posted
I've spent the last three days mulling over this, still trying to find the best solution.
In my novel, we see the story as told through the eyes of two men. The problem is, for one of them, relevent events begin happening several years earlier than for the other. I'd like to introduce the reader to both of these characters right away (my draft now has them each appear in the first 10 pages), but to do so forces a lot of events for my first character to be told in flashback.
So if I had to make a trade-off, how might I go about choosing? Either I lay a lot of backdrop right up front with one character, so the reader won't meet the second until page 50 or so (The difficulty in this is that it will be first person. An abrupt change at this point could be rather jarring), or I tell the two stories in parallel, though making it clear that they are not happening concurrently. (Though this option wouldn't exactly be flashback...)
posted
I just reread "Song for Arbonne" which has a similar difficulty. One portion of the story takes place over several months, the other takes place over a week. The shorter timeline is cut in with the longer one, but it's written in present tense until they meet. I've read the book before, and never noticed it, but it works really well.
Posts: 2022 | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
I have a similar situation in a novel that I am getting ready to send out (again).
I've been doing the earlier parts as special chapters with the name of the character at the top instead of "Chapter #" and "First" or "Second" or so on, depending on which special chapter it is. (Does that make sense.)
One reader told me it was too confusing that way and I asked about changing the special chapter titles to something like "Character at Age #" instead. The reader said that would be much better.
You could try something similar. Maybe "Character # years ago" or "Character in the Year #"?
posted
Seems like we're all in the same boat. I've got the exact same problem with a novel I'm getting ready to write. Here are the ideas I've had so far. Whether any of them are worth anything yet, I have no idea.
-Write the book in three sections. (1) Character 1 and her story up until the point where they meet. (2) Character 2 and his story up until the point where they meet. (3) Tells the story from the point when they meet until the end.
-Start the story from the point where they are both in it, fill in background with flashbacks. -Or, instead of flashbacks, have chapters in first person where the characters tell each other about important events from before they met.
-Just start telling the first character's story and introduce the second character when she enters the story chronologically. Fill in her background through flashbacks or first-person narratives.
Make up something for the character who normally wouldn't enter the story until later so she can enter it earlier. Something that would happen chronologically at the same time as character 1's beginning, so I can alternate between the two.
Was that confusing? That's all the ideas I have so far. I'm open to anybody else's ideas/things they've done.
posted
In OSC's Lost Boys there is a similar dilemma. The antagonist doesn't enter into the story (at least not in an overt way) until near the end of the book. OSC starts the book with a chapter about the antagonist--just gives us a flavor for who he is. We don't even actually find out for certain who he is until the next to last chapter, but we know what's going on inside his head. We know what kind of person he is.
This probabaly doesn't fit exactly what you're getting at, but maybe it'll help.
posted
" Regrets/ I've had a few/ But then again/ Too few to mention..."
I just had an image of Frank Sinatra singing over OSC sitting on a stool with a sad look on his face.
I think Mar Robinettes' solution sounds best. Chapter lables always tend to remind me that im reading a story, something I never want the book itself to do. That's just me though.
posted
Does it HAVE to be in first person? There are times where that is truly better, but in today's fiction that is rare--especially in a novel.
If you used third person I would think you would have the freedom to start a new chapter with a date heading or something to the tune of "ten years earlier, character B...."
Not entirely smooth but it's efficient and the audience wouldn't be confused.
Piers Anthony did something similar, I believe, in Cthon. There were a few chapters where you meet characters several years apart from the protagonist.
At any rate, it certainly can be done. My only question would be if you have to go back-in-time, so to speak, with the other character, are you starting your story off in the right place? Just something to ponder.
Either way, just make sure it's clear. So long as it's clear to the reader, I think you can do just about anything.
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