Lots of ideas but I think I have ADD

[spectre]

Since last year I've started four fantasies, a sci-fi, and a crime thriller. Aftet editing the portions I get through with I'm really plrased with what I've got and for two of the stories, almost 3, I have whole plans for the book but I can't seem to create realistic timing. I fear everything will be told in a moments time. Does anyone have techniques for telling the story progreswively in time? I ron't want to write linear....considering linear is a shape if I wrote it I don't know if that'd be good or bad...

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[Addison]

That's a lot of stories Spectre.

I had the opposite problem when I started my story, I was afraid I was taking too long telling my story. I found it helpful to pin point the information that will propel the story forward, each and every piece of information, revelation and such. Then I got a calendar and plotted out when each piece would come out. Once it made sense the story tightened up. A good part of it is the transitional narrative. So if a character gets a key piece of information in mid-October and the next key moment doesn't occur until early November, you'll want to describe that gap in time in a way that fits your desired tone and effect on the story. Will it be long and descriptive, giving the reader a breather? Or quick and straightforward to keep the pace going?

 

[spectre]

That part isn't the time I mean though, I should have specified. I mean I can progress the story but I'm constantly losing track in the moments inbeyween the main story, having issues with creating meaningful well timed substance inbetween that actuqlly can somehow progress in thr story. My story line is enough for a novel but writing high octane it'd come out as a novella. I am writing in third perwon omniscient and wondering if strict narrative might not propel some kind of engaging material out of me.

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[T.Allen.Smith]

If I were you, I'd think about spending a little time studying different structures. There are the basic structures we all know, like the 3 Act Structure, but it goes much deeper than that & I think this is where you're headed.

For example, I'm currently revising a completed draft of a psychological thriller/Urban Fantasy. The story's structure is parallel, 3 act. Meaning, I have 2 different story lines, both written in 3 act form. One story line (the present) is told in 3rd person past tense. The other (the past) is told in 1st person past tense as one big flashback. However, as the flashback comprises the main body of the story, it isn't meant to read as a flashback. It's meant to be lived along with the main character with quick check ins back to the present tense.

Both stories have their own arcs, developing and moving forward independently, yet both will wind up at the same point.

That may be hard to visualize, but the main point is that you can do whatever you want with time in writing. It's one of the medium's advantages over other forms. You can speed up here, slow down there, jump back and forward, whatever you want so long as it's clear and interesting.

Typically, most of us learn at first to write linear stories. I, like you however, have come to appreciate the non-linear. I think the manipulation of time can work to great impact on our reader. Time manipulation can also work to good effect in film. Think of Tarantino films like Reservoir Dogs. That movies is back and forth, all over the place. You can do the same in writing.

There are some tricks of course, like learning how to move into and out of flashback with clarity. You might want to do so with a change of POV style that denotes a change in time. You might want to employ past perfect tense, where you add the word "had" to transition through time while still indicating an event occurs farther back in time within a story already told in past tense.

A quick example of past perfect tense (bear with me in this example. It's still an early draft). I've bolded the past perfect tense use. Typically, you only want to use it a few times and then move back into regular tense. Too much past perfect is jarring. A little adds clarity:

“You don’t talk like any holy man I’ve ever met,” Elliot said.

“Holy man? Ain’t much about me that’s holy, same as most men, but there’s worse. Much worse.” Jonah slapped his thighs like a drum roll and then shrugged, lifting his hands, fingers spread and palms upward, as high as the chains allowed. “Want me to continue, or should I spend the next few hours making my peace with God? Alone.”

Elliot picked up the pencil and bit gently on the pink eraser before laying the lead point to paper. “No, continue. Please.”

Jonah leaned forward, pressing his chest onto his fingers wrapped over the table’s edge. The corner of his mouth rose in a smirk. He fell back into his raspy, low tone. “As I recall, they’d rushed into the room, white uniforms and lab coats crashing through the door like poured milk, spilling over Nate with a mass of hooking arms and grasping fingers. Nate, well…he’d fought best he could for a time, him being injured and all, before they overwhelmed him with weight and numbers. That’s when the syringe came out, wriggling between that heap of bodies, aiming for a clear line to Nate’s arm.

Lastly, consider looking at your favorite stories (written preferably) that employ non-linear structures. Read them again, but this time with an eye for how the author moved through time while maintaining clarity. After you know the story lines for your story, play with them. Experiment and see what can be told where, without confusing the reader.

I hope that helps.

 

[spectre]

Thanks for your replies.

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[T.Allen.Smith]

I can progress the story but I'm constantly losing track in the moments in between the main story, having issues with creating meaningful well timed substance in between that actually can somehow progress in the story.

After reading this part it seems like you're asking what to do about the periods of time where nothing that is relevant to the main story lines happens.

Briefly summarize them while moving to important and relevant parts, or skip them altogether.

 

[spectre]

As they say, the only important thing in writing is to write. I need to find some Chicago area writer's workshops to go to

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