It has to Start Somewhere

Every family begins somewhere, right? All the way back to Adam and Eve. Stories are no different. Characters all need a back story, a beginning, a place to come from.
Well, when Heather Greer, Regina Merrick, Erin Howard, and I all started planning out our stories, we realized this. Heather discovered a neat website where you can actually plug in names and dates and make a family tree. Since all of our stories are based on the same family, this was perfect. We could add and update as we wrote, and each could see the other's changes. Some of us even added pictures of our inspiration. Erin's the only one still needing to plug in her people, but hers are way in the future, so this could look interesting. ;)

Heather's story, Window of Opportunity, just released last week. It's your introduction to the Dunnes. You get to meet Patrick, Sean, James, Evangeline, Brendan, and Connor. But I won't give you more details than that. After all, it's more fun to read it in the book.
The next time you'll see the Dunne's is in Regina's book, Window of Peace, which releases in April. It's set about fifty years later, so each book is around two generations apart, but you can still see some of your favorite characters from the previous book. Connor's son (Brendan's grandson), MC, is the hero of that one.
My book, Window of the Heart, releases in August, and it will be set in current day. It introduces you to Ty Dunne (Brendan's great-great-grandson), as well as his family, including a cousin or two and some aunts and uncles. Needless to say, by this time our tree has branched out quite a bit, just like any other tree.
I can't wait to see where it goes from there in Erin's book, Window of Time. With hers in a far off future, she's giving us some kings and princes and princesses to add in the mix. :)
​What do you think? Do you love following a family through the years? Does it help to have a diagram to see all the branches?