Questions about the timeline

[Diana1 (Diana)]

Hello: I have some questions about the timeline. I am using the Novel template. I might be complicating what I want to do, so I figured I would ask. I have about 30 characters, more than 50 locations, and a lot of story arcs. There are 7 parts/Books in what I am writing. I’m going through the online guides and learning as I go. I wonder if there is an easier way to do this than what I’m doing at this time

1. I am currently trying to organize all of them in one file - so I can track character development, symbolism, easter eggs, etc. When I try to see these in the time line it’s visually a lot. Do you recommend I create different files for the different books or keep it as is to track everything? Which leads me to my next questions.

2. Is there an easier way of doing this that what I’m doing at this time?

3. If I enter things into the Outline, Spreadsheet or Narrative view - should it auto populate the Timeline as long as I put dates on it. For example:
   

   

In this one you can see it’s linked to the “Master” Story Arc

but then nothing appears when I click the timeline:

3. Ireated a “Master” Story Arc - So I could tag insert there the whole story line and look at it by filtering just “Master” The problem is that, even though I have added all my characters, locations, events, etc as Story Arc - Master, they don’t show in my timeline. For example:
   
   

So I don’t see this event in the timeline , even though I put 1883, and I tagged it as “Master” for the story arc -

4. If there are events that happen in the same location in different years, how do I add that? Do I need to create different locations with the same title? For example An event at the Academy garden might happen in 1965 and also in 1970 per this image but I can’t seem to be able to separate them so I can add different events here.
   

   

5. Do you suggest I create an Item Type that Says Book 1,2,3… or Should I include this in the "Master Story Arc — (I don’t need it to be a story Arc, it can be a different category, I just wan’t sure how to do it).

6. Im not getting the option to add individual “Events” in the timeline
   

   

7. If I wanted to create something like a “Ancient History timeline or Warfare Timeline - from the User Guide” can I add it? Is this basically the same thing as Item Types, just changing the name?

8. My story goes back and forth with flashbacks. What is the best way to enter these into the timeline? So character 1 remembers in 2025 something that happened in 2000 tells character 2 about it, then the story continues in 2025. Now, if there are 2 time lines running at the same time, what is the best practice to track these?

Thank you for your time and help!
Diana

[SCN (Steve)]

Hi Diana,

Lots of great questions. I’m short on time at the moment, so maybe others can jump in. But I can at least affirm that yes, you can (and in my experience in writing a novel series, should) do that in one Aeon Timeline project.

I’ve previously posted a couple of videos that might be generally helpful, if only to see how I have set up AT3 for my novel series (apologies if you’ve already viewed them):

Setting up folder/scene hierarchy in Aeon Timeline 3

How I use Aeon Timeline and Scrivener together

[Diana1 (Diana)]

@SCN Thank you. I did watch the “How I use Aeon Timeline and Scrivener together” video last week which is what got me going/understanding how to use it better (I enjoyed the music too). I will watch the other video you linked.
Thank you for your help - and looking forward to your answers if you have more time in the future.
Thanks,
Diana

[SCN (Steve)]

@Diana1

1. I am currently trying to organize all of them in one file - so I can track character development, symbolism, easter eggs, etc. When I try to see these in the time line it’s visually a lot. Do you recommend I create different files for the different books or keep it as is to track everything? Which leads me to my next questions.

While I have found it works well to have my novel series in one AT project, I should mention that I rarely use the Timeline view. I find the Spreadsheet view for event order and the Outline view for narrative order work best for me. I mention this not to suggest that my way is better (I am probably an outlier in this regard), but rather to point out that I haven’t encountered this kind of visual issue with the Timeline view simply because I rarely use it. If you are finding that it’s too crammed with information, that is definitely something that, if you can’t mitigate any other way, would be an argument for splitting up the novels.

To my thinking, though, the advantages of keeping the novels in one AT project outweigh pretty much everything else. It’s for you to decide, though.

2. Is there an easier way of doing this than what I’m doing at this time?

For me, the Subway view is pure magic. It shows me events on a timeline, without all the nesting. Plus, it’s easy to focus on just those story arc elements that I want to view. If I need to look at the specific date/day/time of events, I can also look in the Spreadsheet view.

3. If I enter things into the Outline, Spreadsheet or Narrative view - should it auto populate the Timeline as long as I put dates on it. For example:

In this one you can see it’s linked to the “Master” Story Arc

but then nothing appears when I click the timeline:

I’m not sure why it’s not showing up in the Timeline view. But again, I rarely use the Timeline view, so others with more experience with it (or maybe @AeonRob ) can offer some insight here.

3. I created a “Master” Story Arc - So I could tag insert there the whole story line and look at it by filtering just “Master.” The problem is that, even though I have added all my characters, locations, events, etc as Story Arc - Master, they don’t show in my timeline.

Someone with more experience with the Timeline view can no doubt offer you some insight here.

4. If there are events that happen in the same location in different years, how do I add that? Do I need to create different locations with the same title? For example, an event at the Academy garden might happen in 1965 and also in 1970, per this image, but I can’t seem to be able to separate them, so I can add different events here.

Again, someone with more experience with the Timeline view can no doubt offer you some insight here. That said, each location in the Item Type “Location” should only need to be created once.

5. Do you suggest I create an Item Type that says Book 1,2,3… or should I include this in the "Master Story Arc — (I don’t need it to be a story Arc, it can be a different category, I just wasn’t sure how to do it).

I created an Item Type “Novel.”

I populated it with Novel 1, Novel 2, and Novel 3. (Here is a screenshot from the Outline view’s left panel.) I can then click on any novel to show only that selected novel, if I want to. I don’t know how this might work with the Timeline view, but imagine it would be the same.

6. I’m not getting the option to add individual “Events” in the timeline

Again, someone with more experience with the Timeline view can no doubt offer you some insight here. But a workaround might be to add the event in the Spreadsheet view.

7. If I wanted to create something like an “Ancient History timeline or Warfare Timeline - from the User Guide” can I add it? Is this basically the same thing as Item Types, just changing the name?

I’m not sure what you’re asking. You can configure AT to work like any of the templates, if you want to.

8. My story goes back and forth with flashbacks. What is the best way to enter these into the timeline? So character 1 remembers in 2025 something that happened in 2000 tells character 2 about it, then the story continues in 2025. Now, if there are 2 time lines running at the same time, what is the best practice to track these?

AT3 separates event chronological order from narrative order. I think of the events in the Timeline, Outline, Relationship, and Subway views as events that occur in the chronological, or real-world, order. So, event 1, event 2, event 3, and so on. I think of events in the Narrative and Outline views as events as I wish to present them in my novel. So, event 2, event 3, and then the flashback scene, event 1.

This is a really powerful feature of AT3. It’s also one of the frustrations I have, because if I want to view my novel’s narrative event order in, say, Subway view, I can’t. I’m stuck with the chronological order. But the good news is that, from what @AeonRob has said, version 3.5 will have the ability to view events in either chronological order or narrative order in Timeline and Subway views (and maybe others). I can’t wait.

So, hopefully something here helps, though others with more experience with the Timeline view need to chime in!