You show it, rather than tell it. Weave it into the story, especially locations. An example from my own work -
Near the beginning Tov is mentioned going to a cottage. Later on Tov takes his son Shay to the same cottage. Further on, Tov sends his grandson Thurin to the same cottage. Tov dies and Thurin finds out from his future father-in-law that Tov built the cottage. Then after a while Thurin's son Ruul burns the cottage. And after a bit Ruul's son-in-law Kyllan has a house built where the cottage once stood.
One location through quite a few generations. I have several places like that. My whole story spans eight generations and there's a large flat boulder beside a river that comes into play in each generations, often more than once. Thus the location is providing continuity throughout the entire length of the story.
History is a little more challenging. In mine, I show it through characters storytelling, a ceremony which takes place at certain times throughout the whole story, sometimes dreams, in one book (the whole story is four individual books) a MC reads his father's journals. There's also a Family Keeper who remembers everyone's name and relationships.
It's all a part of worldbuilding. You, the author, need to know things about your world even when it doesn't end up in the story, because if it's not cohesive, it won't hold together. If it's not consistent, it won't hold together...and that includes the history and locations.
Probably the best worldbuilding article and "questionnaire" that I've seen, and yes, I use it, is here -
Near the beginning Tov is mentioned going to a cottage. Later on Tov takes his son Shay to the same cottage. Further on, Tov sends his grandson Thurin to the same cottage. Tov dies and Thurin finds out from his future father-in-law that Tov built the cottage. Then after a while Thurin's son Ruul burns the cottage. And after a bit Ruul's son-in-law Kyllan has a house built where the cottage once stood.
One location through quite a few generations. I have several places like that. My whole story spans eight generations and there's a large flat boulder beside a river that comes into play in each generations, often more than once. Thus the location is providing continuity throughout the entire length of the story.
History is a little more challenging. In mine, I show it through characters storytelling, a ceremony which takes place at certain times throughout the whole story, sometimes dreams, in one book (the whole story is four individual books) a MC reads his father's journals. There's also a Family Keeper who remembers everyone's name and relationships.
It's all a part of worldbuilding. You, the author, need to know things about your world even when it doesn't end up in the story, because if it's not cohesive, it won't hold together. If it's not consistent, it won't hold together...and that includes the history and locations.
Probably the best worldbuilding article and "questionnaire" that I've seen, and yes, I use it, is here -
http://www.sfwa.org/2009/08/fantasy-w...
And yes, I write fantasy.