I've been thinking a lot about time. The movement of time has always interested me, because we have this conception of it moving straight forward in a single line and that just isn't how I see it. We are everything we've always been, and the past influences the present moment, lives with us all as one. When I experience a moment, it's impossible to not relate it to something that happened in the past and to push it forward into what I want to be in the future.
That's how I want my story to move. I want it to be the past, present, and future all at once, to present scenes as they take place in my character's consciousness rather than as an ordered series of this event to that event. I think this is also a useful way of revealing things to my readers, because sometimes you don't know how significant a moment from the past is until you think back on it after experiencing the present. You don't even give it thought until you have to, so I want to save what is important for when it is important.
I'm having a hard time with writing this way though, because I'm not sure what would be the best way to signify this nonlinear movement through time. I don't want big markers that say "Three Hours Ago" or "Two Days Later" because that doesn't feel accurate. It isn't a change in time so much as a change in thinking. How do I take my reader with me through this? Margaret suggested using certain sensory signifiers or repeated imagery to clue my reader into the fact that we are looking at childhood now, or back in adulthood, so that's something I want to experiment with. Wish me luck!
Amorphous time is appealing but also puts a lot of responsibility on the writer to make other things concrete so that we aren't awash in mystery. However you don't have to be rigorous about it, just lace enough signifiers in to make it work. I think this is a great idea (margaret is smart that way). go for it
ReplyDeletee