Novella - Chronological or not?

[Leto Degeneres]

I want to include plenty of events in a character's life, to childhood. On the other hand, I don't want it to be too slow, and I don't want it to read like a biography. I do want it to be interesting and erotic, but the emphasis is on interesting.

I can't say that I normally like it, but will it work to create interleaved chapters of history? I'm not thinking flashbacks, but an entire (but short) chapters devoted to history inserted between every four or five chapters of current events.

Is that the way to do it - interleaving?

 

[Stella_Omega]

One person who has had a modicum of success with this is Neal Stephenson, who wrote "Snow Crash" and the "Baroque" trilogy.

Give it a shot, and if the chapters don't come off, you can delete them or write them delicately into the narrative...

 

[sr71plt]

I was working with Alexandra Ripley on just such a structure when she died last year--and it seemed to work just fine. We put a time period/place in each chapter head and this seemed to be enough to keep everything separate.

 

[Leto Degeneres]

One person who has had a modicum of success with this is Neal Stephenson, who wrote "Snow Crash" and the "Baroque" trilogy.

Give it a shot, and if the chapters don't come off, you can delete them or write them delicately into the narrative...

I had to look him up. Yes, exactly! Wikipedia had enough of a description of "Snow Crash" that I could see why Stephenson wanted to do that. Among others are complex topics that would need some explanation when they were introduced, I imagine, without having to resort to the creation of the world beginning with physics.

I was working with Alexandra Ripley on just such a structure when she died last year--and it seemed to work just fine. We put a time period/place in each chapter head and this seemed to be enough to keep everything separate.

You mean Alexanda Braid Ripley, then. If you were close I'm sorry that you lost that person whom you worked with.

For the chapter head, I guess you mean something like the following?

Chapter 5

February, 1976

Michelle picked the worst of all possible days to decide that fears of humiliation by being late to school was just cause to skip it entirely...

 

[sr71plt]

You mean Alexanda Braid Ripley, then. If you were close I'm sorry that you lost that person whom you worked with.

For the chapter head, I guess you mean something like the following?

Chapter 5

February, 1976

Michelle picked the worst of all possible days to decide that fears of humiliation by being late to school was just cause to skip it entirely...

Yes, that example, other than she had titles for her chapters rather than chapter numbers. She was doing a then/now mystery on Boyd's Tavern in Virginia, which was once Lafayette's HQ when he wintered before going to the battle of Yorktown. Ripley owned and restored the tavern, and her modern part was about a young couple restoring the tavern and discovering a secret going back to Lafayette's time. The book only got about a third written, so it's lost.

If Ripley used the name Braid, that's news to me. She was the author of Scarlett (the sanctioned sequel to Gone with the Wind) and Charleston, among other historical romances.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I have something similar in my Walker Brigade Series. The chapters begin with a date/time stamp along the lines of Star Trek.

2.10.0093/5

It's explained in the prologue that the stories take place in the 93 year of the current administration.

Give the first book a read and see if it could be adapted to your needs.

 

[Leto Degeneres]

I have something similar in my Walker Brigade Series. The chapters begin with a date/time stamp along the lines of Star Trek.

2.10.0093/5

It's explained in the prologue that the stories take place in the 93 year of the current administration.

Give the first book a read and see if it could be adapted to your needs.

I just put that idea in my story notes. What I glommed onto was your using a date and then the happenings around "Max Jones". This was followed by an earlier date and the same thing but with "Becky Latham". There was only a short period of time between those dates. They existed in the same time frame, but your presentation emphasized their separateness.

So, I've figured out a way to deal with the chronology over widely separated times, but what you just pointed out has made me wonder if I can use chronology to build tension. There's a 15-year age difference between the two main characters that I'm using, and the older of the two is going to get the bulk of the character development. I'm wondering if, as their encounter with each other nears, I can use that back-and-forth between characters that you use to build up the tension.

That's a great example. Thanks for pointing it out to me. Now I've got to get beyond page 1!

 

[Jedikool]

I think it would be great if the historical chapters were inserted at such a time that it gave us knew information about the present day story line. For example, the main character is always shy and nervous around this one particualr person, but we never know why. Then we find out they are going to be spending lots of time together (i.e. retreat, road trip, something) and then we gte a chapter in their past where this person caught our main character masturbating perhaps when they were younger.

If you set it up in this way, then the historical chapters aren't just randomly thrown in and can make sense with the overall plot. Just a thought.

 

[Leto Degeneres]

I think it would be great if the historical chapters were inserted at such a time that it gave us knew information about the present day story line. For example, the main character is always shy and nervous around this one particualr person, but we never know why. Then we find out they are going to be spending lots of time together (i.e. retreat, road trip, something) and then we gte a chapter in their past where this person caught our main character masturbating perhaps when they were younger.

If you set it up in this way, then the historical chapters aren't just randomly thrown in and can make sense with the overall plot. Just a thought.

Exactly!