How to make a character relationship map
Once a story has more than ten characters, it is easy to lose track of who stands where with whom. A relationship map lays those ties out on one page. Here is an order that works for a first map, and what to watch for when relationships change mid-serial.
What to record
- Characters: name, nicknames, and how close they sit to the protagonist.
- Relationship types: decide names like family, friend, lover, mentor and student, rival, enemy up front so you are not inventing a label for every line.
- Direction: separate one-way ties (mentor → student) from mutual ones (friends).
- Timing: the chapter where the relationship starts. This is the field serial writers most often skip.
- A one-line reason: “owes her his life since chapter 7”.
An order that works
- 1Start with the protagonist and three to five people around them. Adding everyone at once tangles the lines.
- 2Settle on about ten relationship types. Too many and you end up describing the same tie two different ways.
- 3Draw the protagonist’s lines first; between side characters, draw only ties that actually appear in the story.
- 4Write “from chapter N” on every line. A map that only reflects the current chapter goes stale within a scene or two.
- 5If your world has organisations (sects, companies, guilds), keep a separate map of relationships between groups.
When relationships change mid-serial
In long fiction, friends become enemies and enemies become allies. If you erase the old line and draw a new one, you lose “friends until chapter 29” — exactly what you need later for flashbacks or reader questions.
It is safer to chain periods on one relationship: “friends, ch. 1–29 · enemies from ch. 30”. When only one side has changed (a secret crush, a planned betrayal), record how each person sees the other separately.
Common mistakes
- Drawing the map once and never updating it — by chapter 30 it no longer matches the manuscript.
- Names without “since when” — timelines break in flashbacks and side stories.
- Drawing hidden ties (spies, masterminds) like public ones — easy to leak before the reveal.
Doing this in Lenu
In Lenu’s character map, each relationship carries “from chapter N” periods, and moving the chapter slider redraws the map as of that chapter. Relationships the two people see differently are drawn as two lines. It comes with 19 built-in relationship types, and you can add your own.
You can explore a demo map without signing in, and organising your settings is free.