History of the world, or a world, or at least a neat place to live.

History creates depth within a story, even when the history is entire fictional and set in a fictional world. When an author knows the history of their story, the feeling of depth comes through and inspires the audience. And, with a solid background in mind, the author can easily plan future events and twists. The extra effort is well worth it, in my opinion.

Some of the greatest achievements in fictional literary history are the massive histories J.R.R. Tolkien created for his "Lord of the Ring" series. He created several entire languages, wrote centuries of detailed history (much of it captured in the "Silmarillion" and "Lost Tales"), and quite literally created an entire living world. Such feats of imagination are truly impressive to me, not because of all the work, but because so much of it never appears in the stories we all know and love. It's fantastic how detailed they are, and a bit intimidating once you start delving into them.

I'm not suggesting that every work needs such phenomenal history behind it, but having some works very well. If you are writing a series, it is even better, because you and the audience create additional history as the series grows and breathes. Once again, being in the audience is exciting and rewarding, as both author and audience work together to make the whole greater than its parts. I've never believed that the author is alone in that, and particularly in the area of shared history. Whatever the reasons, making a background history is important and shouldn't be ignored.

- M