Narrative Structure Question
Oct. 17th, 2009 02:39 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png)
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Has anyone here written a nonlinear narrative?
One of my stories this year seems to be structurally demanding a nonlinear narrative, since so much of the past, and how it shaped the present, plays a major role in the story. I haven't experimented with nonlinear narrative very often, though, and I'm wondering if anyone has any tips or advice on dealing with that extra chronological dimension. I'd especially like to know about pulling the like off without flashing back in any particular order, as I doubt I'll be able to work the flashback in in any kind of chronological order. (The two writers that come to mind when I think of nonlinear are Ursula K. Le Guin and Steven Brust, both of whom entwined two different, mostly linear timelines in the nonlinear work I've read, so it is difficult to extrapolate from them and apply it to my plot.)
Anyway, any help/tips/suggestions anyone's willing to offer would be wonderful.
Cheers!
One of my stories this year seems to be structurally demanding a nonlinear narrative, since so much of the past, and how it shaped the present, plays a major role in the story. I haven't experimented with nonlinear narrative very often, though, and I'm wondering if anyone has any tips or advice on dealing with that extra chronological dimension. I'd especially like to know about pulling the like off without flashing back in any particular order, as I doubt I'll be able to work the flashback in in any kind of chronological order. (The two writers that come to mind when I think of nonlinear are Ursula K. Le Guin and Steven Brust, both of whom entwined two different, mostly linear timelines in the nonlinear work I've read, so it is difficult to extrapolate from them and apply it to my plot.)
Anyway, any help/tips/suggestions anyone's willing to offer would be wonderful.
Cheers!