Timelines

I've spent the past week working on timelines.  If that sounds like a torturous homework assignment, that's because it's a lot like a torturous homework assignment.

The book I'm currently working on has been in evolution for 14 years.  That doesn't mean I've been working on it for the full 14 years - I'm not #GeorgeRR (sadly).  The original draft was finished in 14 days but as time's gone on, I've honed my craft, worked with mentors and matured - so that when I revisited the idea of publishing it, there was a lot of work to be done.

I don't recommend this as a strategy.  Firstly, while they say you should put a book away and come back to it for a fresh perspective, I'm pretty sure they don't mean put it away for 14 years.

The evolution from 1st draft to final edit brought up something important - timelines.  As the story was re-written into an era with different social expectations, technology and pop culture, the characters' back stories needed to change and of course, so did their timelines.  Changing the age of a character by a couple of years to fit with a plot line can cause chaos where that age is relevant to a series of events or their arc intersects with another's.

So, in order to clarify events, character arcs and story arcs, I downloaded a trial of a programme called 'Aeon Timeline'.  I'm ah, not one to do too much plotting before I start writing - I find it too restrictive.  But retrospectively adding in timelines has made the final editing process infinitely easier.

All conflicts were easily ironed out, ages established and I started to get a different overall feel for the book once I placed it within a specific time frame.

I'm not sure that doing this retrospectively is efficient (okay, it's just not) - but if you write as I do, it's definitely helpful.

My suggestion, based on the last week or so of work is that even if you are a 'free' writer, if you start with a timeline and add events as you go, even if you don't pre-plan your arcs, you'll find that referring back to your place in time is extremely helpful and a massive time saver at the end of the process.

So far, I would definitely recommend Aeon (and no, they're not paying me to endorse them - although I wouldn't be against the idea :-P) - as easy to use and inexpensive.  But no matter what you use, I definitely recommend blocking out your timelines - as painful as it may be.

- Kaia.