Cynthia Harrison

You might remember that I dropped Jane 3 at halfway point to write a Regency novella after I spied a call for submissions from my publisher. I always planned to go right back to Jane 3 after the Regency was in the pipeline. My deadline is February 29, 2024. And I am done with the Regency. I only have to insert some corrections I made on hard copy into the Word document and send it off to my editor.

Something else happened while I was writing the Regency. I noticed that my memory is not as sharp as it used to be. I do remember things like words and names and places but it takes a minute. Which is fine. Different but acceptable.

So Trish Long came around at the exact right time. Our local Sisters in Crime chapter hosted Trish for a talk on her “Series Bible” business. Many writers, particularly writers of mystery and historical romance, end up writing novels with continuing plots, settings and characters. How to keep all that info front and center in our brains? Some series have twenty or more books. What we authors really need is a “Story Bible” that makes note of every character–even animals. Also all the things about them. Color of hair, name of partner, job. Everything. Including every single setting mentioned.

I knew I could use such a tool. Trisha gave us the options to learn how to write a bible ourselves or for a modest fee she has a team of writers ready to put together any bible a novelist needs. She gave us a discount too, for signing up to her lecture. I immediately signed up to have someone on her team make bibles for my first two Jane books.

Now, when I go back to Jane 3, I will have all the information I need not to make a mistake like I have already done. I see from the bible (about 20 pages for the two books) that I had named Jane’s daughter’s husband Anwar in Jane in St Pete. He has another name in Jane 3. He is not mentioned in Jane 2. So, I already have saved myself by having those bibles made.

First thing when I pick up Jane 3 again will be to change Anwar’s name. I don’t remember what I called him in Jane 3, but it was not Anwar. Already I am using and loving my story bibles.