The Timeline
In a few of my prior posts, I pointed to how content creation can be a sea of ideas and images, which is to say a big bang level event happened inside your head, forcing you to put fingers on a keyboard or pen to journal to keep it from driving you to drink. Characters love to chatter at all hours of the day should you choose to ignore them and wait until it is convenient for you to toss a few conceptual ideas into a half-backed, rudimentary outline. Trust me, appeasing them is your best option and put your best foot forward in doing so. You know why? They are in your head, so they will know.
As I continue to hone my knowledge and respect for the craft, I discovered another fine art to keeping all those swirling ideas coherent by creating appropriate timelines. In my research, I have discovered some commonalities: consistency, accuracy, and versatility to name a few. The articles I have listed below in the Resources section are a small sampling of various techniques. The only question you need to ask is how much or how little of your story do you want to plan?
In the beginning, my vision for the Sy’Arrian Legacy Series was not a series at all. My intent was to write a single-story focusing on the retrieval of an ancient sword designed to unite the races with underpinnings of a race called the Sonics who could touch the five primary elements of fire, water, air, earth, and the spirit. My protagonist, Lourous Mirriam and the ability to shape the five primary elements I just mentioned are the only surviving, foundational pieces in the current iteration.
During my early years of writing, it never occurred to me creating a timeline was necessary due to an act of sheer folly, i.e., I did not need one because I can keep everything in my story straight without the need for tons of planning. Right? It was not until I began building an entire universe and consolidating copious amounts of notes, stuffed in every nook you could imagine, did I realize how naïve my young mind had been. In the Writers Helping Writers link below, Angela Ackerman summed it up nicely: when we sit down to write a novel, most of us already have almost a book’s worth of notes tucked away in computer files, stored in writing apps, scribbled on notepads, or stuffed into the coffee-glazed ridges of our brain.
Just like those scattered notes, if you do not create some semblance of order in your story, no matter its complexity or genre, content consumers will notice and level appropriate criticism in your direction. When I created the first iteration of The Cradle of Destiny, which had been written under the title, The Dark Traveler, it was abundantly clear to a very astute and story loving co-worker of mine when she read my prologue. My first mistake? Calling a painfully long, 40-page narrative a prologue. When you consider the relatively short attention spans of certain content consumer groups, even a 40-page chapter is too long, which is a topic for another time.
It was not until I began fully fleshing out the backgrounds of my primary and supporting characters, did I realize my loosely put together with duct tape and a prayer, flow chart of events would not cut it if I wanted readers and potential publishers to take my bundle of joy seriously. Admittedly, proper character background development will suffice, in most cases, to build a proper timeline. As I mentioned previously, the level of detail will be determined by the complexity of the world you build.
It is one thing if you are creating a romance novel set during a specific timeframe in our planet’s history with a few key characters. If you are creating an entirely new universe with different races, religions or non-religions, fantastical technologies and several factions, content consumers will notice inconsistencies in your world building if you did not properly flesh out how everything came into existence.
Remember the co-worker I mentioned who reviewed my first prologue? After reading her pointed questions and constructive feedback, I took to heart everything she mentioned, endeavoring to put the same level of attention to detail as I did when I served in the military and in my current position with state government. Once I determined how the Sy’Arrian Legacy should evolve, crafting the appropriate level of detail and necessary depth, not only for my characters but for their unique cultures, became effortless.
One of the considerations mentioned in the research links below is how old are your characters? In my universe, Sy’Arrians can live well past 800 years of age with many of the other races experiencing smaller but similar lifespans. During the first developmental phases of the series, I referenced certain historical events, which shaped Sy’Arrian culture in significant ways. Key characters involved in these events were born several hundred years prior to said events. What they did before and after are details which can make them more believable, while also helping explain why they may respond a certain way when put in challenging situations.
The fine-tuning I have performed in the last couple of months for book two, The Fury of Ages, has been creating a historical timeline of the Hyprovians beginning in 6000PE (Primordial Era), which is roughly 3300 years prior to our Bronze Age. It may seem a bit much but keep in mind, the races I will be introducing in books two, three, four, and five all intertwine to guide the story to series completion. Each race has varying levels of longevity, personal connections to characters of the other key races, and complex histories. Creating a timeline for each, denoting their first recorded histories is a must.
Creating a timeline similar to what I mentioned for the Hyprovians is merely a tool at this point. It will help me avoid making mistakes when characters engage with each other in recalling their histories or citing cultural specifics. The one thing I learned after writing The Dark Traveler is how difficult it can be to correct inconsistencies in character descriptions and histories after the book is finished. Yes, it is part of the editing process but based on the complexity of changes, you could end up with a big mess on your hands.
In the end, do not beat yourself up. For most of us, the creative process inherently operates in reverse order. You create an initial concept, do your best to put it into an outline and begin writing. This is normal, however, if you find during your editing phases too many details being missed, you may want to take a step back to determine if a timeline is in your future.
Feel free to post your questions or comments. I will respond, if need be, when I am able.
Resources:
How A Timeline Helps You Plot A Novel (Writerswrite): https://www.writerswrite.co.za/how-a-timeline-helps-you-when-you-plot/
The Efficient Writer: Using Timelines to Organize Story Details (Writers Helping Writers): https://writershelpingwriters.net/2017/04/the-efficient-writer-using-timelines-to-organize-story-details/
Timelines (One Stop for Writers): https://onestopforwriters.com/about_timeline
