Timeline Trouble

An odd thing happened to me while writing Wicked Intention--I lost track of my timeline.

Losing track is pretty easy to do and it used to happen to me all the time, which is why I'd developed a system to prevent it from occurring in the future. And with every story I've written for years, I've used this method. The odd part is that, for some unknown reason, I didn't follow my own process with this book.

I've been trying to figure out why? What was I thinking? But I haven't reached any conclusions.

Anyway, it took a lightning bolt for me to figure out the extent of my problem. The first parameter is that the story opens in the six months between the last chapter in Wicked Obsession and the epilogue, so I'm locked in. That I knew, but on Sunday, it suddenly dawned on me that this meant a good portion of the story was taking place in December.

It started seeping into my consciousness that I didn't really know how much time had passed from Finn's prologue to the point where I was writing now. That, though, was a problem for later. For right then, I needed to research South American Christmas traditions. Frantic online searching commences.

One of the sites I found mentioned the months of the rainy season. Without looking it up, I believe it was Mid December through April. (I have the information in my notes.) That meant that I needed this information too because what isn't happening in December is happening in the rainy season. More frantic online searching, but I need to do a lot more reading to grasp this. I picked up a couple of ebooks to read on the topic.

Then began the part where I began to chart the timeline for Wicked Intention. This meant printing out a calendar and marking which chapter happens on which day. Because I lost track, there was a number of inconsistencies that I'll need to go in and fix. I'm also fiddling a little on where--exactly--to start the prologue. I have some slight wiggle room there, but I think I have it worked out.

I'm feeling comfortable with WI right now. The timeline isn't perfect, but I have my arms basically wrapped around it now. Tonight or tomorrow, I need to find my timeline for Obsession and verify that it matches up with Intention. Once I have that finished, I'll breathe a sigh of relief.