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Jennifer plays with the timeline
In the stories I write, time plays an important role. There is always some deadline that must be met, a holiday that will be celebrated or a date by which the hero must leave. It adds to the conflict in the story, but it also adds to the headache of the author.
In the stories I write, time plays an important role. There is always some deadline that must be met, a holiday that will be celebrated or a date by which the hero must leave. It adds to the conflict in the story, but it also adds to the headache of the author.
In my latest WIP, my hero is a war photographer who has to
deliver a package somewhere by a particular date. As I was writing, I planned
for the story to start in the beginning of the summer and end by August 15.
Except somewhere along the way, I lost track of the timeline. As a result, I
have lots of references to the hero leaving by a certain date, but if you pay
attention to where they are in the calendar, my timing doesn’t work.
When I was ready to submit it to my agent, one of the things
she asked for was a timeline. So I read through it and created an outline with
the dates listed. I thought I fixed it so it worked, but when she sent me back
her edits, one of the things she flagged was a problem with my timeline. And although
she didn’t mark all the mistakes, she marked enough of them that I could see
she was right.
So, since starting at the beginning of the story hadn’t
worked for me, I decided to try something new.
I started in the middle.
The only fixed calendar date that I have is the 4th
of the July. The hero, heroine and their friends have a BBQ and watch the
fireworks. Now, I know that technically, different towns offer fireworks on
different days. But my calendar-challenged brain can’t handle that, so I
decided that I’d created the town and therefore, I was deciding that they have
fireworks on the actual day of the holiday!
I found the chapters that take place during the 4th
of July and went forward from there. I wrote each chapter on a lined piece of
paper, recorded the highlights of each chapter and the timing of those
highlights. In the manuscript, I marked any reference to timing so that I could
double-check it later. I also tracked “the next day” or “later that afternoon”
to make sure they lined up with the timeline. When I got to the end of the
story, I went back to the 4th of July chapter and worked my way
backwards to the beginning, doing the same thing for those earlier chapters.
Now all I have to do is compare my notes to the marked spots in the manuscript,
fix any discrepancies and then retweak the timeline I submitted to my agent.
In theory, I should be okay.
I guess only time will tell. [wink]
I'm intrigued about what errors you initially made in your timeline! It's not a problem I've ever encountered, probably because my characters haven't usually had any strict deadlines to meet. The only timeline I've ever changed was my own choice to move the story from winter to autumn, which meant changing a children's concert from Christmas to Harvest!
ReplyDeleteMy original premise was that the hero would only be in town about a month and that he was leaving mid August. Which is fine except we start out in a much earlier part of the summer and the 4th of July occurs halfway through the book. And that's only the big problem. There were lots of "tomorrows" that happened 3 days later, etc. Uch.
DeleteAh, so it was a very long month in your story! :-)
DeleteTo quote Dr. Who: It was "timey-whimey"
DeleteNow you've got my thinking it must have taken place on Gallifrey where each day is the same length as a week (or even a month) of earth time! Hee hee!
DeleteYou know, that could have solved so many problems!
DeleteI guess I'm lucky in that I don't have timeline problems, but I can see how difficult it is for you to keep up with them, Jennifer. Your post reminds me of the saying, The best laid plans of mice and men...
ReplyDeleteExactly, Margaret!
DeleteAh, yes the timeline. I've found with a series a timeline can be tricky over the course of the books, too.
ReplyDeleteIn my first book, I made a HUGE mistake with the timeline, and no one ever caught it. My editor never noticed and I didn't catch it until it was too late. Now, of course, I think about it a lot more.
Go on, confess, Debra! What mistake did you make?
DeleteYes, a series makes it even more complicated. I'm notoriously bad with timelines, and since my series involves holidays, it's been very difficult. But I didn't expect a problem with a single title!
DeleteI have a general timeline in my WIP, and a bigger one in my next WIP (a time travel).
ReplyDeleteYour solution is brilliant, Jen.
In a very twisted way, Ana! :)
Delete