Timeline

MonkeySocks24

Hello all, I am really struggling with the timeline of my novel. can I be vague about the timeline while writing the novel or is this a NO NO? Any tips would be must apprecitated

pickarooney

Your post itself is far too vague for anyone to give you any kind of useful answer, I'm afraid. Do you mean that you give no clue as to how much time passes between the beginning and end of the story or what exactly? Can the reader not figure it out logically?

MonkeySocks24

pickarooney wrote: »

Your post itself is far too vague for anyone to give you any kind of useful answer, I'm afraid. Do you mean that you give no clue as to how much time passes between the beginning and end of the story or what exactly? Can the reader not figure it out logically?

Right sorry. I am writing a fantasy novel and I don't what to give an exact timeline because the history wouldn't match the timeline as it is a different world.

pickarooney

Do you mean the time it's set in? (a timeline for me is, e.g. starts in May 1972, ends in July 1981).

Either way there's no compulsion to use any real-world time parameters in a fantasy novel. You can make up your own calendar or just not refer directly to the time period at all.

Antilles

Unless having a floating timeline is somehow central to your plot, you have to have your timeline pinned down before you start writing. Otherwise you'll end up with all sorts of inconsistencies.

MonkeySocks24

pickarooney wrote: »

Do you mean the time it's set in? (a timeline for me is, e.g. starts in May 1972, ends in July 1981).

Either way there's no compulsion to use any real-world time parameters in a fantasy novel. You can make up your own calendar or just not refer directly to the time period at all.

Interesting. Create my own calendar. so hard

Antilles wrote: »

Unless having a floating timeline is somehow central to your plot, you have to have your timeline pinned down before you start writing. Otherwise you'll end up with all sorts of inconsistencies.

I have a timeline but in that timeline, war, etc happens and I don't want that in my novel so I'd rather just give a rough timeline but I am not sure that would work.

pickarooney

Can you just clear up for once and for all what exactly you mean by 'timeline' so we know we're all talking about the same thing?

MonkeySocks24

pickarooney wrote: »

Can you just clear up for once and for all what exactly you mean by 'timeline' so we know we're all talking about the same thing?

Yes what I mean about a Timeline, in what period is the book set, history and culture and beliefs in that timeline, from start to finish.

pathway33

So you want to set in say 1940 - 1945 but none of your characters mention the war?

That'd be brilliant. It would show that your characters are outside society

MonkeySocks24

pathway33 wrote: »

So you want to set in say 1940 - 1945 but none of your characters mention the war?

That'd be brilliant. It would show that your characters are outside society

Exactly Pathway . Do you think that would annoy readers?

pathway33

MonkeySocks24 wrote: »

Exactly Pathway . Do you think that would annoy readers?

It wouldn't annoy me but that's only 1 book you've sold. I wouldn't be experienced in what the general public read. I don't read books much

pickarooney

MonkeySocks24 wrote: »

Exactly Pathway . Do you think that would annoy readers?

It wouldn't annoy me, I don't think. It might depend on what country they're in and what the alternative is but I think I could live with that.

MonkeySocks24

pathway33 wrote: »

It wouldn't annoy me but that's only 1 book you've sold. I wouldn't be experienced in what the general public read. I don't read books much

Well I have sold a book to someone who doesn't read much that is defo a good sign lol

pickarooney wrote: »

It wouldn't annoy me, I don't think. It might depend on what country they're in and what the alternative is but I think I could live with that.

Great. Up and onwards (my characters don't sound this stupid in the book )

af_thefragile

MonkeySocks24 wrote: »

Exactly Pathway . Do you think that would annoy readers?

It depends on how well you write it. I like to think there are no absolute "rules" that you must adhere to write a novel. I like experimenting with different structures and time scales. But then it needs to be done well to work.

Like one of my stories I'm working on has got multiple narrators and another one is a bit of a fantasy novel but with absolutely no names.

