Writing Fun! – DIY World Building Timeline

When I first started writing, I just had to get started and go. This jumping in with both feet is a great way to get started on your first book. I have found many people advise doing this rather than editing as you go, as it allows the creative juices to flow freely. However, I soon discovered that I had a reasonably messy timeline to work with. As I got into the editing stage, I found that organizing my timeline was extremely important, especially with all the books I plan to write in this fictional world. I now have a timeline that sits on my plot board. It is still a work in progress as I encounter more things I need to dive into and build a background on to keep the history in order. Let’s just say I now know why Tolkien spent over twelve years building his fictional world of Middle-Earth. But because I didn’t want to wait that long to publish my books, I started tracking each piece of history as it arose, both on paper and digital platforms. So how did I do this? I started on paper, taking a lesson from a grad school history project I did when I was younger. Let’s take a look at this crafty approach to building a timeline.

Note: Keep in mind that you don’t have to make a physical timeline. I just like to do this because it is fun and easier for me to think through things when I have a craft to interact with, rather than just typing things out.

What You Will Need

• Unlined paper

• Tape

• Pens

• Ruler or some other way to keep your lines straight.

• Sticky notes

Build Your Timeline

1. Start by writing out a tentative history of your world. This can be a simple timeline either done on paper or on your computer. Your goal is to organize your main timeline events so you will have something to base your other timeline details on.

2. Build your timeline. Get your paper, tape, and ruler. If you use individual printer pages rather than a roll of paper, tape the pages together on the short edge to form a long thin strip. Make the timeline longer than you think you will need unless you plan on just doing a short timeline. Using your ruler to keep it straight, draw three lines, one down the middle from left to right, then two more, one two inches down from the top and one two inches up from the bottom.

3. Take your main timeline events and write them on the paper. Keep in mind how far these events are from each other, time wise. I prefer to start with the earliest one and the latest one. This way, you can have your beginning and end marked and then fill in the middle, estimating visually the amount of time between each event. Once you are finished, you should have your main events marked on your timeline in chronological order. It can be helpful to write your main events on sticky notes and move them around until you know where you want them, then write them onto the timeline once you are ready.

4. Fill in the gaps with the lesser-known events. This is where the three lines become important. I have three lines for the main categories of characters. The good guys (not including my main characters) are on top, the bad guys are on the bottom line, and the main characters are in the middle. This way, I can keep track of what the bad guys are doing while my characters are going through one event and what the good guys are doing to impact both the bad guys and my main character. If you need more or wish to do one for each character, you can. Just note how much space you will need and accommodate for that needed space. If you have a lot of characters, you may want to make an overall timeline and separate timelines for the good guys, the bad guys, and your main character. Again, it can be helpful to use sticky notes to be able to move things around until you know where things go and are ready to write them directly onto the timeline.

Once you have all the gaps filled in, you can still add things in on colored sticky notes. Just like before, if you decide to keep an event permanently, you can transfer the information from the sticky note to the timeline. Now you have your paper timeline! Whoo-hoo! Now that you have your paper timeline, I suggest you create a digital one just in case something happens to your paper copy. Have fun!

Do you like DIY crafts? Make a timeline and share a picture of it below in the comments! I would love to see it!

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Let’s Talk Books! – J. R. R. Tolkien, The Father of Modern Fantasy Literature

There are many great authors out there, some no longer with us, and some just getting started. Some of the most famous authors, specifically in the fantasy genre, are two of my personal favorites, J. R. R. Tolkien and his friend and colleague, C. S. Lewis. Together these two authors changed the face of fantasy writing for the better! The worlds they built and the characters they created are still known by both fantasy fans and those who don’t often read in that genre! It seems that, even if one doesn’t read much about fantasy, they still know who these two writers are and what works they published. But for today’s author focus, I would like to focus on Tolkien. So, let’s dive in and learn a little about who this author was and how his most famous books, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, came to be.

