Timelines

Writing a story is often a balancing act. Good writers are always aware of these balances, so that they can use them actively. One such balance I have examined is between scene and sequel. Another balance that I want to turn to now lies between timeline and plot. I want to start with the more basic of these notions, the timeline.

Some of what I will be recounting is taken from E. M. Forster’s excellent lectures which are complied in his work, Aspects of the Novel (you can find a mostly complete copy here), which I am currently reading. However, he calls what I will be talking about “the story”. Because I like to use that word in a more general sense, and because I think the word timeline suits my purposes here better, I will use it instead. The timeline is simply the sequence of events that occur in the story. I mean this as literally as possible, simply the different things that happen, connected by an “and then” all the way to the final scene. For example, “Anna got up, then she took a shower, then she ate breakfast, she went to the store, she came home, played with her dog…” and so on and so forth.