Revisiting My Story Bible 5 Years Later and Seeing How Far I’ve Come
- Cambri Morris
- Jul 1
- 5 min read
After 5 long years of battling burnout, lack of motivation, imposter syndrome, and a busy college schedule, I finally finished The Hole in the Sky, a sci-fi rebellion story about a mute young woman who must overcome fear to free her family from their Tarin taskmasters.
Out of curiosity (and a shameless ploy to find material to write marketing content about), I opened the world-building document that I created way back when I first started this story. It was fascinating to look back on what I was thinking when I planned The Hole in the Sky. Things turned out so differently!
To me, this is a lesson in procrastination. Sometimes planners like me spend too much time planning a novel and figuring out all the details, many of which will never get used. The writing is what gets the story out, and I need to remember to get there as fast as possible next time.
I thought my readers might be interested in seeing where The Hole in the Sky started, so without further ado, here are some interesting tidbits I found in my story bible.
Characters
It was so interesting to read about my original ideas for the starring characters. Some stayed very close to their original conception, others took on a life of their own as I started drafting. After years of struggling to push myself to finish writing, reading these bios was a nice reminder of why I started writing The Hole in the Sky in the first place.
Yena
Yena’s full name is Julyena.
Yena has terrible posture.
Originally, Yena snuck out to visit her sister and her parents as often as Pren did, but now she’s the goody-two-shoes who is terrified of breaking the rules.
Rade
Here’s a gem I found in his profile: “He hopes to eat a bag of Doritos and drink an ice-cold beer while watching all the episodes of Incredibility that he missed while he was gone (and maybe take a few interviews with reporters).”
Rade’s being Black was way more important to the story in early drafts, but I’ve decided to take the story in a different direction.
Originally, Rade used “frimmy,” a shortened way of saying, “frick me,” as a curse word.
Here’s a snapshot of me trying to figure out what to call Rade’s AI friend:
Riley
Rescue Isn’t Like Everyone Says
Rescue Is Living….
Rade Is Lucky Every Year
Real Intelligence Lacking Experience, Yikes!
Remarkable Intelligence Lacking Experience, Yuck!
Radioactive Insects Live Everywhere…
Rilie
Remarkable Intelligence Lacking In Experience
HIC
History Is Cool
Pren
So…this may be a spoiler…but I found a note that Pren will meet the son of a Tarin guard he killed in book 2.
Mila
Originally, Mila had hair, which is funny because her being bald is such a defining characteristic for her now.
Mooka
Poor Mooka doesn’t have a profile. He must have become important as I was writing. I can say that Mooka will get a POV in book 2, though!
Plot
For the most part, the plot stayed very similar to what I’d originally planned, which was reassuring because it meant that my original ideas had merit. Hopefully, in the next book, I won’t be so unsure whether or not my ideas will be any good.
Originally, the rebellion was going to use a symbol to inspire hope in the workers and gain new followers, but I got a note that it would be too much like The Hunger Games. I also used to have a scene where Rade taught Yena how to read. It was so cute and made their romantic relationship develop a little faster than it does now, but it didn’t fit with the direction of the final draft.
World Building
This was the section I found most entertaining because it brought me back to how much fun I had when I was world building. Towards the end of drafting The Hole in the Sky, I had a really hard time finding motivation to write because the fun was gone. Reminding myself how much fun I had planning this book brought back a little bit of the love I had for the story.
Here are rapid-fire facts about Earth during Rade’s time:
Education systems are catered to individual students with the help of AI instructors
North Korea is a free country now
Russia has surrendered to Ukraine (I wrote this note before the war broke out in 2024!)
The original conflict between Russia and Ukraine started WWIII
Texas declared war on the US government, but eventually agreed to a rocky truce
Drone delivery, magnetic trains, AI robots used for medicine, education, and servants, etc.
Nanotech clothes (as seen in Rade’s jacket)
Things you didn’t know you didn’t know about Tarinoe:
The Tarin use underwater transportation (forgot about this…I’ll have to explore it in book 2!)
I have a note that just says “surveillance fish,” and I’m not sure what that means, but I’m intrigued.
Their weapons (and everything else, for that matter) are powered by bioelectricity.
Tarin live longer than humans (about 150 years)
Also, Tarin hair glows!!! Because of the bioluminescence! I totally forgot to include this, and now I feel like I need to go back and add this in.
Deviating From the Plan
Anyone who has written a novel will tell you that nothing ever goes exactly to plan. Go ahead, do the world building, research your heart out, and create a beautiful story bible for your world, but don’t be surprised if you, like me, end up with a book that didn’t quite follow your original blueprint. That’s part of what makes writing so exciting!
When Was the Last Time You Read Through Your Story Bible?
Being a writer can be tough because it’s completely self-motivated until you start making money. Sometimes it’s hard to keep writing when you’re in the middle of rewriting or revisions—I’ve been there! After reading through my story bible, I wish I’d done this ages ago, when I was struggling with finding motivation to write.
Even if you look through your story bible a lot, if you’re like me, you probably visit the same parts constantly, while forgetting about others. I challenge you to read through the whole document. You never know what your past self was genius enough to write down, and you may just find inspiration that will give you the motivation to keep going.
Want to Read the Final Version of The Hole in the Sky for Yourself?
Click on the button below to read chapter 1 for free!
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