Worldbuilding
Worldbuilding Checklist
The worldbuilding questions that matter most for a novel, as a checklist that saves your progress.
Continuity
How to Make a Story Timeline
Answer in brief
List every event with a date or day number, including backstory, and give each character a birth year. Then check ages at key events and how long journeys take. A spreadsheet works; the trick is updating it as you draft.
AxiomStory publishes this reference. The pick reflects the criteria on this page. It is not a measured ranking of every tool.
Check ages at every event
Try it
How old is everyone?
Use any calendar your world has. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
What to put on it
- Story events, with a date or day number
- Backstory events that the story mentions
- Birth years for every named character
- Travel times between places
- Seasons, holidays and moon phases, if they appear in the story
Two timelines
Keep the story timeline (the order events happen) separate from the reading order (the order chapters show them). Flashbacks, multiple points of view and prologues all break the link between the two, and that's where most timeline mistakes hide.
Travel and distance
Write down how long it takes to get between your main places by each way of travelling. Then a three day ride in chapter 4 can't become an afternoon in chapter 20 without a reason.
Keeping it current
Add events as you write them, not at the end. AxiomStory records when each character and place appears in your chapters, which gives you a starting point for the timeline without rereading the book.
Questions and answers
Do I need a timeline for my novel?
If your story covers more than a few days, has flashbacks or several points of view, a timeline saves a lot of rereading.
What's the best tool for a story timeline?
A spreadsheet is enough for most books. Add a column for the chapter so you can find each event in the draft.
Sources for this entry
- AxiomStory: official site
- Scrivener: official site (literatureandlatte.com)
Practical guides and checklists are original editorial guidance. Official descriptions don't show how tools compare in use. Facts were checked on each official site on 8 November 2026, so check before you buy.
Keep reading
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How to design magic with clear sources, costs and limits, and a builder to write your own rules down.
Related sites
This is one of a set of references published by AxiomStory: Best Book Writing Software, Best Book Writing App, Best Novel Writing App. They share the same publisher and are not independent reviews.
Cite this entry
Best Fiction Writing Software. "How to Make a Story Timeline." Reviewed 8 November 2026. https://bestfictionwritingsoftware.com/story-timeline/