Jul 4, 2009

Time Lines

I'm wondering whether many authors get a time line down on paper for their work. Give it some thought - it can help you clarify things to yourself and avoid ambiguities that'll confuse your readers.

If even you, the author, aren't sure what year something happened to your character, or what time of day it is when a scene takes place, how is your reader supposed to know?

2 comments:

Michelle said...

I do put timelines down on paper. It's the only way I can keep things straight in the Gingerbread Man. Also, for The Last Scion where putting historically incorrect information in the wrong time means DISASTER!

E said...

Ohno, disaster! It's right of you to avert it. Time lines just make sense to me. I've seen a book where two characters, same age, were kids in completely different decades. Whoops!