A Testament to the Bible

By Anthony D. Langford

One of the most important and most frequently asked questions from newcomers to the Episodic Forum is: "How do I get started on my web series?"

Some believe that a prospective series producer should start by designing a fabulous website, or by running with an idea to the computer and start typing away on the first episode. And while both of those things are vital steps in the series construction process, the best builders usually prefer to begin with a clear, detailed blueprint. In the serial drama world, that blueprint is called a bible (see definition, left).

What are the basic components of a bible?

THEME

You might want to set down some ideas of his ideas for the theme(s) (see definition, right) of the series. Many episodics, especially if they're based on the daytime or nighttime soap opera formula, deal with plots such as a group of people falling in and out of love, deceiving one another, and/or dealing with complex business plans. But even with similar storylines, each series will usually have a unique underlying theme that weaves itself through the drama.

For example, About Schuyler Falls has a theme of people constantly struggling against the dark forces in their lives, usually coming from within themselves. Footprints' theme is the difficulty in maintaining a romantic relationship, despite feelings that may betray one or both of the partners. And Newport's central theme is the vital importance in maintaining family ties, no matter what terrible forces--from deception to murder--may try to tear you apart.

An awareness of the theme of your series can give a sense of the mood and emotions you wish to convey; it will definitely help you craft stories and characters.

PLOTS

While you don't necessarily need to know every plot that will occur for the next three years, a well-planned bible will contain the storylines that will fuel the series for the first several months.

Take the time to chart out each story, with some sense of how it begins, develops, and eventually ends. Usually the ending of one plot will be woven into the beginning or middle of another. After all, continuing dramas are unending stories: it's not enough to know what story to tell now...you need to know what story to tell next.

Since most series follow more than one plot at a time, you'll probably want to track the subplots and other stories that are at play, in order to get a sense of the entire fictional universe.

CHARACTERS

What sort of information would you keep in your bible about the characters who populate your series?

• Name List: At the minimum, you'd include a list of the characters' names, whether they play a major or a minor role in the drama.
• Profiles: Even more useful will be profiles for each person: these might indicate how the characters are related to one another, who is married to whom, who hates who (and why), the characters' careers, their education, and their residence(s).
• Physical Details: It's also a good idea to have a clear knowledge of your characters' physical stats. This will avoid continuity errors...such as describing a man's blue eyes in one episode only to give him green ones in another.
• Psychological Makeup: This is the most important aspect of your character. You need to have a sense of who they are, what they think, their goals in life, and how their history has affected them.
• History, aka Backstory: Here you'd list or describe the details of the characters' lives before the beginning of the series. Backstory and psychology are naturally closely related: developing a backstory will help you come up with logical, believable motivation for your characters' actions as they move throughout their current and future storylines.
• Timeline: In keeping track of character histories, it might be useful to organize the information in the form of a timeline. This could include the dates of important events such as marriages, births, graduations and deaths. Timelines are another tool to help a writer avoid continuity errors, since they'll give you a working knowledge of where characters were at different times.

Don't worry if all your bios aren't the same length. You will probably have lengthy histories of your core characters, but only snippets of information on lesser or minor characters.

SETTING

Whether your series takes place in a real or fictional setting, knowing as much as possible about the locale of your series will help you create a world that's as vivid and interesting as one of your characters.

In your bible, you can keep details about -

• the homes in which your characters live
• the workplaces
• restaurants and gathering places
• hotels, health clubs, bookstores, etc.
• courthouses, police stations, hospitals

Crafting a map is an especially helpful way of making your locale realistic (and keeping your descriptions accurate). Keep track of road names, parks, woods, bodies of water, and so on.

Since every town has a background of its own, you might want to invent (or--if this is a real location--research) the history of the founding and development of your setting. Not only will it make the city come to life for your audience, it could very well be a springboard for many stories.

RESEARCH

Finally, since many dramatic storylines will involve medical procedures, legal matters and other facts of life, your bible is the ideal place to store information you've uncovered in your research. If you find a useful source of facts or trivia that might be the fodder for new storylines/characters, you might want to keep a copy for future reference.

Of course, some bibles will be more detailed than others. Some writers feel constrained by the idea of plotting out a story to the nth degree, and thus will have the barest bones of an outline. Others will flesh out the story rather extensively, including synopses of various episodes, major and minor plot points, and even key scenes that will eventually play themselves out on the screen. Sometimes a writer might not have a real sense of a character until they start to write some of the words and dialogue that will bring them alive.

Most writers find a middle ground in all this. But it's pretty important that the story and the characters be mapped out in some sense, so the writer doesn't lose his way and stays on the story's course.

That isn't to say a bible can't change. Plots may not be working as originally conceived and need some tweaking; characters may take a different direction--some may be gotten rid of altogether, and minor characters who strike a fancy with your audience might be brought to the front burner. You might need new locations for your characters to visit, or decide to refigure the timeline to make it better fit in current and future stories.

You'll always find yourself coming up with new ideas and flashes of inspiration to be incorporated into the existing bible. Writing a bible doesn't mean inscribing it in stone: it can and should grow and change as your series does.

Please note that even if you have already begun your series, it's not too late to compile the information and ideas that will be of immeasurable use to you in the future. If you plan well, you'll avoid the common complaint of losing steam and going off-track after only a few episodes. Looking to your series' bible for inspiration will help keep you from getting lost down a long, winding road of storytelling.

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Series mentioned:

About Schuyler Falls
Footprints
Newport

About Anthony D. Langford:

Anthony D. Langord writes and produces the online series "Covington Bay," a featured site at the Episodic. He lives in Washington DC, and is a Literature major at American University. In addition, Anthony is a bartender. His favorite soap operas are "All My Children" and "As the World Turns."

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