Timeline
17 September 2007
Greg and I were teaching at West Dean recently and, towards the end of the weekend, somebody asked if there was a 'magic bullet'.
What he wanted to know was: 'Is there a single key sentence of advice capable of making all the problems - all the intricate interlocking issues that frustrate the writer - go away.'
Well, no, there isn't one ... Not for me, anyway.
That said, I was able to point out that, in the session we had recently finished, we used mind maps to describe the relationships between plot, character, location and suspense. That works pretty well. But - again - not so much for me. I just don't naturally think that way.
The only thing I have used that comes close to being a panacea is the timeline. I spend hours fiddling with days and dates, trying to get the sequence of events perfect.
Usually, this juggling with the timelines is intended to create circumstances in which what one character knows is different from what another knows. It is in these gaps in knowledge that drama and conflicts grow. Often the timeline helps to ensure that the protagonists don't get together and thrash out an amicable understanding too soon …
There is another kind of timeline going on in my life right now. That's the schedule for the release of Sepulchre, due out on 31 October - Halloween. Writing a book is not enough. Then the publishers must take it through their own sequence of events:
- author sends finished typescript to publisher
- publisher sends typescript to copy editor
- copy-edited typescript comes back to author
- copy-edited typescript goes to production
- page proofs from production to editorial department, proof reader and author
- corrections from page proofs from editorial, proof reader and author collated by editorial and incorporated into typescript by production
- production creates revised page proofs
- editorial department checks revised page proofs
- digital typescript to printer
- books delivered by printer ...
Phew! To think people reckon writing is hard work!
Soon we will leave the Sepulchre.
