How to Create History: An Author’s Guide to Creating Histories, Myths, and Monsters

by A. Trevena

Want to create a rich history for your world, but don’t know where to start? Need help creating a past that impacts on your characters and their stories? How to Create History breaks the process down into easy-to-follow steps. By completing a series of creative prompts, this book will guide you from your present world, back through its deep history. This workbook will help you * Create a historic timeline of important events * Tie your world’s history into its present to impact the lives of your characters * Use historic events to create a world that feels attached and connected to the past * Create ideologies and beliefs that raise the stakes and cause conflict Work your way through prompts designed to fully integrate your world’s history into the story you’re writing. Learn how to create superstitions, beliefs, and monsters that can propel your characters forward, or stop them in their tracks. Get How to Create History today, and take control of the past. Available as both an ebook Guidebook and a paperback Workbook with space for answering each prompt.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Role Playing Games

102 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 29, 2021

About the author

Angeline Trevena was born and bred in a rural corner of Devon, but now lives among the breweries and canals of central England with her husband, their two sons, and a rather neurotic cat. She is a dystopian urban fantasy and post-apocalyptic author, a podcaster, and events manager.

In 2003 she graduated from Edge Hill University, Lancashire, with a BA Hons Degree in Drama and Writing. During this time she decided that her future lay in writing words rather than performing them.

Some years ago she worked at an antique auction house and religiously checked every wardrobe that came in to see if Narnia was in the back of it. She's still not given up looking for it.

Reviews

[James Geary · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was another excellent guide to add to the ones I'd already read by this author. It definitely helps with fleshing out the history of a fictional world by asking the questions the writer needs to be thinking about, which is great for prompting ideas.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This isn't a book you read. When the author says "workbook," she means workbook. I'm very tempted to see if I can develop Scrivener templates of his worksheets, but that's probably against copyright laws. There are things I wish he would have included, but she did include things I've tried to avoid. Over the winter, this is going to be used - one way or another - to prepare myself for my fourth novel and for the series that comes after it - possibly in juxtaposition so that I can see where there are parallels and where there are not.
It might have been useful (for example) if she had provided some basic ideas with regard to genealogy, but that's one of my pet topics.
Among the neat things she covers are mythology and monsters. Both will be handy this winter. But, I'm sorry, there is no such thing as a book that goes into the detail on this subject that I'd like - even if I wrote one, there still wouldn't be one.

[LeAnn Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fluffy

This book had some good points, but not enough. So it was filled out with lots of examples, or possible examples, or things that may work as examples. Lots of questions and very few answers. The most frequent word in the text was "maybe."

So, if you're looking for a book with lots of ideas to stimulate your creative process, this is the book for you. If, on the other hand, you want a book that teaches you some principles of how to do it, beyond simply, "there are two sides to every story," then you may want to skim.

[brian · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not Very Helpful

Don't buy unless your writing a book about a dystopia society, or paralleling current racial bias with your fictional story. In other words, not a very helpful guide if your just writing fun fiction.

[Chiscoso · Rating 5 out of 5]

simple, concise, and with a lot of ideas

great ideas and introduction to myths, sorely will help me to build better Worlds for my Fantasy roleplaying games.and deliver them better to the tables

[James Moe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not so much on history. Was more on traditions

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This will really help you flesh out a campaign and give some logical steps for building cultures. Worth checking out.