What is Chronology?
The arrangement of events in the order of their occurrence.
The Time Warp of Story: Understanding Chronology in Creative Writing
Chronology is the backbone of any story. It's the order of events that occur in the world you're building and the timeline your characters follow.
But as a writer, you have the power to warp time. You can create flashbacks, flash-forwards, and alternate realities. You can even play with the order of events themselves, revealing new information about characters and scenes as the story progresses.
Of course, writing out of chronological order can be tricky. As you revise, you'll need to make sure that each scene connects logically to the ones before and after it. You may also need to consider how the time warp affects the pacing and tension of your story.
So, as you start writing, ask yourself: what is the natural chronology of this story? And how can you use time to make it even more compelling?
Here are a couple of examples of how authors have used chronology to great effect in their novels:
This novel follows the love story of a man with a genetic disorder that causes him to time travel unpredictably and his wife, who lives her life linearly.
The nonlinear structure not only adds mystery to the story, but also provides readers with deeper insight into the characters' lives as they experience events at different points in time.
This novel uses a fractured timeline to explore the lives of two Indian twins, including their mother's death and the events that led up to it.
This technique allows Roy to gradually uncover the secrets that both bind and destroy the family, and to reveal how seemingly small decisions can have grave consequences.