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Should I start writing in chronologycal order? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 4 months ago by vis4valentine@lemmy.ml to c/writing_lounge

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Hello, I've been preparing for years to write a dark phantasy world, and I planned my entire lore, from the begining of everything to the end of everything. Maybe this is too much, but I have the ages figured out, the rise and fall of empires, and entire sagas dedicated to war conflicts. However, Now I'm wondering where should I begin. Started with the story of a bunch of protagonist but now they seem as a small part of this world and I think some things wouldn't feel as important without having the full context of the damage the army they are a part of has done to the world, seeing it from other perspectives in other time periods.

I wonder if I should start in chronologycal order or continue on the order I originally planned and then realize the prequels.

For example, would be like starting the Star Wars Universe by Dawn of the Jedi, continuing through Nights of the Old Republic, and then reach the original story, that would be when Luke appears.

Where should I start?

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[–] Efwis@lemmy.zip 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Unless your story depends on chronology of events, I wouldn’t worry too much about it.

You could always do flashback scenes to fill in some of the gaps in your timeline. If your stories run a linear path you could do the chronology way.

If you do that, I would suggest focusing on different sets of characters in each story’s event calendar, rather than try and base it all on one group of people elsewhere in the storyline.

[–] vis4valentine@lemmy.ml 1 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Each one has their own storyline and characters. I just feel like there would be moments where people wonder: Why does these people hate them so much?

Another story 300 years before:

Oh, that's why.

[–] Efwis@lemmy.zip 1 points 4 months ago

It really depends on how you tell the story as to how to look at it.

I mean like, with flashbacks you give some info while giving the reader a reason to keep buying your stories, you can achieve this chronologically too, of course.

With chronological storylines, you need to end the previous story on a note to bring them back (e.g include the first 1/4 to half of the first chapter, or even the whole chapter) showing the story continues, definitely don’t end on some kind of “to be continued” line.

I generally don’t work with series, so I’m no expert on this.

I build my stories as I write. Although I usually do have the plot line figured out before I begin.

[–] Eq0 1 points 4 months ago

I don’t think that would be a problem related to not write chronologically. Think of a reader reading about Ireland nowadays. How much do you need to know about why Irish people do not like English people in order to understand and enjoy the story? I don’t think much other at all. If you really want, you can easily insert a brief line about the background and have later in a gull story about the background itself.