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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/33154
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/33154
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

You are not writing a history, you are writing a novel. In a history, the temporal sequences of events is generally the mainspring of the narrative. In a novel, the story arc of the protagonist is the mainspring of the narrative. Events should therefore be narrated in the order that they impact the story arc. This is by no means always the temporal order in which they occurred.

In _Lord of the Rings_, for example, much of the history is not given until the Council of Elrond. Before then, the Hobbit's journey is largely one of stumbling in the dark. The meet Strider and have an encounter with the Nazgul, all without understanding who they are or what is going on. It is in the Council that Frodo comes to understand what is really at stake, and that is where it impinges on his arc, leading to his great decision to accept the role as ring bearer. Events are told in the order they impinge the story arc.

In _The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie_, Muriel Spark constantly jumps back and forth in time, not only into the past but also into the future of the girls of the Brodie Set in order to plot the influence of Jean Brodie's personality and methods. Events are related not in their temporal order but in the order they illuminate the story arc, including events from the future which show us what was really happening at certain points in the arc: what grew of the seed being planted.

Original score: 5