What if you want to build a family tree, but you actually want it to be a fictional
family tree? Today I'm going to talk about a couple of platforms that you can use to build
a fictional family tree. Now some of you long-time viewers might be laughing, saying,
"but aren't we supposed to build an accurate family tree?" Well, sure, but there's often times
when people want to build a family tree, and they know that it's fictional. Now it could be based
on real-life people that they fictionalized. But yes, today, we're going to talk about building an
intentionally fictional family tree. Now I'm going to start with a fairly easy-to-use program,
and there is a free version to this one, as well as a paid service. Now, if you're going to just do
a very simple family tree outline, then Canva is really great. There are a few templates. They are
colorful. They're nice. They can be very inspiring, and you can even print them out
and post them on the wall and use them that way. And yes, I'm choosing one of my favorite fictional
families, the Poldark series. Ross Poldark and Demelza Carne. So as you can see here,
it's a very simple family tree. And you can create this on Canva. I stumbled
into this website called FamilyEcho, and I think it is actually really great. Particularly if you
want to do a fictional family tree. But you could also use it for small projects that you
are building a true family tree. All you have to do is. There's this sidebar over here. And you can
fill out the information about the person, their partners, and other biographical information. And
then it will start building a tree. You can add a partner, a brother, a child, secondary
set of parents (because those do happen). And one thing you could point out is this little
part right here. And what that is telling us is that if I clicked on Demelza, I would actually
be able to see her parents. Right now, we're just focusing on the Poldark line. So when you
see something like this, that means, "oh, click on that profile." And then you'll see the other
branch. So this was really nice, particularly if you're trying to do a more complex family tree
that Canva just doesn't have the capability of doing. Now I'm going to recommend Creately next.
There is a platform called Lucidcharts. And I have found Lucidchart to be super wonky every time I
tried to use it. People have recommended Lucidchart to me for a number of years,
and I have found that Creately is a fantastic alternative to Lucidcharts. It was very easy to
use. The lines are kind of wonky because they're really built for flow charts rather than a family
tree. I did see a few templates that were easy to use, but this is nice again if you need something
that is a more robust or complex program. Now the ones I've recommended before are definite ones for
doing a fictional family tree. Then the first three I wouldn't recommend that genetic
genealogists or genealogy researchers use. They just have limited functionality. If you want a
graphic great, but I really wouldn't build my tree there. Now Famberry is different. You can create
both a genealogy family tree but also create a fictional family tree. And what I like about this
one is I can actually use pictures. Now some of the other programs, you can add pictures, but it
is a little bit challenging. This one was super easy. "Barely an inconvenience," to borrow the
ScreenRant phrase. I love that channel so much. If you're a ScreenRant fan, let me know in the
comments below. This one was really nice because I could build a fictional family tree. I can
build a complicated family tree. And then, I could also create a timeline of facts. Because
if we're writing a fictional story, we definitely want to know a number of different factors that
are happening in their lives. And I was able to create a timeline feature which made this one kind
of robust. Now you could also use traditional genealogy family tree building things such as
genealogy software. The great thing about this is you can create a robust family tree,
and it's private because it's just sitting on your computer. You can create reports. You can print
out timelines. There's a lot of functionality you can do that some of the earlier platforms
can't do. If you have a complicated family tree, if you're trying to do multiple
novels with different people involved, then this might be a good solution for you.
The difference is, with the exception of RootsMagic essentials, these ones are
actually paid programs. So how much do you want to spend on building your fictional family tree?
And finally, you can use online family trees. The online family trees that I would recommend
for a fictional family tree would be MyHeritage, FindMyPast, and Ancestry. But the key is to mark
it as a private tree. We really don't want to be putting into the world that Ross Poldark married
Demelza Caren in Truro in 1784. And I believe it was June. I know it was the 24th. We don't want to
be putting that into the world because it's not true. So if you're going to create a fictional
family tree, there are definitely ways that you can create a free fictional tree in these programs
because it's supposed to be limited, and that's not going to be a problem for you.
Just make sure you mark this as private so that other people don't just start looping in people
that never existed into their trees. Thank you to the viewer who sent in this question.
What programs would you use to create a fictional family tree? I hope that was a little fun, and we
will see you next time in a future video. If you want to spend time creating a real family tree,
be sure to check out the playlist about tips and tricks on doing genealogy research. And
if you're ready for the latest video from Family History Fanatics, be sure to check this one here.