A Brief Background

John Ronald Ruel Tolkien was born in South Africa on January 3rd, 1892 (reference 3). His father, a bank clerk, died in 1896, shortly after Tolkien’s birth (reference 2). After his father’s death, Tolkien’s mother moved him and his brother back to England, where he grew up in Bermingham. His mother, whose catholic beliefs influenced her son’s beliefs, passed away in 1904 (reference 1). After his mother’s death, Tolkien and his siblings were raised by a catholic priest (reference 1). Tolkien later fell in love with Edith Bratt, who eventually inspired one of his characters (reference 2). However, he was not able to marry her until he was released from his guardian’s legal authority and thus waited to purpose until he was twenty-one (reference 1).

Tolkien attended Exeter College, Oxford, even working with them later in his career to help develop the Oxford Dictionary (reference 4). Tolkien graduated in 1915 before joining the military, being a second lieutenant in the Lancashire Fusiliers (reference 3). His military service began rather slowly before he was deployed to the Battle of Somme, where he tragically lost multiple close friends (reference 3). Tolkien’s military service was cut short when he contracted Trench fever and was sent back on medical leave (reference 3). Though he served the military in other ways, he did not return to action due to a slow recovery from the fever (reference 3).

The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings

In 1917, Tolkien took to writing a history of a fictional world that would eventually be the basis for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. This collection of the history and stories of his fictional world is called The Silmarillion and was said to have been written “partly to provide a setting in which ‘Elvish’ languages he had invented could exist” (reference 1). After being discharged from military service, he worked at Oxford and the University of Leeds (reference 5). Sometime during his years as a professor, Tolkien was inspired to write the first line of The Hobbit. It was while he was grading papers that he wrote the line “In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit” (reference 6).

During his time working on the Oxford Dictionary, he exercised his love of linguistics, studying etymology while he worked on the project (reference 5). Language was something he formed an interest in very early on, and he began inventing languages at the age of thirteen or fourteen (reference 6). In one interview, he described his view of languages saying, “Languages have a flavor to me…a new language is like a new wine or some new sweetmeat…” (reference 6). This love of language inspired the creation of the Elvin language Quenya. Tolkien later wrote The Lord of the Rings, saying in one interview that he wrote it as a sequel to The Hobbit, all of which he wrote because he could not get through other “fairy stories” without wanting to write one himself (reference 7).

Legacy

The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings have influenced not only readers but writers as well. They have carried on his legacy as some of the most popular and commonly known fantasy stories. The books have all been made into highly popular movies, and more recently, The Silmarillion is being utilized to create a TV show, The Rings of Power, to try and explore Tolkien’s history of Middle-Earth. With these massive stories, collections of his fictional world’s history, and detailed languages changing the face of fantasy for us all, J. R. R. Tolkien is now known as the “father of modern fantasy literature,” a title I think very appropriate (Reference 5). His stories continue to hold their own against all other fantasy stories written since, and I don’t see them being overtaken in popularity any time soon.

Have you read The Lord of the Rings or any other works by J. R. R. Tolkien? Comment and let me know what you read. I would love to hear from you!

References

Reference 1: https://www.britannica.com/biography/J-R-R-Tolkien

Reference 2: https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Arthur_Tolkien

Reference 3: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/firstworldwar/people/tolkien.htm

Reference 4: https://www.biographyonline.net/writers/tolkien_jrr.html

Reference 5: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._R._R._Tolkien#:~:text=Tolkien%20is%20popularly%20identified%20as%20the%20%22father%22%20of%20modern%20fantasy%20literature%20or%2C%20more%20precisely%2C%20of%20high%20fantasy

Reference 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTz2-im7s9k

Reference 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yCKXfz_wL8

Disclaimer: I am an Amazon associate and earn from qualifying purchases.

Writing Journal: First eBook Coming Soon!

Dear Journal,

Today I have a very short entry, but a very exciting one. It is finally going to happen! My first full-length novel will be published as an eBook this week! I will be publishing paperbacks shortly and hope to have hard backs available soon as well. But I am so excited! This has been a long process, and I have enjoyed it so much more than I initially thought possible. Things are just getting started, and I can’t wait to start getting this book into people’s hands and hearing what they think.

Sincerely,

Ondrea Keigh