Breaking the timeline…

You’ve seen it in movies: Some action scene or a murder starts things off in a mystery or thriller film, or a heated verbal battle between two lovers that makes you wonder why they’re together in a rom-com. Then on the screen some words like “two weeks earlier” or “a year ago” appear. The film industry didn’t event this—it’s been used in books for a long time.

Such scenes are the “hook” that writing tutors talk about ad infinitum. They make the moviegoer or reader ask, “Why is this happening?” Dep...