I apologize for this very confusing post. In my fantasy novel, I decided to start the book four months in and then jump back in time. The first main character has been washed up on a river bank, two kids find him, and the story begins. After a little while, it goes back in time and stays there until the story reconnects by explaining how he gets in the river. Then, it skips to later. Here's a diagram: 1,2,3,4,5,6 chronologically. It appears in the book as 4,5,1,2,3,6 After it goes back in time I also introduce new viewpoint characters. Is this a bad battle plan, is it brilliant, or does it depend on my execution? Thanks!
no one can give you a valid answer to our question till they read the book... it will either work for most/some readers, or it won't... bottom line: yes, it all depends on your 'execution'...
It does depend on your execution. What you don't want to do is make the story confusing by telling it in such a way. You may want to consider starting the novel at 4, but not going into too much detail. Then, when it comes to reaching that point again, you can go through to the later part of the novel. I hope I've made sense :S. So you would tell the story like this: 4,1,2,3,4,5,6, as opposed to skipping 4 in the middle. Let me know if this doesn't make any sense as I feel I've lost myself