One of my challenges in story-writing is the timeline. And boy am I a stickler about it—almost obsessive, at times. As I teach and preach, even fiction must ring true. Saturday has to follow Friday. If it is summer in Honolulu, you’d better not write in a sled ride in freezing temps. Readers don’t trust writers who misstep when it comes to the logical flow of a story and the timeline.
One of my challenges is keeping the story well-contained. Cozy mysteries generally take place within a short period of time. I tend to drag out my stories—it takes time for some aspects of a story to gel and to make sense. If someone is traveling thousands of miles by car, they aren’t going to reach their destination in a few hours. Sometimes things simply don’t happen bam-bam-bam—there must be time allowed for research to be done, a character to heal, a mind to be changed…
My last story, Mansion of Meows, occurred within a brief week. That was a record for me—high-five!! The one I’m working on—sort of a sequel to Mansion of Meows—encompasses a month and I’m finding it difficult to keep true to the calendar, if you know what I mean. Realizing how important it is, however, I’m spending a lot of time on my timeline. In fact, this morning, I went carefully through the draft and checked each day, noting the progression on a separate sheet of paper. I was pretty impressed with myself to learn that I was right-on with the succession of days, except for one small glitch. Oops, I had two Wednesdays in one week. Now that would never escape my astute readers’ attention.
My next task is to see if I can cut the time down. Problem is, some issues take time to incubate—like a relationship does. Timelines in stories, like the baking of a perfect pie, can’t be hurried. But it’s vital that the author maintain a perfect sequence of events.
I know one writer who pastes post-its all over the walls of her studio to keep track of her timeline. I tried using index cards once—that was cumbersome for me, although I know it works for others. When you’re writing a series, it is highly important that you maintain a natural and realistic timeline. I’ve introduced a baby into my Klepto Cat Mystery series, for example, and it is important that I stay true to her age progression. The main cat character, however—I think I’ll have to give him eternal life. My fans would never forgive me if I allowed Rags to age and… No, let’s don’t even go there.
I’d love to hear from others about how they handle their story timelines. PLFry620@yahoo.com Or you can leave a comment here.