I haven’t written much on the blog for a while, but then my website stats flagged up that someone had read a previous post – Tying Up Your Timeline – from back in 2015. Intrigued I went back to look at it, and I decided it’s time for an update and my latest thoughts on creating a book timeline.
Since I first wrote about this, I’ve learned a lot about timelines. Mostly that I hate them, but also that they’re absolutely vital. Crime novels are slippery beasts, with multiple plotlines and characters who know things that others in the book don’t. The worst thing you can do is mix things up and have someone commenting on something they don’t already know.
Your readers will spot it a mile away, even if you don’t!
It’s been a long time since the previous iteration of this article – ten years would you believe! – and I now have four books published, with a fifth on the way. I learn something new each time I write a book and a timeline is now a firm fixture in my writing process.
Absolutely necessary
As I said above, I hate timelines. However, crime novels can get very complicated, and keeping track of a plot over 85,000 words – and usually about 70 chapters for me – is a nightmare. It’s not possible to keep it all in your head.
So, as soon as I start a book, I set myself up a Word document with a table, showing who’s doing what and when. I’ve learned the hard way what happens when you don’t track the action in the book, so my table not only includes the day something happens, it also has the scene name that corresponds with my Scrivener file and a column with details of what happens in the scene and anything key that the characters learn.
I’ve recently started to add in what happens in the weeks/months running up to the start of the book – so if a relevant incident happens before the book starts, it goes into the timeline as soon as I set it up. There’s nothing worse than realising that you’ve not left enough time for something to happen. This is the timeline for Allensbury book six, which I’m writing at the moment.
Love them or hate them…
Timelines usually have me pulling my hair out, but it’s impossible for me to write a book without one. It’s not just about keeping your plot under control, it also means you can check your pacing and keep the book ticking over at the right speed. I’d recommend you set up a timeline as soon as you start planning the book.
Timelines are not set in stone. Obviously as you’re writing, things change. A scene you thought would work doesn’t? Chop it out. A new idea comes to you? Test whether it works in moving your plot forward. But, and this is a big but, remember to update the timeline whenever you change anything between drafts, otherwise you get in a terrible mess (as I found in Allensbury book five – coming soon-ish).
Final thoughts on a timeline
Trying to write a book without a timeline is a recipe for disaster. Putting together a plot that works is one thing, but keeping that plot together in the right order is hard work – particularly if you don’t write full time and have to pick up and put down your work as your life allows.
So, make it easier and get that timeline set up. You’ll thank me for it later.
(PS: the book I’m referring to in the previous article is actually A Deadly Truth, so feel free to pick up a copy and see if I managed to sort out the pickle.)
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