I have some long chapters that have scenes in logical order. From the first scene to the last might cover a couple of days.
In some cases, when the next chapter starts, with the pov of my other MC, the first scene backtracks to a time prior to the ending time of the preceding chapter.
My chapters are time-stamped, but I worry that some readers will get confused, and in getting confused lose their understanding and their momentum.

I plotted it this way because I personally dislike constant to-ing and fro-ing between character povs. I prefer substantial chunks of writing with a single pov focus.

However, I am debating shortening some chapters and reordering them to eliminate all non-chronological time travelling.

So, I want to ask: when you are reading do you prefer straightforward onward movement? Or do backtracks not bother you? Or does it depend?

AlanH   

 

Readers are liable to overlook time stamps at the top of chapters so you needs some other signalling in the opening paragraphs if you are jumping backwards in time. However, readers can be trusted to cope with time jumps so long as they're properly signalled in the prose. 

So, I want to ask: when you are reading do you prefer straightforward onward movement? Or do backtracks not bother you? Or does it depend?

I like them. They can make a story much more interesting. They do have to be clearly marked, though. I've never written a story with any backtracking myself, but I think I might pick up some stand-out detail in a scene, the sort of detail that wouldn't have been forgotten, and start the new scene with that. Or perhaps repeat the same bit of dialogue.

Just finished Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch and found the chronological continuity completely refreshing - made me realise how rare it can be in modern fiction. Why mess around with continuity just for the sake of it?

I think it's almost inevitable that if you're operating in more than just one character's PoV throughout, you'll have a moment or two when in strict chronology you have to hop back to catch up with the other character.

On the whole, I tend to think it works best to be totally up front with it. I agree that lots of readers don't really take in time stamps - no harm in them, but I think you have to work the first couple of sentences as well, to make sure the reader's safe.

But, yanno - the previous section ends withe Jenny nursing a hangover in church on Sunday morning, say, and then the next one starts

"Johnny's Saturday night had been almost as exciting" or "Johnny stared at the git who'd just pulled the most revolting Saturday-night-end-of-the-barrel pint ever" or whatever... It's one of the places where a succinct bit of telling is much neater and less obtrusive than elaborate attempts to Show stuff.

My rule when hopping centuries in TMOL was to make sure the first sentence had two things which were particularly characteristic of the narrative I was switching too. Usually one was voice-iness, and the other would be a name or an object which could only belong to that narrative.
Edited by EmmaD at 17:38:00 on 11 June 2014

On the whole, I tend to think it works best to be totally up front with it. I agree that lots of readers don't really take in time stamps

I'm not sure there's an answer to this. I've decided to put in a timestamp for each scene, not just chapter, even though it may be overkill for some when coupled with a distinctive opening sentence. 

My rule when hopping centuries in TMOL was to make sure the first sentence had two things which were particularly characteristic of the narrative I was switching too. Usually one was voice-iness, and the other would be a name or an object which could only belong to that narrative.
   

I must check this has been done properly. (That's mine, not TMOL.)

Thanks, Emma.  
Edited by AlanH at 31/12/1899 03:34:00 on 13 June 2014

You're welcome, Alan!

I think the fact that not all readers don't take in timestamps doesn't mean you shouldn't use them. There's no one way which will get keep everyone straight. IT's a bit like giving directions: some people need a map, some written directions, some aural directions and gestures. If you really, really want to make sure all the guests arrive at the incredibly obscure church in time for your wedding, you have to supply as many of those as possible.