#autism be damned that boy can create a detailed timeline

[robertwaltons]

Hii

Would you ever create a timeline for your Walton character study or in companionship with your fic?

Obviously no pressure to do so.

Thanks!

hiiii omg that’s such a great question! so i have been keeping track of the timeline i’m working off and basing the structure of my writing around in my notes because i’m a massive nerd about these things lol

it’s something i’ve given a lot of thought to since it involves both canon elements (e.g. the dates and months given for certain events in walton’s letters) and headcanon stuff that i have come up with by extrapolating on existing information in the novel itself

so for example, i decided robert and margaret were born in 1770 because:

walton’s voyage must take place in the 1700s because of the incomplete dates given in the letters throughout the novel (17—) among other reasons

walton’s references to coleridge (and the others throughout the novel) can be interpreted as just allusions to shelley taking inspiration from a fellow author she respected and knew personally, but i decided to take walton’s familiarity with his work literally and factor it into figuring out the exact time frame of his voyage — the rime of the ancient mariner in coleridge and wordsworth’s lyrical ballads was published in 1798, meaning that the earliest walton’s narrative could have began was the winter of that year. since the first letter to margaret is dated december and the last in summer of the next year, that means he would have set out from archangel in june 1799 and met victor in august

in his second letter dated 28th of march walton states that he is 28 years old; working backwards, he would then have been born in either 1770 or early 1771; i chose the former because i had already decided he and margaret were born in december (they’re sagittarius! ♐️)

sorry that’s SO long-winded and not what you asked about at all lmao but hopefully it explains how i’ve figured out some of the pre-canon stuff in my timeline at least!

the post-canon stuff that i’m working on at the minute is more tricky as there’s obviously no book information to go off of and i’m literally just making stuff up helpppp

ALL OF THIS TO SAY! i will definitely work on creating and posting a timeline for the whole thing that i can update as i go (since there’s stuff that i have planned for the future that i don’t want to spoil until i post those chapters) and that people can check out if they’re interested!

clearly i get very uhhh very excited when people ask about my fic so tysm for indulging me 🥺