to a series bible with notes about the rules of my world, species, places, and characters, I have a “bible copy” of each of my books. It says “Bible Copy” in Sharpie marker around the edges of the book.

What is a bible copy? In a series, it’s where the author takes a copy of each book and highlights all the things that have been laid out in canon. I use 6 different highlighter colors. Here is my code:

Yellow: Worldbuilding/rules

Orange: Character looks

Green: Speech/dialogue that characterizes/character mannerisms/random character details.

Pink: Anything pertaining to character arc (the various changes a character goes through over the course of the series.)

Purple: Loose ends. Anything I don’t have tied up yet. It gets an X beside it when it’s tied.

Blue: Recurring places (key points about them and their descriptions)

Next to highlighted sections in the book I’ll make a notation in the margins in pen that shows what species or character or place it references.

People who wonder how I keep things straight, this is part of how. I learned this technique from Holly Lisle in her “How to write a series” course, which I highly recommend for those who write series. I’m not sure that my highlighting system is “exactly” the same as hers, but I got the general idea from her.

My biggest flaw is lapsing and letting this work build up (which is part of why there is a slight delay happening with The Catalyst). When my proof copy for The Catalyst arrives, I need to do this highlighting and notation business first so it doesn’t slow down Life Cycle. There is just no excuse not to.