The importance of this can't be over-estimated. Otherwise your timeline starts to lose narrative cohesion and momentum as you frequently change major end goals of your story along the way, so one part of the plot that was building up to a certain conclusion suddenly doesn't make much sense when you decide you want to go in a completely different direction, and then decide after that that you want to go in a third direction.
Where did all the Big Timelines go?
- Thread starter Grouchio
- Start date
- Status
The key to being a good writer is to not have a real life and career.
I'm guilty of this. If you read my TL you'll see points where I made reference to some future event which isn't actually going to happen because my plans changed. Although I think this is somewhat inevitable when you spend months or years on a TL; the key is to minimize the frequency that it happens.
I'm guilty of this to an insane extent, to the point where it paralyzes my writing simply because I still can't figure out what I want to do with the Romans.
Definitely agree with this. You don't need to have everything set in stone well in advance (personally I'd advise against it) but you should have at least the gist of where you're heading in mind so that the narrative is coherent and logical.
Or do what I do. Reference future events but give them vague names that can be adapted for lots of different things. Plus the speculation about what I'm actually talking about is always entertaining and I've gotten some good ideas from there.
First of all, it's not as bad as you think it is. Secondly, Pre-1900 has gradually lost popularity, and many TLs there are just plain done. Thirdly, the population of hyper-talented timeline writers is limited, and isn't even necessarily self-replenishing. Once this site achieved critical mass, a good portion of those who wanted to come on here did so. This population naturally attriticed over time from death and banning. The latter has indeed increased because bannable opinions have metastasized to the internet in recent years, leading to the banning of people who, earlier, would never have expressed their actionable thoughts online.
In general, support Chat bans if you're really concerned about this.
In general, support Chat bans if you're really concerned about this.
Last edited:
One of the unfortunate side-effects of researching two very long timelines is that I simply don't have enough time to read the other long timelines on here.Some people are here to contribute, some are here to read, I guess.
That's a good excuse for not writing a timeline, actually - I'm too busy reading everyone else's great work.
I loved my cesare Borgia timeline... but I did an update every other day for 96 days + replies and maps. By the time my exams started I just had to stop. I'll revive it at some point, but Jesus that timeline was draining.
I agree with both parts, but the second especially. I gave people something to hope for with the title of Africanus (@Mental_Wizard) and it helped keep up interest.
Last edited:
How long does a timeline/alternate history fiction have to be before it's considered big? Or do you mean 'big' as in most popular?
I just reached 160,000 words for my timeline story already, and have plans for so much more. I've never written anything this long before. I love the writing and the research, so writing my timeline is a fun thing for me. Just something I enjoy creating.
I guess with you guys talking about timelines with over a million words, my 160,000 word and growing is still considered small.
If you mean a 'big' timeline as in most popular, then I think that's just personal opinion and taste. I like to read character driven stories with characters and I can relate to. I have difficulties with timelines presented in a wikipedia or research school report way. I know there's others on the forum which prefer the opposite. So I think considering a timeline 'big' in terms of popularity is subjective.
I write from the point of view of children. My stories and PODs are personal relationship focused. Personal choices lead to the worldwide changes. Even with those popular 'different side won a battle' PODs, there has to be personal choices and relationships leading up to it. I also love food and food history. So the alternate history world of my stories has food and trade as a central theme. My alternate Achaemenid empire is really the stage for all my characters to play. I write their experiences, relationships and personal dramas in a first person narrative. When I write I become my character and see through their eyes. My fingers just seem to type by themselves!
As a timeline writer something I do notice is not all readers at least hit 'like' or better, make a comment to show support. I see that with all timelines I've read, not just my own. If I start reading a timeline I will at least hit 'like' to show support and appreciation, and for the hope the author will continue. I don't think every reader is doing that.
For my own timeline I tend to look at the day-to-day increase in viewer numbers because that seems to give a better indication of the number of readers. 'likes' fluctuate wildly and can be really frustrating, and sometimes comments are not always about the recent chapter. So then I ask myself whether or not I should continue sending my chapters to this forum. I think there must a little of that going on with the 'big' timelines too. If a writer feels like they're not receiving enough feedback and support, its going to eat away at their self-esteem. Then they just stop posting their stories due to lack of interest. In which case they may continue writing and never share their stories, or they may take their timelines elsewhere.
Most people have lots going on in their lives, like others of you have said. For most of us timeline writing is a nice creative hobby. At the moment I'm on summer break, so I have lots of extra writing time. After school starts again things will be different and I'll probably go back to sending a chapter every 3 or 4 days.
I just reached 160,000 words for my timeline story already, and have plans for so much more. I've never written anything this long before. I love the writing and the research, so writing my timeline is a fun thing for me. Just something I enjoy creating.
I guess with you guys talking about timelines with over a million words, my 160,000 word and growing is still considered small.
