How to Write Believable History for Your Story’s World

A vivid past gives a fantasy or sci-fi setting the weight of feeling like a real civilization. When readers get the sense that there are centuries of triumphs, tragedies, and turning points behind every ruined temple or political feud, your present-day plot will immediately feel more intriguing and interesting. So, here is how you can write believable history for your story’s world, whether you’re writing fantasy or a contemporary fiction with your own spin on things.

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1. Start With the Present Conflict and Work Backward

Rather than trying to invent a ton of lore all at once, think about what the present day of your story is and then think about the incidents that shaped it. You want to consider the following:

1. Write one sentence for the novel’s central clash in the present day
2. Ask “What past event made this inevitable?” Jot that as Event A.
3. Ask the same about Event A, creating Event B.
4. Stop when further steps feel remote or too distant to matter much anymore

You’ve just sketched a chain of cause-and-effect that directly boosts plot stakes.

If you want to learn more about how to write lore for a world, then check out The Ultimate Guide to World Building, where I break down the idea of lore and how it adds more to your story and how to connect it with the rest of your world.

2. Use the “Big Four” Historical Pillars

Think about the pillars of what makes a historical event important to a story. These pillars tend to be where historians connect the dots from. They can include things like:

• Power shifts
• Cultural changes
• Technological revolutions
• Geographical incidents and events

You want to think about how these things exist in the real world and then apply that to your own fictional story. Basically, pretend you’re opening up a textbook and think if your story was inside that book, what the historical events would look like.

Not sure how to develop some of these key elements for your world just yet? No worries! That’s where The Ultimate Guide to World Building comes in, with tons of instructional breakdown and guiding questions on all of these topics and so much more.

3. Keep Dates Loose, Order Tight

Look, having dates is really cool in your book. However, sometimes, that might confuse you more than it helps you. Instead of thinking about things from a date perspective, think about things in an event sequence perspective.

For instance, most people can identify that the Hundred Years War happened during the time of the black plague. Most people don’t identify when the Hundred Years War started or occurred, but they do contextually understand the era of the black plague. A sequence of events with main standout events helps to anchor the reader more than just dates.

4. Echo History in Today’s Scenery

In your novel’s present day, there are likely going to be things like ruins, mosaics, murals, relics, buildings, etc… that showcase history in the present day’s lens. If you traveled to Italy right now and visited the city of Rome, you’ll see a lot of ruins from the days of Ancient Rome. This is an echo of history in today’s world.

If you want to learn how to create architecture and things like that for your world, I talk about architecture and developing a style that takes inspiration from the real world and your own imagination in-depth throughout The Ultimate Guide to World Building!

5. Avoid the Infodump Trap

Don’t dump a ton of exposition on your readers as you’re writing your story. Although it’s awesome to share your world building, a reader is still reading a story and not a codex about your world. Try to be subtle in a way that you seem to be showing readers something without making it like a monologue.

FAQs

Need a Plug-and-Play Workbook?

If you want fill-as-you-go templates for politics, history, magic, culture, and so much more, be sure to grab The Ultimate Guide to World Building. Inside you’ll find:

• 340+ pages of in-depth instruction, world building workflows, and real examples
• Step-by-step guidance for geography, cultures, languages, politics, history, religion, magic systems, technology, architecture, and more
• Massive worksheet packs that help you build as you go and cover everything from the galaxies to the family unit
• Professional-grade tools and templates you can reuse for every new project
• A focus on maintaining logic within your world with itself and the story
• Designed for both print and digital so you can use it on your device or print it out
• Includes niche topics as well like organized crime, black markets, and deep discussions on building universes

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