So, I'm writing a book currently in which I plan to have two plots interlinked but moving at different points in time. Essentially the main plot will focus on a guy as he deals with life and issues ahead of him, whilst the second plot will take the form of flashbacks moving backwards in his life. The start of the book will establish the linked plot points and I'll be trying to find a way to relink them at the end. So the main story will move forwards in a linear fashion, whilst the backwards moving plot will jump far more in time. My question is do you think between segments that I should establish where the timeline currently is or just allow it to play out and allow the reader themselves to discover where they are? My initial writing has kept it initially vague whether it's current or past, at least until it needs to be revealed, but I feel it's a bit much doing that everytime
If I were you I would keep it to one main plot and combine the flash backs within. Otherwise you've the change that your readers will lost their interest when it's to complicated...
Thanks for the advice, I'm maybe overly emphasising the Importance of the secondary plotline, as it's more about establishing the character than anything else.
It's hard to say without actually reading it. In my novel I just wrote the flashback chapters and figured out how to merge them together with the current story after they were better developed.
I agree--I think this is a case of write it and then figure out how to arrange it. Then let some other eyes look over it and how they react to the arrangement. Stories don't have to be linear, but they do have to make sense. Unfortunately, for many of us, we're too close to our work to be able to tell if it makes sense to people who don't have the same story knowledge we do. It's a viable way to tell a story, but whether or not it works is all in the execution--and that's something only readers of the work can tell you.