If you mean a 'big' timeline as in most popular, then I think that's just personal opinion and taste. I like to read character driven stories with characters and I can relate to. I have difficulties with timelines presented in a wikipedia or research school report way. I know there's others on the forum which prefer the opposite. So I think considering a timeline 'big' in terms of popularity is subjective.
I write from the point of view of children. My stories and PODs are personal relationship focused. Personal choices lead to the worldwide changes. Even with those popular 'different side won a battle' PODs, there has to be personal choices and relationships leading up to it. I also love food and food history. So the alternate history world of my stories has food and trade as a central theme. My alternate Achaemenid empire is really the stage for all my characters to play. I write their experiences, relationships and personal dramas in a first person narrative. When I write I become my character and see through their eyes. My fingers just seem to type by themselves!
As a timeline writer something I do notice is not all readers at least hit 'like' or better, make a comment to show support. I see that with all timelines I've read, not just my own. If I start reading a timeline I will at least hit 'like' to show support and appreciation, and for the hope the author will continue. I don't think every reader is doing that.
For my own timeline I tend to look at the day-to-day increase in viewer numbers because that seems to give a better indication of the number of readers. 'likes' fluctuate wildly and can be really frustrating, and sometimes comments are not always about the recent chapter. So then I ask myself whether or not I should continue sending my chapters to this forum. I think there must a little of that going on with the 'big' timelines too. If a writer feels like they're not receiving enough feedback and support, its going to eat away at their self-esteem. Then they just stop posting their stories due to lack of interest. In which case they may continue writing and never share their stories, or they may take their timelines elsewhere.
Most people have lots going on in their lives, like others of you have said. For most of us timeline writing is a nice creative hobby. At the moment I'm on summer break, so I have lots of extra writing time. After school starts again things will be different and I'll probably go back to sending a chapter every 3 or 4 days.
Last edited:
This is important when planning out your TL. I favor very little foreshadowing in my TL, because it gives me flexibility to consider where I want the narrative to go as I work out my outlines. That, and I simply don't believe in tipping my hand too early in the narrative.
The "I'm changing my mind about where this is going to end up" hurts a lot of the TLs that are structured in the format of modern history texts. Having history books from the Library of Parliament, Republic of Gondwanaland rather boxes the TL author into making sure that you don't change your mind about Gondwanaland between the start of the TL and the relevant date.
For me I'd say 20 posts/30k words. Those million word ones are like half the length (or more) of TL-191, so they are definitely rare in comparison.
- BNC
I would say that anything over a novella length TL (We'll call that anything longer than 40K words is long, after all, you're still talking a few hours of solid reading time to consume a TL of even 40K words.) is worth of the designation of a big TL. Stories like "Out of the Azure Main" over in the ASB section go into their own category, as they are massive. That one, if memory serves me correctly has eaten up 3 entire threads. It's not "big", it goes beyond "huge", it might even go beyond "OMG!WTF!"
I want to second Shoshana about the issue of "likes." If you enjoyed the introductory post of a TL, please "Like" it. As an author, the only thing that makes my day more than a "like" is when readers post their appreciation of the story or provide constructive feedback.
Something I have noticed with TLs over on the ASB section (I split my reading time between pre 1900 and ASB, avoiding general chat like the plague), if you're a writer and you release a chapter each week or even less often, you should probably expect that your readers won't be quite as active or participatory as the writer dropping three or more chapters each week. Many readers like binge reading, and an author who has 10 or more chapters each month will produce a lot more content for his/her fans to consume than then writer who produces 3 or 4 each month.
Something else for writers to consider, and I admit this is a little gamey. But if you know your next chapter is a few days away, and you're about to fall off the 2nd or 3rd page, ask a question of your readers, something that is relevant to your TL or research. In my own TL, over on ASB, I knew I was going to be writing a chapter on a US presidential election a couple of chapters out, so I sought feedback about what the readers thought. It kept my thread on the first page, so that new readers could find it and also allowed me to tap the knowledge of my readers, who in many cases, are smarter than me. Don't just bump your TL, the mods do not like that, no, the purpose is to engage your readers and seek feedback.
Deleted member 67076
In my TL, I tried to find the golden middle regarding foreshadowing, and what I ended up on was basically "only foreshadow an event if you are fully certain that you will add it to the TL". It's not a problem to me, as I have planned out pretty much the entirety of my TL up to present day by now, but it might not be a good approach for others, who might not like such railroading.
That's a good idea. I tried doing that a few times, myself.
I've always comtemplated the idea of doing my own timeline, but I then fear the amount of research that I may have to do and that I may otherthink the whole bloody scenario. Pretty ironic
Im in the middle of another rewrite of my nixon timeline and am also suffering from some writers block.
I will comment that the issue of readers hitting the like button or not. I know that i almost called it quits on my tl a while back but the two guys who always like just about every chapter kept me chugging along.
- Status