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Happy Birthday!

The saddest little face in the world…

Another idea, maybe this is what you’re going for. First chapter is a scene of that party (or whatever it is), with your last lines being “This is their stories.” And your next chapter be like “A year before that party, the awkward Name was sitting in the library.” Making it abundantly clear to the (typical) reader what you’re up to here, because as you noted, readers generally expect chronological (or near chronological) order.

45001 We’ll reach infinity in no time!

“Episodic serial” not sure if it’s exactly the right word. For example, my Jeff story, which started off as backstory to explain the swimming instructor to the main protagonist, has generally become a series of “episodes”. So aside from episode one, which is the “inciting incident” to put Jeff into his general living situation, the rest chronicle his development over time with a series of snapshots. An episode shows the danger that’s generally pressing inward. Another shows some danger he can bring to himself (hypothermia). On occasion, two or more parters with a mini-ark when it gets a bit more involved. There *is* an example on AO3 that I’m aware of, called “The Breeding Ground”, which (according to the summary) is an anthology of Harry Potter sleeping around, with each of the 2,000 chapters featuring a different woman/lady (there’s crossovers to a myriad of other fandoms). (It’s a tad over 3M words...) So, if you’re aiming for the smut circle … you could scatter a common theme at the start of each chapter (a group conversation, part of an orgy) with the BOLD words of “A year earlier...” I mean, once the audience is used to the format, it might work.

Hi, Deadman and all. Deadman, you’re making sense in how you describe the story structure you want to follow. Now, writing it “good enough” to persuade a reader to read past Chapter Two will be a hell of a challenge. Many people prefer the stories they read to mostly move in a linear manner. If your writing is good enough, you might be able to persuade them to keep reading a non-linear story. But, the “betting money” is that they will quickly abandon your work mostly unread. Of course, if your smut is “smutty enough,” they’ll read it for a wank-o-thon, and won’t give two shits about the plot or anything else. Just my two cents worth. Good luck.