How to draw a family tree for fictional characters
In a story that spans several generations, it's hard to keep track of who is whose child and who married whom. A good family tree makes that tangle readable at a glance and reveals age and kinship mistakes early. This guide walks you through building a family tree for your characters step by step.
1. Set the generations and ages
Before you start drawing, note how many generations your story spans and which generation each character belongs to. A birth year or a rough age is enough. That way you catch mistakes early, like a father who is only ten years older than his son or two siblings born in the same year.
2. Build the skeleton with parent and spouse links
A family tree rests on two kinds of links: parent and spouse. Start with the core of the family, the oldest couple, then add the children generation by generation. Keeping the children of the same mother and father together makes it easy to tell full siblings from half siblings.
3. Don't leave the unknowns out
If you haven't decided whether a parent is the mother or the father, or if that's a secret in your story, add the link without a role. A link you never drew is easily forgotten; a link with an open role reminds you that there's a decision still to make.
4. Show ties outside the bloodline separately
Step-parents, guardians, foster siblings or feuding families matter in a family tree, but they aren't blood ties. Drawing them as a separate kind of link with a clear label keeps both you and your readers from misreading the family.
5. Keep the tree tied to your character records
A family tree on paper lives apart from your character notes; when one changes, the other goes stale. In yazar.io's Family Tree section, every character in your book appears as a card. Besides Mother, Father, Parent, Spouse and Sibling links, you can add a Custom link with a label you write yourself, such as Stepfather, Guardian or Enemy. Children of the same mother and father branch from a single family fork. Links you add in a character's Mother, Father and Children fields show up in the tree automatically. See family tree software for the details.
How many generations can a family tree show?
There's no generation limit. Generations emerge from the parent links you add; how far back you go is up to your story.
How do I show step or adoptive relationships?
In yazar.io, pick the Custom link type and write a label such as Stepmother, Stepfather or Guardian. The link is drawn with its own label in the tree and never gets mixed up with blood ties.
Can I share my family tree with readers?
Yes. When you turn on your book's Shareable Wiki, you can choose to publish the family tree as a separate, read-only page. The family tree is off in the wiki by default.
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