As I was planning out things for my parallel novel (to come much later) I began to realize that it would almost function better as a part of my original novel... the problem is, the paces are going to be vastly different.
Earthside: The first half is about the first half of my main characters story... his history. The second half is what happens after he leaves and his "friends" are forced to fight off an alien invasion while remaining interconnected with a large political move, on the brink of a second world war (I say second because these wars are much larger than our previous world wars).
Dimension: The first... oh I'd say the first sixth of this story is an introduction to what happens before my main character arrives, while the latter five sixths are a war story, where this character is only mildly important.
If I put them TOGETHER, though, it would create a lot of time gaps in between the main char's history. That's bad. On the other hand (aside from five different fingers) this would give me a good "bounce back" storyline to go in between the plots on Earth and the story elsewhere.
Give me an opinion please, this is a crucial decision I have to make.
Posted by Spaceman (Member # 9240) on :
I think there is no right way to do this, but it is an important choice. It depends on what feels works best to keep the reader from getting lost. In the novel I'm currently working on, I have two separate story lines that only come together at the end of the novel. I'm alternating chapters until the two sides meet. You might try something like that, and use devices like dates to keep the reader following you.
Posted by hopekeeper (Member # 2701) on :
True, true... that would work well, but right now I'm leaning more to a two-novel thing here. Because I think it's important in the first novel (Dimension) to not know much about my main character at all... his history in Earthside is like a bonus to the reader.