Timeline of a fantasy world?

[Super Fantasy]

How do I create a timeline of previous years for my fantasy novel?
Such as the settlement of the world and creating of cities, war, revolutions, rule of the kingdom and cities by different factions?

 

[Dylan]

How do I create a timeline of previous years for my fantasy novel?
Such as the settlement of the world and creating of cities, war, revolutions, rule of the kingdom and cities by different factions?

Creating a timeline for your fantasy world is such a fun (and important!) part of worldbuilding, it’s like being the historian of your own universe. Here’s a casual step-by-step approach to get you started:

1. Start Big, Then Zoom In: Begin with the *major* events that shaped your world like the settlement of the land, the founding of the first cities, or a cataclysmic event (magical or natural). These are your anchor points. Then, work your way down to smaller, more specific events like wars, revolutions, or the rise and fall of factions.

2. Think Cause and Effect: Every event should have consequences. For example, if there’s a war, how does it change borders, politics, or culture? If a city is founded, what makes it thrive or collapse? This helps your timeline feel dynamic and interconnected.

3. Use Eras or Ages: Divide your timeline into broad eras (e.g., “The Age of Settlement,” “The Era of Blood and Steel,” “The Reign of the Silver Crown”). This gives your world a sense of progression and makes it easier to organize events.

4. Map It Out Visually: Grab a piece of paper or use a digital tool (like Excel, Google Sheets, or even a timeline generator) to plot out your events chronologically. Seeing it visually can help you spot gaps or inconsistencies.

5. Add Cultural Details: Don’t just focus on wars and politics sprinkle in cultural milestones too. When was the first great library built? When did a new religion or magic system emerge? These details make your world feel alive.

6. Leave Room for Mystery: Not every event needs to be fully explained. Maybe there’s a “Dark Age” where records were lost, or a war so ancient that its causes are debated. This adds depth and intrigue to your world.

7. Tie It to Your Story: Think about how this timeline impacts your characters and plot. Are they living in the shadow of a recent revolution? Are they uncovering secrets from an ancient war? This helps make the history feel relevant, not just like background info.

 

[Prince of Spires]

You don't unless it's absolutely necessary for the story.

A bit charged maybe, but you don't need a timeline for almost all tales, unless you're undertaking a Tolkienest-approach to worldbuilding. If you want to tell someone about yor visit to France, you don't normally go into how the Gauls settled it and then got conquered by the Romans, who left when the Roman empire fractures and were then replaced by the Franks. You just tell them of how much you disliked Paris and that the little countryside villages were lovely and that you visited a medieval walled city where they once threw a pig over the wall when they were besieged just to prove they had plenty of food left when in fact they were completely out of food (bonus points for those who know which town that is...).

Point is, you don't need to know your whole timeline. Just a few marks on the map that might be relevant to your story.

How to create those? Well, sit down and think about your story and what matters in it. Maybe you have 2 countries at war. Then you need to know why they are fighting, and perhaps they have a long history together. If you're writing about French-British relationships, then you might want to think about the 100-years war, that sort of thing.

Just keep notes of those events. Write them down somewhere, and fill in the few blanks that feel important. Also if you happen to think of a fun little episode in the history of your world write that down or if certain placenames exist because of historical events. Trafalgar Square in London for instance was created to and named after the sea battle at Trafalgar. This just gives you a list of events. Expand from that.

 

[xena]

Just start by outlining broad historical eras (settlement, conflict, stability, etc.). Identify key events, marking them with dates or periods and adding brief descriptions of the important characters or changes that shaped history. Only put what you'll use on the timeline. A lot of this won't matter as you write, because backstory is mostly useful in context.

 

[Deleted member 16191]

I believe in shortcuts. Start by asking how much of a timeline do I need to understand my world? Keep in mind, we dont exactly have a very human history timeline past a certain point, especially in certain locations. Then, if you really want to start 1000 years before your story, WHY? How does it actually impact your story?
Think for a second about New York City. Very recent, well known history (by global standards). How much of a story set in NYC is really impacted by the city's history? Or, in a crusader story, how much french history matters to the tale? Just a few data points really.
So I'd say start with your book, work backward from there. Ask what parts of your book are confusing to you as an Author without a timeline. What parts would be confusing to your characters without a timeline. What parts would be confusing to reader w/o a timeline. Then you can work on filling in those parts.

