Timeline Spread [Part 01]
How does your timeline go? When was the Great Cataclysm? When did recorded history begin? Did your MC meet the love of their life when they were 27 or 28? The threads of time are oft tangled.
It can be mentally exhausting to keep track of your world’s timeline. All the timelines, really. That’s where this spread [and many like it] comes in.
Enter: The Timeline Spread [Part 01]
Do you ever feel like you’re trying to sort out some massive conspiracy theory of linked events when you sit down to write? And you just can’t remember which event happens first, or which is required to happen later because of reasons?
Me too. There are dozens and dozens of timelines to track when you’re writing a novel. You’ve got your world’s creation, the history of your main city, the core family’s timeline, the ruling family timeline, the history of major events, oh my gods you have to keep track of the FUTURE too. Never mind every single character and their intricate lives.
It’s a lot.
So this is going to wind up being a lot of spreads.
Let’s dive into the first one.
Tracking Your MC and a Key Relationship
For this spread, I decided to show you how I track Thea’s life in relation to her partner Tobi’s. I answer questions like when did they meet? Where did their paths cross? What from their childhoods made them who they are so that they would come together as partners?
The key to this spread is to include enough years of your characters’ lives that you can get a clear picture of where they came from, where they are during your story, and where they go after the story ends. Usually I work in a B5 notebook, but decided to use an A5 since it’s a more accessible size. Since I’m in a smaller notebook, I scrunched years 0-6 for both characters into two lines by using a … whatever the squiggly line to denote compressed values in a graph is called. I’m sorry, I’m not a math person.
After marking off the years - with each dot being six months for me - I labeled which line was for which character. Thea’s on top and Tobi is on the bottom.
Next, I started blocking in major life events for each character. I thought about when they would’ve met. What would’ve brought them together? Why are they both in Hadar?
I had to redact a fair bit of text on this spread because of spoilers. There are a multitude of events that make Thea who she is and that turn Tobi into the immigrant bard he became. Even without the specific events, you can see the goal of this spread: to track how two lives intertwine and organize major events for easy reference.
The last bits of this spread that I find incredibly useful are the symbol-coded note sections. Notes about Thea’s timeline are in the upper right corner of the spread and notes for Tobi are in the lower left. This is a good use of space, but also lets you expand on ideas when your timeline is really cramped.
When you’re writing, you can use this spread as a reference document. No one but you knows the intricate backstories of your characters, and this spread is ideal for visual learners who like data all in one place.
What do you think?
Tracking timelines can be an arduous and difficult endeavor, and I hope this spread is an extra tool in your toolbox to organize your story. I’ve found it incredibly helpful to organize my backstories in Call to Fire. I have a lot of characters to keep track of, and sometimes it’s tough to remember which of them knows what or did what and with whom. If you found this spread helpful - or if you have feedback or questions - I’d love to hear from you. DM me on Instagram @RowanTheWriter_ or send me an email.
