Two paths one story

[Nihilium 7th]

I'm currently writing a new novel that revolves around two characters. They way I am planning to write it has them interacting very little maybe for three or four chapters. What I am wondering is if it wise to write a story where the two protagonist almost never interact and have no real connection to each other.

 

[Benjamin Clayborne]

It's been done, but if you're telling two separate stories that barely connect, one might quite reasonably ask why you're writing two stories in one book instead of just writing one story at a time.

 

[Nihilium 7th]

Their stories connect its just that they don't effect each other directly. There is a global conflict that they both have been dragged into that they both are helping to resolve on their own separate paths.

 

[ThinkerX]

Their stories connect its just that they don't effect each other directly. There is a global conflict that they both have been dragged into that they both are helping to resolve on their own separate paths.

This has been done many times.

 

[Feo Takahari]

I can't think of a book that uses this setup, but it's pretty common in video games (most obviously Spiderweb Software's Nethergate.) I can't think of any specific reason this approach couldn't be adapted to the literary format.

Edit: ThinkerX, are you saying you've seen this in books? If so, can you name any? I really can't think of any.

 

[Penpilot]

You don't have to look any further than Game of Thrones, the first book. Some characters story threads diverge then don't interact at all. But if you look at the larger story being set up all the threads are significant, but we don't quite know how they're going to come together for the larger arc.

 

[wordwalker]

You don't have to look any further than Game of Thrones, the first book. Some characters story threads diverge then don't interact at all. But if you look at the larger story being set up all the threads are significant, but we don't quite know how they're going to come together for the larger arc.

Not quite the same thing. When you have dozens of threads, it's understood you have a cross-section of the whole world. When you have exactly two, the heart of the story ought to be the contrast between the two: what does one MC see that the other doesn't? does one's grand sacrifices have something in common with the other's petty dealings, or is the difference between them the thing that just might change the world?

Using exactly two threads, especially when you keep the characters apart to emphasize the point, makes that specific effect. It can be a dramatic doozie, if you keep that in mind.

 

[Shockley]

The movie Inglourious Basterds does this, and does it fantastically well. The unifying force, of course, is the antagonist.

No reason you couldn't pull it off in a novel, and I think it would be a worthwhile endeavor.

 

[yachtcaptcolby]

I did this with my novel. My two main characters don't meet until the final quarter of the book. I used them to show off different parts of my world that would've been too difficult to cram into just one character's story arc. I also wrote each of their arcs one at a time rather than bouncing back and forth between the two of them, and I think that really helped make them act and sound like distinct people.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

I can't think of a book that uses this setup, but it's pretty common in video games...

First thing I thought of was Muramasa: The Demon Blade.

Like in your story concept, the two MC rarely cross paths. One might spot the other in a hot spring (!!), and there are multiple endings (3 per character). Each character's ending #2 has the two playable characters fight against each other. (The female ninja is possessed by a fallen samurai, so either the male ninja frees the girl from possession and lives to tell the tale, or he sacrifices his life to free the girl.)

 

[keiani]

As a reader I think it would be most satisfying if the few chapters when the do interact are at the climax of the story, so I can envision the coming circumstances as I read. If they never met, or only did in some unimportant way, I would probably be disappointed.