Non-linear non-negotiables

On reading and writing non-linear narratives

I was listening to one of my favourite podcasts yesterday—a film podcast called I Saw What You Did, hosted by film guru Millie de Chirico and author/TV writer Danielle Henderson. I love these two women. I could listen to them dissect and celebrate films for days and days. I probably have, all up

Image courtesy of Exactly Right Media; Artwork by Garrett Ross

I love this podcast partly because Danielle and Millie have such interesting things to say about films; partly because they’re open, lovely and hilarious women; and partly because their friendship is delightful to be around. They’re also smart, irreverent and magnificently crude when the need arises. Listening in feels like catching up with old friends. Friends who have no idea who I am. Which is weird, and could be upsetting, except that it’s fun, and it reminds me to organise catch-ups with my actual friends. (No offence Millie and Danielle. I’d love to be actual-friends with you, if you’d have me. But moving on.)

In the episode I’m referring to — ‘Good Luck with Your Amnesia’, Ep 141 (23^rd January 2024) — Millie and Danielle explore the non-linear narrative structures of two classic films, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Mulholland Drive. Both films mess around with narrative norms and expectations in brilliant ways, and I recommend having a listen to how Millie and Danielle break that down.

Each episode of the podcast has a theme that connects the two selected movies, and this one’s theme is, ‘Have you seen the Ghost of John?’. As Danielle explains, ‘Have you seen the Ghost of John’ is a song sung ‘in the round’, which means the song is sung by two or more people, over and over again (or around and around), but with each person (or sub-group) beginning at different times. Singing songs this way is good fun, but only if it’s done with some precision. If it’s loose or poorly executed, there’s just chaos and discord.

I think it’s genius to link this kind of song to non-linear storytelling. It’s not an obvious link to me, somehow … probably because non-linear novels and films don’t usually loop and repeat scenes or stanzas … but it’s not not obvious either.

I’ll explain what I mean. Songs sung in the round can create a looping, chiming effect that can be mesmerising. Almost hypnotic. If they’re well-calibrated, they can achieve more resonance than a straight song sung from beginning to end. And the same can be said about non-linear narratives.

The difference between singing a song in the round (in a choir, say) and writing a non-linear novel is that the all-important arrangement or structure is unique to each story, and it’s something each author has to figure out for themselves (or with the help of beta readers, an agent, or an editor). There’s no conductor, no clear framework, no prescribed right or wrong way to do it. The only clear instruction is that it has to work.

I’ve been thinking about the subject of non-linear narratives a fair bit lately, because not only are my first two manuscripts non-linear, but my third one is shaping up to have similar tendencies, despite my clearly stated intention to keep my creative process simple this time around. (You’d think I’d have a say in this decision, wouldn’t you?)

Not that writing any novel is simple. I’m sure many linear novels also need mapping and timelines in order to be consistent, well-paced and well-resolved. Perhaps it’s even more challenging to weave a novel’s various connections and subplots into a strictly linear structure. I suppose it all depends on how your brain works. If you’re a writer of linear novels, please weigh in on this in the comments!

But hang on, let’s go back just a smidge and make sure we’re all on the same page. What is a non-linear narrative?

Author Emma Darwin explains that non-linear narratives are:

stories where the main story is not narrated in the order in which it would have happened in the "real" life you're conjuring.

I like what else she has to say about them here.

MasterClass also has some interesting things to say on the subject. Like this:

Non-linearity as a narrative structure might be a challenge to pull off—the order in which everything is presented must still be logical, if not chronological—but when done well, it allows a more nuanced, masterful story to emerge.

And I do think non-linear narratives can be extraordinary. By weaving, braiding or stitching aspects of a story together in artful ways, we can ensure that those various themes and threads inform and elevate each other, such that they achieve more fullness than they might have done on their own. The fragmented nature of the thing can lose some readers, yes, but other readers may find it more transporting, more gripping, and ultimately more transcendent.

Think Margaret Atwood’s The Blind Assassin; David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas; Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl; Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five; Audrey Niffeneger’s The Time Traveller’s Wife; and Martin Amis’s Time’s Arrow. These novels have that certain something because there’s an alchemy at work in a well-done non-linear narrative that makes the story … bigger.

So is my admiration for other people’s non-linear narratives the reason I keep going back to writing things out of order?

Maybe. Probably?

Also, I suppose being drawn to a complex structure as a writer might have something to do with being a Quilter (aka a Pantser) at heart.

