Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Post History

60%
+1 −0
Q&A Readability for narrative type with respect to time

I am planning a series of fantasy novels which will be told in linear time with relatively small time jumps. One novel in the collection, however must span several generations while keeping the sa...

2 answers  ·  posted 8y ago by Acumen Simulator‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T05:33:27Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/24452
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Acumen Simulator‭ · 2019-12-08T05:33:27Z (about 5 years ago)
I am planning a series of fantasy novels which will be told in linear time with relatively small time jumps. One novel in the collection, however must span several generations while keeping the same protagonist.

This novel will need to have several large time jumps and I'm worried about readability. I believe I have 3 options:

1. Linear narrative with large time jumps (Resulting in several large gaps)
2. Linear narrative with much exposition to explain past events (Resulting in roughly 1/3 of novel being exposition or historical conversation)
3. Non-linear narrative

My question is which is generally regarded as easier for the reader to follow? Also if I missed an option it'd be nice to know of others.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2016-09-02T16:51:36Z (over 8 years ago)
Original score: 0