I have a bad tendency to wait until the last minute to write down the history of my worlds, races, etc. I'll be going about a chapter happily and then stop... and realize that I'm having one of my characters explain the history of a world I hadn't even come up with yet...it's rather strange when history just pops into your mind and you don't even have think about it. So I was pondering a few questions;

Do you think up the history of your world before or while you are writing it in the book? Why? What is the best method for you to write the history of your world?

Vanessa Star (A.K.A Bethany Faith)

That tends to be how I write history...on the first day of November I discovered that there used to be some powerful empire in the history of my NaNo world, and that ended up being incredibly important to the whole story. :lol:

I don't usually sit down and world-build, and that extends to the history. Either I had an idea for a story in the past of the world or it happened to come up while I was writing.

Hmm, I haven't had to deal with this either. My historical novel is based on our world history so I tend to do research before and in the middle of it as well.

I do that with my worlds. It comes far more naturally to me as I write than when I plot it out.

I haven't written my book yet, but I am doing tons of world building.
History is something I have particularly been working on.

Like older sister, like little sister Katie likes doing this stuff too, doesn't she?

Oh no, not at all. Katie does not world build. Katie makes it up as she goes along.
For instance: I'm writing Prince of Yen right now. (for the sixth time.) I suddenly realized I needed some obscure history in the form of fairy tales. The tales could be anything, but they needed to tie in with the history of Elleys.

History that didn't exist.

So I just wrote the tales and figured I'd figure out the history based off of them, rather than the other way around. World building takes too long, and I want to write!

Nope, Elisha and I have very different writing methods.

*chuckles * Ah. I see. Then you would make quite a pair, wouldn't you?

My stories tend to be very present-grounded, so sometimes history (besides character backstory) doesn't play a huge role. As a result, I sometimes ignore it to a fault... and only make it up when I realize I need it. :-)

I'm working to break this habit by doing some additional world-building, including history development, for one of my fantasy worlds. It was difficult at first, but once I got some ideas going, they fell together and actually strengthened the present by giving more "why" behind the "what."

I use a combination of both. I have a general idea for the background History because it often takes center stage for the novel. But a lot of it I come up with on the fly, because for me that's more effective than just sitting down and coming up with stuff. It flows for naturally, for me.

Personally I like to world build a little, usually in the middle of the night, but NOTHING gets down on paper...

Delayed response---

I think this thread is what led me to discover this forum.

So, I'm going to add to this discussion as I was never sure the correct way of going about history building.

I have been working on a universe from when I was a young kid saving a copy onto a 8inch floppy disk (I got so excited that I didn't have to write everything in pencil anymore).

What I do is create history as a story. (I feel like Lucas did this as well). If I need an historical event, I'll use fuzzy details. Then, if I am feeling adventurous, I'll go back and flesh out that story in detail. I feel like where Lucas messed up was where he knew he had mentioned something called the clone wars but didn't really follow the little details he did give (he mentioned an idealistic fool crusade whereas it was more of an all out war to prevent the secessionist movement from becoming a reality.)

Example- "Liam ran along the stone wall that had been part of the foundation of an old roman fort."

Stone walls were made from a buildings foundation. how big was the building? How was the foundation sufficient enough for the wall? If it was Roman and the kids name is Liam, is it later in the Roman rule when they were in Brittan?

You get different elements that you can build on later or just scatter through to give a lived-in feel.

But then, there are times when ancient history is not really a matter of dire need for a character. Sometimes a general myth will do that could be taken from pre-history. Those are easier to handle because if you want to revisit the idea later, you don't need to get the facts quite right as it is myth and some of the facts will be skewed anyway.

But does anyone know a way of creating a varied history that doesn't sound made up?

In mid-2010, I created my first story idea which actually turned out to be, I guess, a short book, but after that, I got LOADS of ideas.

So, I either started them - and then I lost interest/devotion/whatever, or I just didn't think it was exciting as I thought when I came up with the idea.

So, about a year ago, I started revisiting all of those lost/abandoned story project/ideas and re-doing, sometimes combining, or just re-writing them. I started with my first ever story and then I...*Realizes he is WAY off-topic*

Sorry.

Okay, so, when I get to the story...it depends on what type of story it is.

For my most recent one (Sci-fi story, real-time, ran from November 2011-June 2012) I came up with the idea, laid out an outline, filled in some things (The other things I already made), and then got to work.

For the one I am working on right now (November 2012-either November 2012-January/February 2013) I am writing out a story outline, but again, I have already either developed the 'history/background' of most of the people, species, and storyline that I don't need to do that.

I'd say, basically, I do this:

1) Lay out an outline of what NEEDS to be in it.
2) Work on story outline
3) Then I hoof it from there, 'cuz even though most of my stories are sci-fi, they are broad in terms of stories, characters, technology, etc.

Hmmm.

Though I am not exactly a writer, and I've only written one sci-fi plot thus far, most of my stories' history comes up as I am plot building. In historical genres, the history GREATLY determines the story, but in sci-fi, you must make up your own. For me, world history / world building falls readily into place. As I wrote my plot, if I thought of a new twist that called for a seperate goverment, well, I simply wrote it in! If having four competing governments in (relatively) close proximity didn't make much sense, well, I simply created my own geography.

So, I guess I would say just roll with it as best you can.

I, by necessity, have planned out the general outline of history, and much more detail on recent history within my world. The subplot has a lot to do with politics, and politics are shaped by events.

It depends. For my later stories the history is incredibly in-depth and planned out; but when I go back to the first books in the series, the history is spotty and invented as I go along.

All basic history is already pre-made (humans) though as I write, but any other history that comes along I leave it that way. Then I go and world build after. =)

While for the rest of my races, I still have no idea.

I have two methods of writing history:

A. Stuffing in random snatches of it where it's needed when it's needed.

B. Or opening up a separate filing system with documents for each country/planet/race and going back to when they were founded by savages and who came and fought whom and how their trade systems work and and and. XD

I always try to write out histories first, while I'm world-building, but both of them tend to be put off until after the first draft is done (NaNos) or about halfway through and to the point where I want to start over from scratch.