A living story bible for a novel-in-progress, built as a set of connected Notion databases so an AI assistant (or a co-writer, or future-you) can add to it chapter by chapter without ever needing to rebuild it from scratch.

Six databases, each doing one job:

• Timeline — what happens, in order
• Characters — who's who, and what's still unresolved about them
• Locations and Objects — settings and props worth tracking for consistency
• Clues and Revelations — anything planted for later payoff, with fair-play tracking
• Chapters — one row per chapter: synopsis, POV, draft status, editorial notes
• Tasks — continuity fixes, research to do, craft decisions still open

Plus a seventh, Ideas, for stray thoughts that come up mid-conversation and might not go anywhere — a place to park them with a "how promising is this" flag, so they don't get lost in chat history or force a decision before they're ready.

Each database below has one example row, clearly marked, showing the intended use. Delete the examples before you start.

Working principles

• Record manuscript facts separately from editorial suggestions.
• Link every clue to the chapter where it's planted, reinforced and resolved.
• Update chapter records after substantive revisions, not just at the end.
• Treat names, dates, geography, and technical claims as things worth a verification pass.
• Keep an eye on what your own story needs — for a mystery that might be fair-play clue tracking; for another genre it might be something else entirely. Adjust the schemas freely.

Timeline

Characters

Locations and Objects

Clues and Revelations