As a freelance editor, I often work on novels with brilliant spots, compelling characters and good writing. But all too often, the novel’s timeline interferes with the central story.
Writing Tip for Today: Your novel’s timeline–the real time story beginning to end–is crucial to reader satisfaction. Too short and readers leave with too many unanswered questions. Too long (and this is more common) and the story simply runs out of steam. Here are three ways to manage your novel’s timeline:
- Check Your Story Arc. If the central problem is whether or not the guy will get the girl or if the murderer will be caught, the novel’s timeline is relatively simple. Once the question is answered, it’s time for that resolution or denouement. To go much beyond your climax scene is to drag your readers into OrdinaryLand. Even if you have or plan a sequel, the character has to be able to bask in glory or suffer defeat for a short time. A story that follows a character or family through several generations (a saga) requires much skill to keep the tension and interest alive. Most novels should have a clear and fairly short timeline in order to do this.
- A Year, a Day, an Hour. Sometimes my students ask what an acceptable timeline is for a novel. The answer is as varied as novels themselves, but in general you need to show enough time elapsing for the central question to be answered and/or for the character’s growth and change to feel natural. Most people don’t change overnight, so usually several weeks or months is required to show a more gradual transition and the character standing up to adversity as a means to get to the goal. A novel which skips around in time is also going to be more difficult to follow for readers. Ask yourself why you are stretching a timeline to include a lifetime or lifetimes. Time travel stories excepted.
- Storyboard Your Novel. Even if you are a seat of the pants writer, when your story is one-third to one-half drafted, it’s a good idea to start keeping a scene list of some sort. This can be fancy, with a computer program, or it can be simple, with 3×5 cards or a handwritten list. Writing this stuff enables you to stand back from the story and see where the tension rises (or needs to!), where things sag or drag and where the timeline might be nipped and tucked to speed things up. In general, skip over or summarize time where not much happens in the story. A story board can help you see where these stagnant bits are so you can keep your novel taut with conflict and keep readers rooting for your main character.
