My Second Best Writing Advice: A Guide to Story Guides
- Rachael Bell-Irving
- Apr 28
- 7 min read
One of the most frequently asked questions I get is,“What is your best writing advice?” This is a difficult question to answer because the best advice will vary depending on the receiver. Someone who is about to write their first book would benefit from different wisdom than someone stuck on their third draft.
The only best advice I can think of that applies to everyone and everything at any time is all too simple of an answer: Keep writing.
If you keep writing, you’ll finish that first draft. ‘Keep writing’ will help you become a stronger writer. You’ll see the project all the way to the end if you just keep writing. It’s a catch-all advice, but it isn’t very catchy. To just say, “Keep Writing”, is a vague answer for a vague question.
So instead, let’s talk about my second best writing advice. Something tangible and actionable that writers at any stage should consider incorporating into their practice:
Create a story guide for your book while you write.
If you want to make a more cohesive story, keep your sanity during editing, and make your marketing more efficient, then making a story guide is the way to go.
What is a Story Guide
It is a record of all the details within and related to your story. I break my story guide into three key areas: the story bible, the marketing quick sheet, and the style guide.
A story bible, sometimes called a reference sheet, is a record of all the content within the story so you as the author can remember all the details, rules, and choices you made while creating the story. This includes all the details to do with your characters and world building.
The marketing quick sheet is a collection of all the key themes, scenes, and quotes that might later be useful for marketing. It can assist in developing elevator pitches, the back book blurb, and provides a bank of resources for when promoting you and your book.
A style guide is an editing tool that I was first introduced to with my editor Chelle Parker, when they provided the copy edits for Demons at the Doorstep. The style guide is a guideline of all the editing and stylistic rules an editor must follow when correcting the manuscript. This only comes into play when you’re in the editing phases, but once you get there it is incredibly helpful to ensure consistency across the manuscript.
Whether you’re traditionally publishing (in which case your editor will probably already have a style guide to follow), independently publishing, or even if you’re just keeping your book for yourself, having these components of a story guide will make your life easier as the author and provide a smoother reading experience for the audience.
What Should be in a Story Guide
It varies from author to author. You will find tons of templates online, especially for world building worksheets or story bible templates, both free and for purchase. Some authors prefer to make a notebook while others keep their guides digital.
Ultimately you as the author decide what you think is important to note down, but I would advise on ‘as much as possible’. But that comes with two caveats:
Be mindful of details getting in the way of your writing. If having to know everything before you start writing is stopping you from actually starting to write then it is time to put the guide down and get the job done.
Stories naturally change from draft to draft, no matter how well-planned you are, so it is important to leave flexibility for your ideas to change.
Personally I will write down loose ideas while I'm drafting, and then fill in the details during the second or third draft once I know what pieces of character and world building I’m committing to, and what needs work.
I usually start building out the marketing guide during the beta reading phase, when I’ve gotten feedback on which moments or lines stand out to my readers the most.
Finalizing the details of the style guide started at the copy editing phase, with the template provided by Chelle so I had an outline of all the choices I had to make for them to follow.
To help you get started I’ve listed off some of the key things in my Story Guide. Feel free to pick and choose what you like, or add your own of course.
Part 1: Story Reference Sheet / Story Bible
Characters:
Write down full descriptions for all the main characters
Names, nicknames
Their physical description
Key character trains and personality
The wants or goals they have at the beginning of the story or what are primarily driving their character arc
Their key fears
The need or character growth that they need to overcome
Key strengths, talents, skills
Key relationships with other characters
Key memories, backstory moments, or character-informing moments from their history
Some people like to get really into the weeds of their characters and will identify their likes, dislikes, favourites foods, etc. It can be a really good exercise in understanding your characters to ask questions like, ‘if they were in our world who would their favourite band be?’.
For smaller characters, named or otherwise, that are not recurring but do have relevance to the plot, (e.g. the Inn Keeper, their neighbor Sam), note them down along with their physical description and the role they play in the story. You can, of course, go into more detail but as I mentioned before, at some point you will need to start actually writing the story.
World-building
Locations
Name
Layout
Geography
Climate
Geopolitical borders or natural borders,
Government
Key exports,
Economical influences
Social structures (e.g. social classes)
Key threats
Groups/Associations
Origins
Purpose or Mission Statement
Membership Size
Region of influence or operation
Key goals
Any mantras or key phrases
Any branding or colour associations
Magic (if applicable)
Rules and Restrictions or Limitations
Spells
Objects
Potions
Natural World (if different than ours)
Ecological rules (e.g. oceans are acidic to touch, the sun sets in the North)
Creatures/Species
Morphology
Habitat
Diet
Ecological purpose (e.g. hunter, prey)
Natural Materials (especially if anything has any unique properties)
Part 2: Marketing Reference Sheet
It is never too early to start marketing your story. It takes practice to learn how to effectively market yourself, and building a tool that can provide you quick and easy references to pull from is a huge asset. I have a marketing guide for each of the books, as well as a page for the Wicked Conjuring series as a whole.
If you’re curious, you can take a peak at my Marketing Guide for the Wicked Conjuring series here. You’ll notice that it is missing a lot of pullable quotes for the first three books, because I only realized how useful a tool like this is after book 3 (we authors are always learning).
Here are some suggested things to note for a marketing guide, both what I have found helpful and what I wish I did better:
Key theme(s)
Things that could be used for creating the book blurb or elevator pitches
Key traits about the main character that makes them stand out:
Also key lessons that the character learns about themselves as it relates to their character.
Key quotes: memorable lines that could be marketing tools later
Write down any and all that sound remotely interesting, you can widdle the list down later
Note the page number (even if it’s roughly) for easy searching later in case you need to update the quotes after subsequent rounds of editing
Part 3: Style Guide
I would worry about this section last. These defined rules really come into play when you reach the line editing stage (so after big-picture edits are completed in the developmental stage).
The Style Guide is the tool you use when you’re getting into the nitty gritty of your manuscript. You may also decide these with your editor or, if you’re traditionally publishing, these rules may already be decided for you.
As I am not a professional editor, I’m only going to highlight some examples of the key points that are on my style sheet (and some of the things that surprised me)
Style Rules
Oxford Commas or not
How you want hyphens to be applied
Capitalization rules
How you want dates formatted
Consistency List of Words and Terms
T.V. vs. TV vs. Television, T-Shirt vs. Tee Shirt, AM vs A.M. vs am vs a.m, okay vs ok vs O.K.
How key things are spelt throughout your story: e.g. the Lupatus Stone not The Lupatus Stone and not the lupatus stone
This is often where different colloquial terms will be noted or difference in regional language for example Canadian vs. British vs. American english
Why make a Story Guide
Because consistency is a pain in the ass to clean up later.
It’s much easier to have a guide to reference than to have to search back through your 300+ page document to remind yourself if you decided said character has blue or brown eyes.
It can also be helpful for growing your world building. For example I often reference my story guide to remember which kinds of spells I have already put into the story. This can either 1) give me some useful plot tools to re-use or 2) help me diversify the magic I’m adding into subsequent books.
When you’re in the throes of editing, being able to quickly reference your style guide will ensure you or your hired editor are applying rules consistently across the manuscript. This in turn makes for a smoother reader experience, so the reader doesn't get distracted when you’ve accidentally switched from regular - to a — halfway through the book and wonder if it’s supposed to mean something.
Not only are story guides helpful for working on standalone books, in single books, they are essential for keeping consistency across a series. So if you are even remotely thinking of turning your book into a series make sure you have a filled story guide before you start book 2.
Actually, just make sure you have a story guide. You can thank me later.
And remember to keep writing!
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