Message Board Topic 6/21

[Comicality]

A majority of stories usually follow a pattern of taking a reader from 'point A' to 'point B' in a beginning to end kind of fashion. Events happen in sequential, reach a climax, and then inevitably reach a conclusion.

 

But what happens when an author gets confused, and over time, loses track of the time frames he's put in place to tell his story? How would you keep track of the passage of time and keep things accurate to make sure that nothing overlaps or falls out of place? Have you read other stories where the time line was out of whack to the point where you didn't know up from down anymore?

 

And what happens when the time line jumps back and forth? Where it is actually a part of the story itself? For example, a story that is told through flashbacks, purposely delivered out of order, or possibly even told 'backwards' (if the author is ambitious enough). Then again, there are some stories where a visible 'time line' is taken out altogether. In "Billy Chase", I made sure to remove the time frame to give him an endless, holiday-less, weather-less, school year. An almost magical, never-ending, journey through school...and hoping that it wouldn't be distracting to know that he's never had so much as a Spring Break or a Christmas or anything like it. But ARE stories like that distracting? Would time lines help you keep thing in order in your mind?

 

What do you guys think? As writers, or readers, how much importance do you put on time lines in stories...and what happens when you see one that isn't sticking to the plan like it's supposed to? Let us know!

 

 

 

 

[Graeme]

Timelines are only really important to give events a sequence. If it involves events in the real world, you need to organise your timelines appropriately. eg. If you have a total eclipse occurring in the story, it's a good idea to make sure you make sure the story fits the real-life event, such as making sure it's in the right month.

 

If the story doesn't involve real-life events then it's up to the author to define the timelines. If a story is being posted as it's written, that can cause problems. For example, if a story indicates at the start that something is going to happen in three weeks time, and then, when the author gets to that part of the story, they realise they needed four or five weeks to get everything in place for the 'big event', then that can be disconcerting for the reader. It's simple enough to fix, but if the earlier part of story is already posted, it can be a pain. In this situation, timelines are closely coupled with outlines, since the outline is, essentially, just a shorthand version of the timeline.

 

Otherwise, it's up to the story telling ability of the author. One of my favourite stories is Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny. That story isn't told in a sequential manner, and I'll admit that it confused me the first time I read it because it wasn't obvious that part of the story was a flashback. But the story writing was so good that that didn't make a difference. I worked it out, eventually, and I still re-read the story from time to time.

[JamesSavik]

Time lines are essential to plots that are driven by sequential events.

 

In fact, in some stories time zones come into play and that'll drive you to drink.

 

If your story works this way I suggest that you have a master time line as part of your outline.

 

If time zones are an issue, I suggest using universal (zulu) time as you set things up and translating it back to local times as necessary.

[ricky]

I think that timelines are integral when, like Billy Chase, the story is driven by dates. I mean holidays when you are in High School are the break points you focus on to survive the mundane life of never ending classes. LAbor day to Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving to Christmas, New Years to Valentines day and valentines day to St Patricks day And St Patricks day to Memorial day, then memorial to schools out.

 

And as a teenager, birthdays are very important. Not for the celebration but marking that timeline to being mobile. A license! Let's not forget the teenagers mark their ages in halves and quarters and being 3 days older than someone is a milestone they use to beat their best friend with often.

 

Remember hearing things like, "I'm 15 years 5 months and 3 days old. in 29 days I can get my temps!"

 

But in other stories that are not so time ridden like GFD, the timeline is of no importance what so ever.

 

So to answer your questions, it is like asking, how much does a rat weigh?

[Agincourt]

I'm scrupulous about time, and it can be mildly annoying to me when an author carelessly screws up the sequence of events -- making me think he was lazy. In other words, I feel that a quick look back to the earlier part of the story would have told the author that the current day is Tuesday so the next day can't be Saturday. But I try not to let that spoil the overall effect of the story.

 

In my own writing, I have to work hard not to be too scrupulous, trying to document every minute that passes, no matter how mundane. I have had to learn to do jumps and summaries in order to move things along. For me this tends to be something to focus on in revision; for the first draft, I usually find it's better just to get everything on the page and then worry about tightening later.

 

A

[ricky]

Interesting thoughts all