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Post by Divides the Waters on Feb 26, 2008 20:30:05 GMT -5
This question is not about storytelling, but the writing process itself. It could go into any forum but since it's for a fantasy book, here I go.
When you have a storyline that requires splitting up your main characters and having them go their separate ways (a la LOTR or TESB), do you write those characters' journeys individually and then integrate/alternate them, or do you try to juggle the various storylines as you write chronologically?
I've been having some difficulty with this, as the threads are disconnected at first, but do tie in with each other eventually. I don't want to pull a Tolkien and simply make separate books for each character; I actually prefer George R. R. Martin's approach, where he focuses on one character, and then takes you away to focus on another. But I've never really tried to write that way before, and it's tricky!
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Post by rwley on Feb 26, 2008 21:00:19 GMT -5
One of the fantasy projects I have deals with this as well. I have three major characters that do not start out together but will come together and their individual stories need to be told. I started with the main guy and his chapters are told in first person. I leave him for a bit and go to the other two, tell their stories, third person, and then bring them all back together and move back to first person. I don't know how this is all going to pull together when I'm done, but that's where I'm headed now.
It is a difficult idea, I know. I hope it works. I wouldn't want to have separate books for each character either, so I choose the alternating chapters sort of flow. What is going to make mine difficult to pull off is that one character that is told first person. Switching pov's is tricky at best, so I'm treading on thin ice here.
Does that help?
Robi
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Post by Spokane Flyboy on Feb 26, 2008 23:09:20 GMT -5
A book I read a few months ago (well, actually listened to - it was an audiobook on a long road trip) used a jumping format between all the different groups of characters. One thing that that method is really good for is suspense since you can jump to another group somewhere else, right when the other group is getting into the thick of things. Essentially cliff hangers that keep you reading just to know what's next. It also seemed, to me, to make the story seem more urgent as you were getting chunks of scenes from several groups jumping back and forth between those chasing the virus, those chasing the black market group and their assassins, those at headquarters, and one of the main character's parents that are being hunted by assassins aiming to get a hook into Sigma Force.
If you're interested, the book was The Judas Strain by James Rollins. It's about a special government segment called Sigma Force, under DARPA, tracking the spread of a deadly virus that crops up in the south pacific while trying to stop a highly organized black-market group from getting their hands on the virus.
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Post by Divides the Waters on Feb 27, 2008 1:49:37 GMT -5
Well, it's not so much about how it's going to read (I already know it's going to alternate), as how you juggle those things as you're writing. Do you find that it causes you to divide your attention too much to try to jump between the storylines? Is it better to focus on one at a time?
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Post by Jeff Gerke on Feb 27, 2008 9:04:05 GMT -5
There is no better or worse, divides. There's only what works best for you. Why not try it both ways and see which you like better?
I personally find that writing them piece at a time--first a scene from this storyline and then a scene from that storyline, then back to the first--works better for me. The divisions and the jumps between storylines present themselves better and I can write more strategically that way.
For instance, I'm writing in storyline 1 and I get to a place where I think, hey, this would be a great stopping point. So I stop and think about the other storyline. Oh, right, it would be great to follow what I just wrote in storyline 1 with this bit in storyline 2. That'll really grip the reader. Then I write in storyline 2 until I come to a good place to stop--especially when I think, Ooh, now would be a great time to jump back to storyline 1 and pick up where they're doing X. That'll make the reader think Y.
But if I've written the storylines independently, the jump places may or may not be there when and where I need them. I might need to jump over to storyline 2, but because I was writing it in a vacuum I haven't given myself a good stopping place until a chapter later, which would be too late for my needs in storyline 2. I'd have to go in and invent a non-organic stopping place--or simply miss the opportunity I wanted to take advantage of.
That works for me, but isn't meant to come off as the "right" way to do it. Experiment. Find what works for you.
Good question, btw.
Jeff
P.S. Be sure to consult Tips 42 and 43 on this whole topic.
