Monday, October 8, 2012

Timelines




Every book has a timeline. Even if the author never mentions what day of the week it is when an action takes place, the reader is mentally slotting that scene into a timeline before this happens, yet after that has happened.

Sooner or later the characters will eat a meal, go to work, sleep, or do something else time specific. That’s when your timeline must make sense. You’ve probably all read books or watched movies where the characters eat lunch twice in one day or the sun sets right after they’ve gone to work. For many readers, that’s enough to have them throwing the book at the wall.

If you don’t want to say, Monday May 6, that’s fine, but make sure the weather, the flowers and the sun fits your location for that time. Then keep a written timeline through the book so the right amount of time has passed before they go swimming at the beach, or cross country skiing in the mountains.
On your spreadsheet track their meals, the number of evenings that have passed and ensure that everything dovetails nicely.

That way you won’t have the kind of problems a certain movie has, where the characters stand on the beach and watch the sun set in the EAST.

Helen Woodall

Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.



6 comments:

anny cook said...

Or your character is pregnant toooooo long or not long enough. Those fifteen month pregnancies are real killers.

Helen Woodall: Freelance Editing said...

Exactly!
Helen

Anonymous said...

Or the characters flee from the enemy for a month straight and never seem to eat anything. For that matter, the enemy don't eat anything either :/

Deborah

Helen Woodall: Freelance Editing said...

Oh yes Deborah. And they don't take any luggage with them either but always seem to have clean clothes!
Helen

Anonymous said...

And then they leave the land they know well for one they've never set foot in and still manage to find all the edible plants and eschew the poisonous ones (unless someone being poisoned while travelling was going to be part of the plot anyway)! But I think this is moving on to a different topic...

Deborah

Helen Woodall: Freelance Editing said...

Yes, that's world building 101. You can make your world anything you want but it must be logical and consistent. And unless the plants are exactly the same as in their own world they should have a problem.
Helen