| Date | Events |
|---|---|
| Late 1937 | Starts writing |
| Dec 1939 | Pauses |
| Aug 1940 | Restarts |
| 1941 | Pauses |
| 1942 | Restarts |
| 1943 | Pauses |
| Apr 1944 | Rewrites first chapters |
| 1945 | Pauses |
| 1946 | Reworks Book 5 |
| 1948 | Writes Book 6 |
| 1949 | Revises earlier Books |
| 1954 | Vols I and II printed |
| 1955 | Writes Appendices |
| Oct 1955 | Vol III printed |
The task of constructing The Lord of the Rings was long and complex, lasting from its start in 1937, soon after the success of J. R. R. Tolkien's children's book The Hobbit, until the novel's publication in 1954–1955. Tolkien began with no idea where the story would go, and made several false starts before the tale of the One Ring emerged. The names of the characters, including the protagonists, of The Lord of the Rings changed many times. Tolkien stopped writing repeatedly, sometimes for years at a time. Inspiration, when it came, was based on practical work with maps, names, and languages that Tolkien incorporated in the novel. He illustrated places described in the text, updating drawings and text together until he felt they were correct.