a question for readers about how to present an earlier timeline

[Karen]

A question for all you readers (of all authors) out there: if a book includes a few scenes from an earlier timeline, showing a secondary character's role in setting up some events in the main story timeline, would you rather see such scenes interspersed with the main timeline, or strung together in a single chapter after the events themselves have been revealed?

[Readwrite]

Hi Karen,

I guess your question is a bit tricky.

Both ways would work well depending on how they are developed. As a reader, I usually like more when the past scenes are intertwined with the main story like. However, lately I read a book that went like:

"Today I drunk coffee and it reminded of those days in Rome when I met Thomas...... and two chapters of memories."
It was exhausting and frustrating as the information given through memories were connected to the main plot, but not moving the plot forth, nor clarifying anything in it.

I think it would be nice (if possible to your story) to have the earlier timeline in a single chapter, written in a mysterious view, like not giving the character's names and so on, and when the reader get going with the story, he'd put the things together by himself.
Hope it helps,

Eberton

[Karen]

Interesting suggestion! I don't think it would work too well in this particular book, as there is only one character who would be in these situations. It might set up an expectation, not to be fulfilled, of another similar character, and I'm not sure that would be beneficial.

Readwrite wrote: "Hi Karen,

I guess your question is a bit tricky.

Both ways would work well depending on how they are developed. As a reader, I usually like more when the past scenes are intertwined with the ma..."

[Leslie]

I think if it's done right, parsing out the details throughout the main story line makes things more suspenseful and keeps the reader wanting more. Personally, I'm not a fan of getting all the information at once - it often makes me feel gypped or like I didn't have to work too hard to find out something. However, if it's a rather small detail and not too interesting or critical to the story, putting it all in one chapter works too. Guess I'm riding the fence a bit, aren't I?

[Martin]

There are some authors who can tell a story in different timelines using flashbacks, and can carry it off well; however, I find flashbacks annoying most of the time.

[J.]

Right now, I am reading a book called "The Inheritance" - it's one of a series of Victorian mysteries, the main character is a London detective named Lenox. The setup is that he is contacted by someone he hadn't seen since they were schoolmates in their teens, and there are some passages that flow back to the school days. You may want to check it out.