Details should engage the reader and connect them to the characters, setting, and narrative. This editor taught me a great lesson-- that for fiction to truly come alive requires authentic details. For many authors, those details can often be found within the framework of a calendar.
For many authors, those details can often be found within the framework of a calendar.
The editor suggested using a calendar with actual dates and specific years during which the story would be set. Implementing her advice, I constructed a five-year calendar over which the story in Shades of Darkness, Shades of Grace unfolds. Once I had the basic framework of the novel laid out across a calendar, if I was having difficulty with a particular chapter or scene, I could write another chapter and return at a later point to the problematic area with renewed inspiration. A calendar not only helps an author render a vivid story, but can be a useful tool in tracking the progress and consistency of the plot.
While she liked the novel, she noted there was no specific timeline of events or years, and felt the story could essentially be taking place at any time. The editor suggested using a calendar with actual dates and specific years during which the story would be set.
The initial version of the calendar was bare bones-- an outline of the main scenes that comprised the novel. From there I began writing individual scenes, building on them and incorporating the crucial details, many of which were discovered through research. Those descriptions that make a scene real might be as ordinary as the weather on Halloween or the once-in-a-lifetime occurrence of the Millennium, experiences any reader could relate to.
Implementing her advice, I constructed a five-year calendar over which the story in Shades of Darkness, Shades of Grace unfolds. The calendar not only worked well as an organizational and research tool, but it also served to focus the book over a definite time period.
Employing a real calendar also heightened the dramatic effect of the narrative. Only by using a real calendar did I discover that if Paul were arrested on Saturday December 30, 2000 he could be looking at several days in jail. Utilizing real dates offered the dramatic dilemma of the Pierson family frantically pooling their financial resources to keep Paul from extended jail time.
Exceptional fiction requires authentic details that pull the reader into the world in which the story takes place. I discovered that one of the best ways to do this is to construct the narrative around a calendar.
Once I had the basic framework of the novel laid out across a calendar, if I was having difficulty with a particular chapter or scene, I could write another chapter and return at a later point to the problematic area with renewed inspiration. A calendar not only helps an author render a vivid story, but can be a useful tool in tracking the progress and consistency of the plot.
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