Character driven non-linear stories?

[Deadman]

I’m curious about how much you focus on a story being linear versus non-linear?

I have this story I’m playing with where I’m thinking about a story that isn’t necessarily linear in its story telling. For example, I’ve seen most stories involve Chapter 2 being in the future from Chapter 1, and Chapter 3 being in the future of Chapter 2, etc. A direct linear story.

However I’m playing with an idea for a character driven story where chapters aren’t told in a linear way. Such as a character driven story where Chapter 3 happens 6 weeks before Chapter 1, and Chapter 2 might happen 3 weeks before Chapter 1, but you still read Chapter 1 first. It’s just that you learn the context for the things which happen in Chapter 1 in later chapters. Why certain characters feel the way they do about other characters and why they acted the way they did.

Am I making sense or just saying random stuff?

 

[Wilde_Guess]

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.

[Desiderius Price]

On 3/24/2025 at 12:46 AM, Deadman said:

I’m curious about how much you focus on a story being linear versus non-linear?

I have this story I’m playing with where I’m thinking about a story that isn’t necessarily linear in its story telling. For example, I’ve seen most stories involve Chapter 2 being in the future from Chapter 1, and Chapter 3 being in the future of Chapter 2, etc. A direct linear story.

However I’m playing with an idea for a character driven story where chapters aren’t told in a linear way. Such as a character driven story where Chapter 3 happens 6 weeks before Chapter 1, and Chapter 2 might happen 3 weeks before Chapter 1, but you still read Chapter 1 first. It’s just that you learn the context for the things which happen in Chapter 1 in later chapters. Why certain characters feel the way they do about other characters and why they acted the way they did.

Am I making sense or just saying random stuff?

If you’re a time-traveling story… SURE!  Outside of that, you’ll probably confuse the readers if it’s extensive.  (Aside from short flashbacks, or a brief start near the climax along with “two years earlier...”)  This confusion is the main reason I broke up my first story I posted here, I was trying to cram in backstory into chapters as well, and came to realize I basically had multiple stories instead.  (Which, while I’ve yet to really write that first story, I’ve been busy on the others.)

[Deadman]

7 hours ago, Desiderius Price said:

If you’re a time-traveling story… SURE!  Outside of that, you’ll probably confuse the readers if it’s extensive.  (Aside from short flashbacks, or a brief start near the climax along with “two years earlier...”)  This confusion is the main reason I broke up my first story I posted here, I was trying to cram in backstory into chapters as well, and came to realize I basically had multiple stories instead.  (Which, while I’ve yet to really write that first story, I’ve been busy on the others.)

You might be right in that respect. It’s not a time travel story but for context, here’s some of the broad details.

The beginning of chapter 1 sorta goes from where canon ended to where the characters are now. For those purposes, I gloss over a fair amount of details about the things which happened in between canon and the story. Just enough to make chapter 1 work. However, later in chapter 1, something happens which probably needs an explanation. But the detour would be too much for the first chapter. Although the way I have it structured, that detail doesn’t get filled in until chapter 3 which is focused on the character it happens to.

In between, chapter 2 fills in more of the details on what gets glossed over in chapter 1. I think readers of the fandom would understand why the details need to be filled in. The character who something happens to is different in certain ways from canon. But I’m putting in the work to explain it.

[Desiderius Price]

13 hours ago, Deadman said:

You might be right in that respect. It’s not a time travel story but for context, here’s some of the broad details.

The beginning of chapter 1 sorta goes from where canon ended to where the characters are now. For those purposes, I gloss over a fair amount of details about the things which happened in between canon and the story. Just enough to make chapter 1 work. However, later in chapter 1, something happens which probably needs an explanation. But the detour would be too much for the first chapter. Although the way I have it structured, that detail doesn’t get filled in until chapter 3 which is focused on the character it happens to.

In between, chapter 2 fills in more of the details on what gets glossed over in chapter 1. I think readers of the fandom would understand why the details need to be filled in. The character who something happens to is different in certain ways from canon. But I’m putting in the work to explain it.

It’s still backstory if it’s “for context.”  Maybe better done as separate oneshots, or an episodic serial?  Out-of-order is going to confuse the reader IMO, (and in my case, myself too.) This is especially true if there’s something where a character dies, and now you’re talking if they’re alive.  Another slight exception here is when I’m doing multiple POVs, so I want to cover character “A” in a dedicated chapter, and “B” in the next (but, the events should be sufficiently disassociated/separate for that to make sense).  To me, the strong “out-of-order” means there’s a structural issue to the story, maybe you’re starting in the wrong spot/incident?  Hope I’m making sense here.

[Deadman]

6 hours ago, Desiderius Price said:

It’s still backstory if it’s “for context.”  Maybe better done as separate oneshots, or an episodic serial?  Out-of-order is going to confuse the reader IMO, (and in my case, myself too.) This is especially true if there’s something where a character dies, and now you’re talking if they’re alive.  Another slight exception here is when I’m doing multiple POVs, so I want to cover character “A” in a dedicated chapter, and “B” in the next (but, the events should be sufficiently disassociated/separate for that to make sense).  To me, the strong “out-of-order” means there’s a structural issue to the story, maybe you’re starting in the wrong spot/incident?  Hope I’m making sense here.

You’re definitely making sense. Not completely clear what an episodic serial is exactly but it sounds potentially like what I’m doing. There are no characters dying. It’s more in the sense of characters preferences and ways of doing things. For instance, within canon I have a character that’s more mf oriented who becomes more mff oriented or characters who are ff oriented becoming mff oriented. Within canon they’re focused in one direction, in chapter 1 they are shown to be more open. Then in a future chapter I tell the story of how that happened. But I don’t explain it in chapter 1, I just describe in broad outlines things.

[Desiderius Price]

1 hour ago, Deadman said:

You’re definitely making sense. Not completely clear what an episodic serial is exactly but it sounds potentially like what I’m doing. There are no characters dying. It’s more in the sense of characters preferences and ways of doing things. For instance, within canon I have a character that’s more mf oriented who becomes more mff oriented or characters who are ff oriented becoming mff oriented. Within canon they’re focused in one direction, in chapter 1 they are shown to be more open. Then in a future chapter I tell the story of how that happened. But I don’t explain it in chapter 1, I just describe in broad outlines things.

“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.

[Deadman]

3 hours ago, Desiderius Price said:

“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.

My story sounds a lot more like your Jeff story than the Breeding Ground story that you’re outlining. I definitely don’t want it to go on too long. A smut circle also sounds similar in tone. Basically, there are five main female characters in a “villain wins” storyline who is playing with the female characters. Each chapter explores an individual character’s downfall. Yet some of the characters participate in other character’s downfall to a greater or lesser degree because they’ve already been corrupted or fallen.

[Desiderius Price]

4 hours ago, Deadman said:

My story sounds a lot more like your Jeff story than the Breeding Ground story that you’re outlining. I definitely don’t want it to go on too long. A smut circle also sounds similar in tone. Basically, there are five main female characters in a “villain wins” storyline who is playing with the female characters. Each chapter explores an individual character’s downfall. Yet some of the characters participate in other character’s downfall to a greater or lesser degree because they’ve already been corrupted or fallen.

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.

Edited 18 hours ago by Desiderius Price

[Deadman]

16 hours ago, Desiderius Price said:

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.

Yeah, I probably will have to make it clear in some fairly obvious way that it’s non-chronological. I might just do an author’s note above the first chapter and/or all the chapters. But I do try and make things obvious in the beginning of each chapter. There’s usually a page or so of description setting up the character’s journey from canon to where the story is. Since many of them have different journeys.