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Post by rwley on Feb 27, 2008 10:16:43 GMT -5
I don't guess I've ever given much thought to "method". Most of my writing is done straight through; I generally just start and go where the spirit leads. Once the story is done, I'll go back and add or subtract, revise and refine, but I think I'm pretty much just a straight line, begining to end story teller. I don't know if that's good or bad, and I know not everyone does that, but I don't seem to be able to do anything else.
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Post by Spokane Flyboy on Feb 27, 2008 11:17:32 GMT -5
I've never attempted such an undertaking, but I imagine that it would be easiest to write them much like they read just to keep from tangling yourself - especially if the groups are in communication with each other in the story. I can see doing Group A all at once then Group B all at once more easily pulling you into the trap of contradicting events. Though, I admit, I have a rather poor memory (I'll write notes to remember, then forget I even made the notes).
The only major disadvantage I can see to alternating between scenes as you write is that it might derail your train of thought when you keep switching mental tracks.
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Post by strangewind on Feb 27, 2008 13:14:36 GMT -5
One other possibility (i.e. here's what I do): I've got a novel with a few divergent main characters who don't even get together until about 25% of the book is completed. I did a rough flowchart. Main Character was a diamond, second character was a square, and third character is a parallellogram (because I'm a dork).
Each step of their process is marked with a new corresponding "box" further down the page.
Sometimes one box converges, not necessarily in time, but in space, with another (i.e. they both take a trip to the bar, but on different days, or one comes to a crime scene weeks after the other did an investigations...whatever). When the three characters finally meet, their boxes all converge on top of each other.
This simple mapping gave me an idea of where characters might be as all the action progressed.
Just a thought.
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Post by Jeff Gerke on Feb 28, 2008 8:28:17 GMT -5
Yes, that's a good idea, strangewind.
I should've mentioned that while I might write the storylines in an alternating fashion, I will have planned them out in some kind of map or chart before I do so.
My thinking about each storyline is done all of a piece. I know where they're going (more or less) and the steps involved in getting there. I'll have a rough idea of how I might jump back and forth between them, but that's the part that won't be figured out until I'm actually writing.
Jeff
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Post by Divides the Waters on Feb 28, 2008 14:49:40 GMT -5
What I've done thus far is to create a spreadsheet with a center column showing the linear action up to the point at which the characters are separated. Then I broke it off into four columns, each one delineating the viewpoint character's story, keeping it (more or less) parallel so that I know where each of the characters is at their point in the story.
Now I've started copying and pasting those "snowflake method" inspired cues into my word document at the appropriate places, giving me an outline for the story. I do feel that it's difficult to keep the storylines juggled, because even though I try to give each one its full due, I'm always keeping the others at the back of my mind, and worry that it lessens the attention I focus on the chapter I'm working on at the time. On the other hand, I am in agreement that writing chronologically allows for better chapter segues.
Hmmm.
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Post by Jeff Gerke on Feb 28, 2008 16:11:49 GMT -5
Don't fret about it. Every writer has to work out his or her own system. Find what works for you and don't worry if no one else does it that way.
Jeff
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Post by Divides the Waters on Feb 28, 2008 17:53:35 GMT -5
How writers blow their own minds....
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Post by Divides the Waters on May 14, 2008 17:53:32 GMT -5
Probably not important, but I've decided to write what I would call the "spine" storyline first, and then focus on the others in turn, weaving them in as appropriate. That will let me build off of the important facts, and segue as well if not better than if I simply hopped from chapter to chapter.
Incidentally, I've somehow lost my idea book (I carry a pocket-sized composition book for my daily thoughts on the story), and it's really freaking me out. We've been through a lot lately, and this is kind of the icing on the cake.
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Post by Jeff Gerke on May 19, 2008 7:36:45 GMT -5
Your solution about the multiple storylines sounds fine.
I'm so sorry to hear about you losing your idea book. Having lost almost all of a novel in progress before, I know that sickening feeling. It's almost like you've lost your child. Maybe not that awful, but it's at least like losing your pet. You spend all your spare time looking in places you've not looked before--or places you have. It won't let you go.
Jeff
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Post by Divides the Waters on May 19, 2008 10:50:59 GMT -5
I found it after a week, praise God!
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