A tour of my FANTASY WORLDBUILDING BIBLE✨how I worldbuild in OneNote📓

can you believe a pantser made this !!

TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 - my worldbuilding system & tools
4:00 - the general structure
5:24 - map & world overview
7:22 - magic system
8:41 - realms
12:01 - closed system resource chart
14:22 - story notes
16:15 - character profiles
16:55 - setting up for success

MY SHORT STORIES:

FAQS
→How old are you? - 26
→How long have you been writing? - Since I was 8
→Where do you live? - I keep that private for safety reasons, but I grew up in Vancouver.
→Where did you go to university and what did you study? - I keep my university information private, but I majored in writing with a concentration in fiction.
→What are your pronouns? - They/them or she/her
→Where can I read your books? - None of my books are published yet, but you can read my published short fiction in my linktree (linked above!)
→So when will your book be published? - I don’t know! I’m in the revision process right now, but I can’t predict exactly when I’ll have a book published. But I’m working on it!
→Do you plan to traditionally publish or self publish? - Traditionally publish
→Will you read my book/story/chapter/mentor me? - Unfortunately I cannot accommodate these requests because editing/critiquing is a labour intensive task that I can’t afford to do for free alongside my job, my own writing, and running this platform. If you would like to hire me for paid editing work, contact me privately on twitter or instagram.

OUTRO MUSIC: "l u v t e a [acoustic]" by Autumn Keys

SOCIAL

[grubbsthebugbear]

I just learned to use Onenote in training for my new management position and I said “this is basically Scrivener!” and nobody knew what I was talking about.

[skydreamer]

"I'm somone who takes notes on my phone while I'm out of the house, on the go... about to fall asleep-" is the most relatable sentence ever

[blabbinglobster]

I've said this before, but it's worth saying again: Shaelin is an absolute genius. The intricacy of this alternative world is almost more than my mind can take!

[devinkelly]

This is so invaluable. I don’t write fantasy, but the way you connect threads and ideas to societal structure to how they will be presented in the novel via character pov is so universal. This gave me so much to think about. Thank you!

[StoryGirl]

I use Scrivener for my worldbuilding. I have family trees, character interviews, timelines, information about locations, powers characters might have, and more. I have not attempted to make any maps yet, but I could put them in there if I wanted. The character profiles sometimes include images that capture the general look of the character in question.

In the main one I am currently writing the general layout of the story bible section (it also contains the actual stories themselves which I can look at in a split screen with my notes if I need to) is the following:
- Entities
— Characters (includes character interviews, family trees, various groups)
— Objects & Artifacts
— Newsworthy (which is where timelines and historical events are)
- Framework
— The World (this is were both geographical stuff and powers go among other things)
— Society
— Glossary (includes terms I need to keep definitions consistent on as well as spellings that might get mangled)

It’s a lot more detailed than that and not everything is filled out, but when I have the info I have a spot for it.

————————————

For a sandbox world I am building, I am currently using Campfire, the offline one, Pro, I think. I don’t think it’s still available. I don’t know if I like it very much, but I have found a way to use it that works for me and since I bought it, I figure I should at least try to use it. I will say character profiles on there look amazing. The tools are useful. I just don’t know how to utilize them well. Right now I am mostly using it to collect info and catalogue that info. I did set up a project for a series I am working on so I could see how different tools work and it looks descent. I don’t see me getting the current version since it’s online only (so far as I understand, I haven’t looked very closely) and I dislike things that require the internet to access my writing. Doesn’t mean I won’t use them just that they aren’t my first choice.

[greendragonfly]

This task is #1 on my bucket list. Everything since high school is in notebooks and folders in an old steamer trunk. Thanks for the super helpful and clear outline on Notes.

[theorosef]

I'm making a similar worldbuilding bible in Notion, which I absolutely love. since I'm also making one big world to set several stories in, I was having trouble organizing story info VS general worldbuilding, but I love how you've set things up! I think I'll do something similar in my own project. awesome video!

[-alexanderhosch-]

Another really great planning note software is Obsidian. It shares alot of the note aspects like indepth folder systems with onenote but it has community modding as a key feature.

However! It is a bit less approachable than one note.

[miiixxx]

I'm literally writing a fantasy book right now and i desperately needed this video so Thank you 💘

[AdamFishkin]

I really, really like your layouts. Been attempting today to get OneNote to do it like that, but it hasn't been cooperating.
9:40 Fun fact: there are different types of monarchies, seeing as different families will have preferences for *how* they rule.

[tamekaflemingwrites]

I never thought of One Note for worldbuilding but it makes sense; especially because they have an app. I'm learning Notion so I can transfer my writing projects from Scrivener because it does not have an app. It makes a difference. We creators get ideas sporadically and having portable writing software is a necessity.

[iiiiitsmagreta]

_hums with excitement for these stories_

[african_chris]

I have this book where I manually write everything down. I even draw maps. All my fiction work, although unrelated, take place in the same universe so that huge notebook helps me keep track of everything. All the names of the characters and their date of births and everything in between. I dread switching to digital “world building”.

[newtocamelot]

This looks great! I’m not doing high fantasy but I am building a speculative world where I am setting various stories in, so something like this would be very helpful for me.

[smpritchard]

I've been starting to flesh out the world bible for my hard SF setting, so this video is very timely! I was hoping you'd cover this topic at some point.

[NighthawkX]

Glad that more people are finally using this app. I've always thought it is amazing for worldbuilding

[preston]

I think the best representation of a closed system story line is the tv show Lost. I can easily see how each character, location, and motivation would be laid out in a "story bible" for that particular show. Thanks for the channel, I got some good advice from a few of the videos.

[Scott-qjwt]

Excellent video! I'm going to impliment this method immediately. Thanks!

[notseiseno]

Completely off topic but you and Lil Simsie have IDENTICAL voices (or at least that’s how they sound to me specifically) it’s very interesting to me! I also use OneNote religiously at this point so thank you for this vid!!

[stevelucido]

I use OneNote religously for my RPG games to keep a 'bible' of People (NPC's and PC's) Places, and Things (monsters, items, tech and/or Magic). Then a section to keep brief notes on game sessions for recaps and as a timeline.