I’m trying to create a guide to all of the animals that exist in the setting of a story I’m writing. The story takes place in a universe where the earths conditions remained the same as they were about 11,000 years ago. As a result, Pleistocene Conditions and Megafauna survived into the present and live alongside civilized humans (though most are either endangered or locally extinct) The specific location is Florida. During the 11,000 years before the story takes place, many animals migrated into Florida, as a result, biodiversity has never been higher. This is all important due to the fact that these animals have an impact on the world and even the characters! A few of the characters intern/work at a facility known as the Florida Wildlife Conservation Center. It is a home for many non-releasable animals, along with many endangered and locally extinct species. Visitors come far and wide to observe, interact with, and learn about the many amazing animal species that inhabit Florida! But regardless of all of that, I’ve got a list of species that I’m working on. It’s not complete yet, but where getting there! Here’s the list so far! https://docs.google.com/document/d/11z2o3UNN4wlR4oJZRomZNS9QykTK07x0zdetZc_JlTI/edit What I’m trying to figure out though, is how much information I should provide. when it’s complete, the plan is to have basic Information about all of the animals in it. But I feel like I should really go into detail about some of them, stuff like behavior and whatnot. Though I’m not sure of a Wikipedia-Worthy description is needed, nor reasonable. So what would be the best way to go about writing a bestiary for the series and world?
You could have a google sheet with vague information points sorted into columns, and fauna in rows. You can use that to search & sort. Then use the fauna names in the first column to link them to their own google docs. Any information you deem necessary to be available "quick and easy" you can add as a column to the sheet.
Buy one of those bird watcher books, with all the birds listed on the pages, and see how that is organized