Being a Pantser is usually held up in strong contrast with being a Plotter. And yet, once a writer has Pantsed his or her way towards a full draft, the skill of Plotting must step into the frame. This is where the tables and maps and charts and timelines come into their own. For me, these are essential if a story dips in and out of multiple timelines, some decades apart. Or if part of the story is fictional, even within the fictional world (a novel within a novel, let’s say).

My novel ‘The Ghost of Gracie Flynn’ with some examples of how I ‘map out’ a non-linear narrative, once I’m some way into or have completed a first draft.

My two non-linear novels, in brief:

In The Ghost of Gracie Flynn (Fremantle Press, 2022), the structure is designed to tease the reader with curiosity seeds, witholding key revelations until the very end. This meant rearranging the chronological order of events in order to create suspense.

We begin with a young woman waking up on a boat to find the body of a man she knows beside her. It’s 2019. Then, we jump back three weeks so as to learn more about this man and his friends, and find out how and why he died. As the story unfolds, we also dip in and out of the characters’ shared history, going back to witness significant events in 1996, 1998, and 2001. All of this is narrated by the late Gracie Flynn, whose death eighteen years earlier is key to the story.

This sounds potentially confusing, but because Gracie is no longer alive, she is able to narrate with omniscience, which enables her to pull everything together in a way that holds the reader’s attention and (hopefully) makes sense. (See my earlier newsletter about the advantages of otherworldly narrators).

My second non-linear narrative (as yet unpublished) is a novel within a novel. It’s two love stories in parallel, exploring freedom, self-belief, mistakes, and telling the truth, whatever the cost. The framing story is set in 1999 while the embedded novel within it spans the years from 1960 to 1972.

This one was complicated to write, but hopefully I’ve woven the threads together deftly enough that it’s not complicated to read. Because that’s what some readers don’t enjoy about non-linear narratives. They don’t enjoy the process of piecing threads and clues together. It feels laborious. Arguably though, if it’s laborious to read, it hasn’t been done well enough. I’m a big believer in crafting a story until it’s transporting for readers, not tiring.

So how do we do that?

First of all, I make no claim to being an expert. Far from it! I’m just a curious fan who can’t seem to escape the vortex … But I do have thoughts. I think nailing the non-linear narrative depends on the story, on your process, and on how your brain works. Based on my experience as a reader and a writer, I think a few things are non-negotiable:

• All the threads need to be convincing and gripping, so that readers are not gritting their teeth each time they have to leave one thread and become immersed in another.

• The ingredients of gripping fiction need to be present in all the threads. Characterisation, style, imagery, dialogue, action. All of them matter, all of the time.

• It helps if all the different aspects of the narrative relate to each other, so that nothing feels irrelevant.

• Sometimes said relevance is not immediately apparent to the reader, and they have to trust that it will become clear. It’s essential, then, to establish trust by being on top of your craft. If you’ve crafted fine prose that’s grammatically sound and typo-free, odds are readers will trust you to carry them through time jumps and deliver them safely to a satisfying bigger picture.

• It may be essential to know characters’ birth dates in order to plausibly situate them in time, and move them through it, particularly in relation to significant historical events.

• It's always crucial to master the use of tenses. Nothing jars me out of a story more quickly than tense slippage. Editing and proofreading is essential.

• A good balance of attention/narrative time should probably go to each strand of the braided novel. Otherwise there’s a real risk that readers will become less invested in some parts of the story, and will thus be annoyed each time they’re asked to go there. If the distribution of narrative weight or attention is uneven, there should be a good reason for it.

• To ensure coherence, you may need a comprehensive plotting stage at some point in the process, during which you represent your threads and subplots visually, say in map or timeline form.

• I love stories that ask me to hold seemingly fragmented parts in my mind until the connections emerge. If they’re done well. There’s a kind of magic in the gaps—in the things that aren’t necessarily spelled out for me, but which come alive because of the interplay between the things that are. If they’re done well. I just enjoy picking up the various pieces and watching them come together to form a quilt of a story. If they’re done well.

Seems there’s a theme emerging here. I suppose when it comes to my own non-linear novels, I’d better hope I’ve done it well.

Q: What’s your favourite non-linear novel? Please let me know in the Comments below.

Thanks for reading ‘Thursdays After Lunch!’

My name is Joanna Morrison. My debut ‘The Ghost of Gracie Flynn’ is an atmospheric mystery novel in which three university friends are divided by a tragic death. Eighteen years on, they’re reunited, but when another body is found, the ghost of Gracie Flynn has a story to tell about the night that changed their lives forever.