Shawn L. Bird

When I was writing Grace Awakening, I didn’t write linearly, I wrote scenes from all over the book.  I moved from exposition to climax and into rising action in the same week.   This technique helps to keep the writing from being boring, and makes it interesting toward the end of the process when the author must take all these disparate puzzle pieces of story and manoeuvre them into a proper picture.

It creates some difficulties as well, however.  The main one is keeping references to time appropriate.  If I say “two weeks later” but the events referenced have 3 Fridays between them, I have to fix it!  Or perhaps the logical sequence puts a spring activity in December.  My biggest consideration was working around the date April 6th, when Petrarch first met Laura.  The scene that references that must occur at that time.  The last couple of days I’ve been working with an editor on finding these time anomalies and making sure it all works together.

It’s kind of interesting that in some 40+ reads I’ve had of the book, and a dozen or so beta readers, no one else has caught these concerns before.  I realise this means that not everyone is going to keep track of the calendar, but for those who do, it’s important that it matches up.  So I’ve drafted a calendar, and made sure all the events sit where they should.  Just as I researched the times for the sunset when Grace and Ben dine at the Calgary Tower, the little things need to be correct.  It’s a respectful nod to the reader.  “I care enough about you to create a world that is consistent.”

At least, I’m doing my best.