Why Have World History In The First Place?History has defined our modern existence. It is what has led up to this point, this world, here and now. And since history is so important to our world, why wouldn't it be when creating a fantasy world? Time shapes and molds any world, and this is true of fantasy worlds as well. So lets learn about how to create general history of a world. RelevanceObviously, you don't want to devise an entire history that has absolutely no relationship to the story you are telling. While it can be beneficial to have a general idea of history, you aren't going to want specifics for every little event in history. You wouldn't ever get to actually writing! I would recommend you have a general idea of major wars, uprising, political shifts, etc... but not a ton of detail. The history you should focus on is what is pertinent to your plot. For example, if you have an ancient evil re-emerging, you should have a very good idea of the history surrounding said evil. You should know how they rose to power, what horrible things they did, how come they haven't re-emerged until now, etc... And you should know what ripple effects they've had. Was a new country created by them that's still in existence? Did the class system get completely upset and put a different species in charge? Consider all angles of events relevant to your story. Keep A Timeline!For any history or story, it would be wise to keep a timeline. You should really know what happened first, how far apart events were, and so on, or else your story will seem messy and not thought through. Timelines don't have to be fancy graphics, they can simply be a list with the dates and events in order. In fact, please do keep it simple. I spent far too much time trying to find a good, free, online timeline graphic maker before I realized all you need is a list you can view. But How Do I Reveal My History?This is a tricky thing. There are a few paths you can take, and I'll recommend which I prefer. One way you can reveal history is by something like a prologue, giving the history that is relevant to your story. I would not recommend this way for the most part, because I feel it's too much exposition. I made this mistake with The Castaway Hero, and I am still kicking myself over it. The second way you could reveal history this through bits and pieces of dialogue. Have a character refer to "the battle of troll hill," or "the great treaty," in passing. This makes it easy to hint at a larger history, without going into info dumps of history. The third way I know is having a character monologue it. This is my kind of middle ground, and I use it a fair amount, especially in the upcoming sequels to The Castaway Hero. I personally prefer to have an ancient character give these, and only when it's important. For example, The Giant in The Castaway Hero delivers some info about how The Peacekeeper Stones wound up in special temples and sanctuaries, and how this ties in with how he knew of the hero's before their arrival. To End.I hope this has been helpful to at least get you started on the history of your world. This is not meant to be an in depth guide, but in the near future I plan on going a bit more in depth about how to really flesh out history and events, and implementing history into your world. And now for the shameless plug.
If you found this helpful and want to support me, please consider purchasing my debut novel, Stones of The Middle Lands: The Castaway Hero, available on Amazon HERE and Barnes and Noble HERE. If you have already read The Castaway Hero, please leave a review on all three platforms. It really helps us authors to know what you liked, what you didn't, and it makes us actually feel appreciated. Also be sure to check out my ever growing collection of short stories HERE. I hope you enjoyed, and until next time, keep on writing!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Welcome to The Writers Block!AuthorKen Mears is a new 17 year old author, here to share his wisdom, advice, and experiences with you, the reader! Archives
August 2020
Categories
All
|