I just spent an hour developing a time line for my current
WIP. I'd met a block with this novel and I couldn't figure
out what was wrong. I went back to the computer, dived
into more research and discovered my problem was time.
I had things happening out of sequence with real history.
I got so carried away with the story, I made a classic
mistake. I got the dates wrong!!!
This romance takes place during the plague and the
fire of London. I have my hero and heroine involved
with court and the king. But where was Charles
and more important, when was he at the places
in the story?
Oh, it's all in the history of England, buried in
one account or another, and the dates mentioned
don't jibe, but if you study the situation carefully,
you can get the approximately time, down to a
month or two, which works for my story line.
But how to fit the pieces of my story into the
actual history of the things taking place.
A good example is the day St. Paul's Cathedral
burned. Actually, it was the third day of the fire,
and that event is important in the story.
The only way I could think to incorporate my
plot ideas with actual fact was to take a big
piece of paper and draw a time line, starting
in 1664 with the beginning of the up surge of
plague in London.
With the details of history written on the line,
all I had to do was fill in my plot points
and my problems were solved. Now, I can get
back to writing the story. Thank goodness!
Allison
www.ALLISONKNIGHT.COM
'Battlesong' sequel to 'Heartsong' avialable in
August '10. Two book of Shadowed Hearts -
'The Haunting of Hastings Hall' Available March 2010
1 comment:
Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now. Keep it up!
And according to this article, I totally agree with your opinion, but only this time! :)
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