So, I’m about to start on the assembly portion of Love & Loyalty. For my others novels this was a very straight forward process. I write from an outline, proceeding in a linear fashion from cause to effect, beginning to end. I write the manuscripts, chapter by chapter and then put all the chapters together in sequence to make the file of the manuscript.
Love and Loylaty is not working that way any more.
When I started the editing on this pass, it was because my sentence level craft had improved and I wanted the book to reflect that. (It was not well written enough for professional publication before, now it might be.) I also made a decision to open up the number of points of view which allowed me to introduce new characters and new scenes that better explained th plot, provided more dramatic troubles for the characters, and hopefully hightened the tension. These scenes were written out of sequence, but I know roughly where they would be insterted.
Then after reading chapter 3 to my writers’ group the feedback came back that this should be chapter 1 and I agreed, so sequences were changed, events were changed so cause and effect would have the proper relationship to the events.
Now it is time to assemble the manuscript and I’ve had a thought and for the life of me I cannot determine if it is a good idea or not.
Love and Loylaty is primary the story of two people, Seth Jackson and the woman he loves Minou Shippen. The story alternates between their two plotlines until their lives intersect again and from there the story is the tangle of duties, loves, and betrayal that push these characters into conflict.
So the manscript went like this, a Seth chapter, then a Minou Chpater, back to Seth, back to Minou etc until they met and then it’s a combination from there on out.
The idea that occured to me is a book format. Book 1, Seth Jackson, all the events in his life until he runs into Minou again at Earth. Then Book 2, flashback and we see Minou’s life until she runs into Seth. Then Book 3, their combined story and conflicts until resolution.
I have no idea which way is better….
Thank you for the thoughtful and detailed feedback on the structure issue for “Love and Loyalty”. Right now the manuscript is getting the proof-reading pass from my eagle-eyes sweetie-wife, after that I will experiment with the separate book structure.
I think it’s a fantastic idea. I think this will build your story better. When the reader devotes their attention to a character and follows their journey without repeated breaks in continuity, it allows them to like, enjoy and relate more if they are so inclined.
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Sure, when it comes time to develop the co-star your readers feel almost as if they’ve been torn unwillingly from Seth’s life and it may take a little while to adjust. Initially they are reluctant to follow the new character and may even resist connecting to or liking them just in protest, but their desire to eventually return to where Seth (the proverbial carrot on a stick) dramatically (I hope) left off will hold their attention until a well written, new character development helps keep it.
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That way the whole time you watch character B development you know all the things that make character A tick or you discover (on your own, based on knowing character A first) where the lives will weave and why their connection is significant. The reader feels as though they are putting this together while you, the author, just supplied the words.
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The back and forth style (one for you, one for her – one for you, one for her) makes it difficult to cultivate a meaningful connection between the reader and the character(s) as individuals. Introduction of your characters as individuals will more effectively allow the reader to become personally vested in the outcome of their stories. Once they are together you don’t have that opportunity anymore to emotionally invest your reader. Doing so while they are a pair is not feasible.
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If you are worried that you don’t have or want the substance behind your supporting character to keep the reader’s interest while you develop her, you could always start with her and follow with Set, who will ‘pass the torch’ well to an eventful or stimulating plot when they collide. To do so, you may consider starting with some dramatic morsel of plot that takes place after they joined. This would be a small piece; it could even be used as the “front flap” synopsis. Your audience will keep that bit of story and look for where it could possibly fit as they walk aside each character.
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Sorry, you didn’t ask for that but thought I would throw it out there. Good luck with your book, no matter what you do.
Yes, but my book is different of course. The most telling difference is that it would start out with a split narrative structure, and join into a united structure at the end. Sort of the opposite of The Lord Of The Rings. IN theory you’re so engaged with the characters at the breaking of the fellowship the split structures works as a dramatic/tension building device. With L&L I’d be starting with Seth, then backing up six months to start Minou’s story, not sure if I have enough narrative debt to carry the readers waiting for Seth.
Think about the last two volumes of Lord of the Rings; that is essentially what Tolkien did. did that work for you? Intro the fellowship, then stories of the characters then back to the conclusion.