Character Timelines
How character pages show a character's journey across books.
The story arc
Every character page has a story arc section that shows what happens to them across books, in reading order. This is the core of OpenFiction - a book-by-book timeline of a character's journey.
The story arc is organised by book, then by chapter within each book. This lets you see exactly where a character appears and what changes they go through.
Appearance types
Each appearance is categorised by how the character features in that chapter:
- Point of view - The chapter is told from this character's perspective. You see events through their eyes.
- On page - The character physically appears and takes part in the scene, but the chapter isn't from their perspective.
- Mentioned - The character is talked about or referenced but doesn't appear in person.
Appearances can also include notes - brief descriptions of what happens in that chapter, like "Fights Szeth on the tower" or "Receives a mysterious letter".
Life events
Life events are big moments that change a character's situation in the story. These appear alongside appearances in the timeline.
Examples of life events:
- Deaths and resurrections
- Serious injuries
- Transformations (gaining powers, changing species, etc.)
- Other major turning points
Life events are pinned to specific chapters, so you can see exactly when something happens in the story.
Reading order
The story arc follows the reading order set for each series. Books appear in the order you'd read them, and chapters within each book follow the book's own structure.
For series with multiple reading orders (e.g. publication order vs chronological), OpenFiction uses the default reading order set by curators.
How spoiler filtering applies
If you have spoiler filtering active, the story arc only shows appearances and life events from books you've marked as read.
This means you can safely look up a character mid-series and see their journey so far without learning what happens in later books.