 

[Greg Szulgit]

How do I create a timeline of previous years for my fantasy novel?
Such as the settlement of the world and creating of cities, war, revolutions, rule of the kingdom and cities by different factions?

The only two cents that I want to add is that you consider having it be a world in which technology (which might include your magic) evolves. If someone creates a powerful magic sword 1000 years ago, why hasn't the magic / tech moved on so that, when that sword is recovered from a tomb (or whatever), it still holds up as something special? If your world is perpetually stuck in an iron age (becasue that's cool), ask yourself why.

 

[Rexenm]

There are a lot of thing you don’t see in stories. They are quite diverse, as the story goes. There are the usual tropes, like kingdoms at war, rival guilds. The thing you have to believe in, is fighting for a cause. There is rarely any war that cannot be explained by a peace effort.

Sometimes a romance can carry a story. Folk have plenty of reasons to remain loving even in an adventure. Even more reason. The thing you must cultivate around a betrothal, is more obvious than a timeline, but you can change it.

 

[pmmg]

I'm not really sure how to answer this, as its just not something I ever thought of as difficult.

For me....I would start with year 0 and go forward from their till I got to the stories events. For my current story, I was actually writing book 2 before I decided to sit down and write it out. Now I use it as a guide....It actually never appears in the story. It has a lot of detail that may never appear in the story.

Here is an example

There was a spark, and the universe was made.
From the spark, rocks and dust and light spread, and a haze flood over all things.
From the haze, there was magic.
From the magic gods and things of great powers were born.
Stars and planets formed.
On the one planet the Gods found they could make life.
But the gods did not agree...
One god made this race and another this...
There was war....


And just keep going, till I get a good idea of the background, and the how it ties in to where the story starts.

 

[Toob Waysider]

My worlds - a hidden village on the Connecticut Notch border with Massachusetts, and a "vest pocket" (tip of the hat to Bellairs) dimension which only contains a single planet (and a flat one at that) - both have connections to our world. So my timeline is grounded in reality and goes back to the Earth's creation (a combination of scientific theory and a creation mythos.) While I'm always looking for historical events which can be tied in to Connecticut, no matter how tenuous, I also look for historical events from anywhere, both epic and trivial, which I can shoehorn into my timeline with embellishments to highlight possible mythic aspects. Hey, it keeps me off the streets.

 

[RickyArnoldEdwards]

The time line is important, if you desire to have us to gain more knowledge of figures central to your story. The people that you have been able to draw the readers attention to know these details. The way that you have been able to allow us to learn these details that you have written about their difficulties with the races there in the realm.

I have found the details that have been brought to our attention. You want us to know these details for the story. How important are these details you are trying to provide for us to learn these details that you are writing about. Do we absolutely need to know these details. if we don't what will happen to us.

 

[Gurkhal]

As stated before its probably best ot start big and then zoom in.

But I would also add that the world building needs to be connected to your story unless you want to be trapped in the world building swamp as opposed to write your story. What I mean by this is that you need to fully flesh out only what connects with your story and you can be much briefer with things that don't. I'm not saying you should make a shallow world, as a reader can easily pick up on if there's more substance or if there's nothing beneath the waterline, but don't overdo it.

For example Westeros is, in my opinion at least, a story where feudal secular politics takes centre and the main players are noble houses. Thus these are what are fleshed out in the backstory. You don't hear about theological developments outside of its relevance to the feudal politics at the core and the various characters' storylines. Same with many other things. These are not as fleshed out but dealt with much briefer because they don't carry the story as much.

With Tolkien's Middle Earth what is fleshed out is what the story needs. We don't hear about history or development of men's fashion in Gondor because it just isn't relevant to the story. Nor is archecturial trends regarding Hobbit houses in the Shire.

So an advice from someone who is a grizzled veteran of traversing the world building swamp: Don't lose your map but make a straight line towards your target. If things goes really well with your story you can return to flesh out other things in the world at a later time for a sequal.