Ciao, amici. Last time, I gave you a rundown of what goes into a series bible. This time, we’re going to discuss the first item that goes in the bible—the series premise. A while ago, I posted six steps to plotting a series. That post is an excellent accompaniment to this one, should you want to review it. You can find it here.

Let me be clear… I’m primarily talking about the series that has an over-arching plot that’s too large to be contained in one book (like Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter). There is another type of series, the kind that is comprised of standalone novels that can be read out of order (like Sherlock Holmes or James Bond) without confusing the reader. The series premise is a much bigger help in the first kind of series. The rest of the story bible applies to…