In a post on DIY MFA, Melanie Bell offers advice on writing a novel with alternating timelines. “How could you use alternating timelines in a narrative?” she asks. “And is it the best choice for the story you’re telling?” Bell suggests some questions to ask if you want to try a non-linear storytelling structure.
- When do the timeline breaks happen? Will flashbacks be incorporated into the action or will you alternate timelines from chapter to chapter or scene to scene?
- How do you keep track of what happens when? “Writing alternating timelines works best when you plot them out, at least to some degree,” Ball says. “It’s often helpful to add time markers.”
- Do the points of view change with the alternating timelines? Do you use the same POV character for each timeline or do you vary? “If you’re writing about multiple characters at different times, such as two people at different points in history, the perspective shift will be more dramatic,” Ball writes. “Think not only about what your different timelines are, but who is telling each temporal story.”
- How do the different timelines impact each other (if they do)? When using multiple timelines, you should have a strong reason. Do the events in one timeline impact the other? Does history repeat itself? Are you using the different timelines to reveal how a character changes over time? At minimum, the use of multiple timelines should reinforce your theme, even if the events in one don’t directly affect another.
- Why do your timelines alternate? “What do you want to show with your time jumps?” Ball asks. “If you choose to move between timelines in your story, it’s probably because important events happen at different points in time, but there’s a narrative reason they shouldn’t be revealed to the reader in sequence. Narrow down that reason and use it to focus your storytelling.”
