Connecting two scenes

[BiggusBeardus]

Hello!

I need some group thinking.

I've got a chapter where a character has a vision of a potential future that relates to the MC.

Would it be too rushed to connect that vision to the MC in the following chapter? Or should I let it go for a few chapters and reveal it later when the characters meet?

The vision happens in chapter 3 and the characters wouldn't meet until chapter 11 or later as I have it laid out now. But there is a place in Chapter 4 or 5 for me to have the MC have a dream about the other character and her vision and how it ties into his goal.

Thoughts?

 

[ThinkerX]

Go for the earlier version. Have the character with the dream come across trivial items that remind him of that dream now and again before the meeting. Have him think about it.

That is just my initial thought, though.

 

[K.S. Crooks]

For me it all depends on how far in the future is the vision looking at. The sooner the event, the sooner the character needs to know about it. It may even turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy. For me it also feels a bit much to have a character have a dream, about someone else's vision about them; instead of the MC having the dream/vision about their own future.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

I'd tend to say earlier, but execution and details matter. Either way can work depending on the situation and how it's presented.

 

[pmmg]

Hello!

I need some group thinking.

I've got a chapter where a character has a vision of a potential future that relates to the MC.

Would it be too rushed to connect that vision to the MC in the following chapter? Or should I let it go for a few chapters and reveal it later when the characters meet?

The vision happens in chapter 3 and the characters wouldn't meet until chapter 11 or later as I have it laid out now. But there is a place in Chapter 4 or 5 for me to have the MC have a dream about the other character and her vision and how it ties into his goal.

Thoughts?

You dont really beat us over the head with details

So....

Character 1 has a dream about Character 2 in chap 3
Character 2 has a dream about Character 1 having a dream about them? in chap 4-5
They meet up in chap 11

Seems odd to have a dream about someone having a dream about you....

Generally, if one character is dreaming about another, and here I will assume in a concerning and portentous way, it is to raise the concern, and desperation of action in the character dreaming, or raise the stakes for the reader into the story. Then watching it play out in the other characters life can be enhanced by knowing they are in a bad spot the entire time. I dont know why it would be necessary for character two to dream of character one having the dream about them.


Immediacy of the events to the dream is just execution. You always have to do that well. I dont know that I could comment without knowing more of the stories flow. You'll have to trust your inner voice for that.

 

[BiggusBeardus]

You dont really beat us over the head with details

So....

Character 1 has a dream about Character 2 in chap 3
Character 2 has a dream about Character 1 having a dream about them? in chap 4-5
They meet up in chap 11

Seems odd to have a dream about someone having a dream about you....

Generally, if one character is dreaming about another, and here I will assume in a concerning and portentous way, it is to raise the concern, and desperation of action in the character dreaming, or raise the stakes for the reader into the story. Then watching it play out in the other characters life can be enhanced by knowing they are in a bad spot the entire time. I dont know why it would be necessary for character two to dream of character one having the dream about them.


Immediacy of the events to the dream is just execution. You always have to do that well. I dont know that I could comment without knowing more of the stories flow. You'll have to trust your inner voice for that.

Sorry. I was trying to be brief. I don' think I was very clear about some things.

Medea has the power to see potential futures. She is an oracle. During a ritual she has a vision about Dal (MC) obtaining a powerful magical relic and he is bathed in green light. This happens in Chapter 3. She isn't dreaming.

I was going to have Dal have a shared vision, where he sees the same vision. He MIGHT be dreaming, but it doesn't HAVE to be a dream. It is like they are watching the same TV show, but at their own houses instead of together. The vision is about Dal's goal in the plot. Also, I don't think this is a "theme" but the series is about "magic" and how magic works in my world. Each book touches on different aspects of magic. The characters in this book having linked minds is a detail about what magic can do. Dal learns about how it is possible at some point (from a mentor or something) and the two characters, Dal and Medea, bond over it eventually. No one is dreaming of another character dreaming. To make a movie reference, it is kind of like Rey and Kylo Ren in the later Star Wars movies. They have this bond and see stuff.

The visions happen at the same time in the story, but it would be in separate chapters unless I did a section break in the chapter just to cut over to Dal and show his side of things. But that seems rushed and would interrupt Medea's chapter. I have the in world dates at the start of each chapter, so if a reader is paying attention to that, then they would see it is the same day when this happens even though it is in different chapters.

So I am asking about the best time to show Dal seeing his side of the vision. Sooner or later? The characters don't physically meet until chapter 10 or 11 as I have it in my outline right now. Things could change.

But it sounds like most of you say sooner. So that's what I'll do.

Thanks for the help folks!