Orwell's 1984 is set up in an alternate reality world and that worked well (though it was still a reflection of Stalin's regime). Actually a lot of books are set up in alternate realities. It just depends on how well you chose the setting and how well you write the book.

MonkeySocks24

af_thefragile wrote: »

It depends on how well you write it. I like to think there are no absolute "rules" that you must adhere to write a novel. I like experimenting with different structures and time scales. But then it needs to be done well to work.

Like one of my stories I'm working on has got multiple narrators and another one is a bit of a fantasy novel but with absolutely no names.

Orwell's 1984 is set up in an alternate reality world and that worked well (though it was still a reflection of Stalin's regime). Actually a lot of books are set up in alternate realities. It just depends on how well you chose the setting and how well you write the book.

No names? Sounds interesting but would that not confuse you?

Good old Orwell. Great book. It was a great writer tho.

af_thefragile

MonkeySocks24 wrote: »

No names? Sounds interesting but would that not confuse you?

Good old Orwell. Great book. It was a great writer tho.

Yup, all the people in the book are just abstract characters. They come and go, everything remains the same, nothing ever changes... The story revolves around one character with no name. All other characters have little significance. And then its also because I'm not using any names, no one can say where its set and who the people are. Which means it could have happened anywhere to anyone and that doesn't matter. Sorta... I like to mess with people's head like that!

MonkeySocks24

af_thefragile wrote: »

Yup, all the people in the book are just abstract characters. They come and go, everything remains the same, nothing ever changes... The story revolves around one character with no name. All other characters have little significance. And then its also because I'm not using any names, no one can say where its set and who the people are. Which means it could have happened anywhere to anyone and that doesn't matter. Sorta... I like to mess with people's head like that!

That sounds interesting and different! cool. Have you wrote much?

af_thefragile

MonkeySocks24 wrote: »

That sounds interesting and different! cool. Have you wrote much?

Nope, haven't written anything for that yet.
Currently focusing on two other novels. Ones a sci-fi other's a psychological thriller... a bit like Matrix but not exactly...

I'll get to that one after I finish the two I'm working on... Its not gonna be an easy one to write but hey, if its easy then its not worth writing either!

MonkeySocks24

af_thefragile wrote: »

Nope, haven't written anything for that yet.
Currently focusing on two other novels. Ones a sci-fi other's a psychological thriller... a bit like Matrix but not exactly...

I'll get to that one after I finish the two I'm working on... Its not gonna be an easy one to write but hey, if its easy then its not worth writing either!

Wow two novels in one go, that is brave. It's hard work writing one nevermind too but I suppose it's good if you get writers block on one you can go to the next one. Psychological thriller, I like the sound of that! Love Sci-Fi too. The market could really do with some new sci-fi writers! Good Luck.

af_thefragile

MonkeySocks24 wrote: »

Wow two novels in one go, that is brave. It's hard work writing one nevermind too but I suppose it's good if you get writers block on one you can go to the next one. Psychological thriller, I like the sound of that! Love Sci-Fi too. The market could really do with some new sci-fi writers! Good Luck.

Pretty much. When I run out of idea for one story, I put it aside and start working on the other one till I hit a block with the current one or a brain wave to make progress on the one I've put aside.

And then I've really got another 6 plots on stand by. Took advice of my friend to stop coming up with new plots and just get writing on one. So I'm not gonna move onto other plots till I finish writing these two first.

MonkeySocks24

af_thefragile wrote: »

Pretty much. When I run out of idea for one story, I put it aside and start working on the other one till I hit a block with the current one or a brain wave to make progress on the one I've put aside.

And then I've really got another 6 plots on stand by. Took advice of my friend to stop coming up with new plots and just get writing on one. So I'm not gonna move onto other plots till I finish writing these two first.

Yeah I have a habit of writing plots for ten different books at once and the result is none get finished. I just left the rest aside and focused on one only and it took a lot of pressure off. Writing has to be fun for me. I don't like pressure because it affects my creativity.