Keeping Track of Time

[Gumboot]

I have a question...

In my WiP the first volume follows a pretty linear narrative from the perspective of a single character, but spanning several years in time. I deal with jumps pretty easily by having paragraphs that talk of the seasons turning and the general agricultural activities happening in the villages (medieval society).

In the second volume, however, the story follows the same character while simultaneously jumping back in time several years to follow a set of branching narratives, eventually jumping between three storylines.

I was thinking of heading each chapter with a timeline reference and location, for example:

"Albermon Fortress, Spring, 1095PS"

The spring rains raked the bailey in waves, driven by gusty winds...

I think this might be the easiest way of enabling the reader to navigate the story switches and get their head around the disconnection in timelines.

The question is, I am not sure if I should introduce this in the second volume, or start using it right from the first volume, so that by the time it reaches the second volume, and is actually necessary, the reader is used to it. Essentially I don't need it in volume one, but am contemplating using it for the sake of consistency.

[TheDustyZebra]

I don't think I would use it in volume one if it's not necessary -- that would just get the reader in the habit of ignoring the time labels because they don't really add anything. I may be overly optimistic, but I would hope your readers can be relied upon to follow along when the pace changes in the second volume.

[Mouse]

I'm with TDZ. You just have to trust your readers. I'm one of those annoying people who don't read chapter titles/headings anyway so I'd have to rely on the story.

[James Coote]

Part of the fun is when you start a new chapter and get a sense (either immediately, or as events transpire) that time has jumped, without being explicitly told. Then you get the added fun of trying to work out how the disparate timelines intertwine, which is usually revealed at the end of the story to great effect

Edit: Or include them all for your own reference, to help you when writing. If when you take them all out at the end, things no longer make sense, then you might want to go back and rewrite some stuff

[Gumboot]

Originally Posted by James Coote

Part of the fun is when you start a new chapter and get a sense (either immediately, or as events transpire) that time has jumped, without being explicitly told. Then you get the added fun of trying to work out how the disparate timelines intertwine, which is usually revealed at the end of the story to great effect

Edit: Or include them all for your own reference, to help you when writing. If when you take them all out at the end, things no longer make sense, then you might want to go back and rewrite some stuff

That's actually a good idea... I could have two groups of beta readers; one with the time references and one without, and compare...

[kaal]

In some of my stories the timeline is very linear & condensed, so they don't need time cues, but in the others I tend to make just notes of the time in a comment (like James Coote suggests) to make sure that I've given enough time cues in the text. Mainly that's because I know what I'm like as a reader and, like Mouse, I tend to ignore chapter headings.