Linear narrative (or not)

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

I forget which book it was, but I did once read a book that was written backwards, that is each chapter went further back in time.. wish I could remember which it was...or if I even liked it.

If you don't remember it... that may be the best hint that you didn't like it.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by crich70

Mary Shelley used a somewhat non-linear structure when she wrote Frankenstein...

Some novels have used differing fonts to keep present and past narratives separate. I think that method works... but with ebooks, you'll have to be careful that both fonts can be read by someone's reader of choice, and in some cases, converted to a third font altogether. Better, I think, to make the separation plain with chapters or sub-heads.

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

If you don't remember it... that may be the best hint that you didn't like it.

Well it was probably 100's if not 1000's of books ago... only the best really stick out after a while.

[Eisengoth]

Originally Posted by Penforhire

It is more demanding of the reader. I like it when it is well done. I happen to be reading Iain Banks' "The Crow Road" and he jumps the narrative between two generations. He is an excellent author but at times the text is still challenging.

Do it well and it adds to depth and dramatic impact.

He does something similar in 'Use of Weapons', where the odd chapters move forward in time and the even chapters move backward in time from a given perspective, so that you see the character's story converging from two points. Then at the end it gives you the whammy.

It was definitely challenging to read (and I say that being the kind of guy who can polish off a GRRM book inside of a couple of days) but man, was the end worth it...

[teh603]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

Is this something that is likely to annoy people in the same way that present tense writing seems to annoy a few people? I know a lot of it will probably depend on how it is written.

Something like:

1. fight scene part 1
2. 2 hours ago, events leading up to fight.
3. fight scene part 2
4. 6 months ago
5. what happened after the fight

I've only seen one book where this was used properly, and that was a Star Trek novel with the Guardian of Forever (the big talking time arch thingey) being used as a plot device because someone else was manipulating time to murder Counselor Troi, and retirement-age Riker wanted to set things right. Every other time I've seen flashbacks used, they were used badly.

[morriss003]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

I forget which book it was, but I did once read a book that was written backwards, that is each chapter went further back in time.. wish I could remember which it was...or if I even liked it.

I remember that the best episode of "China Beach" was presented that way.

[Nancy Fulda]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

The first chapter is on my blog. It's not finished yet, but the structure is there. It's basically to avoid having 30 pages at the beginning where nothing much happens, and if the characters have already been introduced doing something interesting I can gloss over the boring bits.

I don't see a problem with using a nonlinear narrative, but if the point of the nonlinear narrative is to "gloss over the boring bits" then you have a major problem.

There should not be any boring bits in a novel. None. Instead of juggling the scene order around in an attempt to artificially create tension, I would recommend taking a good, hard look at those boring parts. Is there an interpersonal conflict that you can accentuate? Is there a strong, engaging personality that the reader will empathize with? What's it going to take to make those segments interesting?

The problem with using a framed flashback to hook the reader is that it doesn't work. If the content of the flashback is uninteresting, you will lose the reader as soon as you make the jump.

[ApK]

I thought I'd mention, I'm about 1/4 of the way through listening to "Containment," by Christian Cantrell (which I found free thanks to THIS POST. Thanks again, MR!)
I'm enjoying it so far, and it is make effective use of this non-linear technique (I guess that term makes more sense...I'll reserve 'temporal discontinuity' for the jarring effect I get from POOR non-linear narrative....).

The book starts with a character in a hospital recovering from surgery, the goes back and forth between the hospital, previous events, and also to historical exposition.

There are no special devices used (in the audiobook, at least) like flash back indicators, or datelines, or changes of voice or background. But it's not been confusing or jarring at all so far. It's not a 'gimmicky' use, like Memento, or Pulp Fiction. Merely two story threads, which I expect will eventually converge, plus the exposition. It's very well done.
NFI.

ApK

[J. Strnad]

Harold Pinter's play Betrayal moves backwards in time, examining an extramarital affair from its end to its beginning. I believe Jeremy Irons stars in the film version. It works extremely well, but then, Pinter is damn good.

The book I'm writing now began with a non-linear narrative. My test readers didn't get it and were confused by what was going on, even though I felt I bent over backwards to make it clear what was happening "now" and what took place twenty years previously.

I decided to rewrite it in a linear form and made a discovery: the "now" story was feeble and couldn't stand on its own! I was just amusing myself with the structure and failed to tell a good story. So, now I'm in the middle of a page-one rewrite and complete rethinking of the concept.

Overall, I'd guess that more readers are turned off by non-linear storytelling than are excited by it, whereas everyone likes a well-told story that starts at the beginning, proceeds through the middle, and then stops at the end.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by ApK

I thought I'd mention, I'm about 1/4 of the way through listening to "Containment," by Christian Cantrell (which I found free thanks to THIS POST. Thanks again, MR!)
I'm enjoying it so far, and it is make effective use of this non-linear technique (I guess that term makes more sense...I'll reserve 'temporal discontinuity' for the jarring effect I get from POOR non-linear narrative....).

The book starts with a character in a hospital recovering from surgery, the goes back and forth between the hospital, previous events, and also to historical exposition.

There are no special devices used (in the audiobook, at least) like flash back indicators, or datelines, or changes of voice or background. But it's not been confusing or jarring at all so far. It's not a 'gimmicky' use, like Memento, or Pulp Fiction. Merely two story threads, which I expect will eventually converge, plus the exposition. It's very well done.
NFI.

ApK

So I recommend 'Containment' to my wife, as it's not terribly hard scifi, and I thought she'd like the story.
She didn't. There were a couple things she found unsatisfying, but the main thing: "All that jumping around in time was confusing. I couldn't keep track of what was going on."
Oh well. Can't please everyone, I guess. I still liked it.

[efindel]

The classic of non-linear narrative is Catch-22. Not only is the narrative there non-linear -- it becomes a sort of spiral, with multiple flashbacks of the key events, the main character remembering what happened more clearly each time. Depending on the nature of the story being told, this could be a useful thing to do.