In the novel I'm currently writing, one of the characters is stuffed out of the way for 3/4 of the story. I want her to appear though occasionally in a sort of spoken diary. Each little section will be around 100 words. She will "write" in the first person, while the rest of the novel is written in third. Do I have these sections as chapters as they completely stand alone or should I tag them on somehow?

Sue

I think stuff like this looks good on a separate page, not necessarily a chapter, but between chapters. I saw it done recently in a novel by Sally Spedding and it looked very effective, can’t remember the title but it’ll come back to me… Wringland.

The alternative is placing them at the beginning of chapters, probably in italics. Wherever you place them, they need to have some relationship to the following chapter as well as maintaining the consistency of their own thread, otherwise readers will start wondering why they are there.

Dee

Thanks, Dee! I like that idea. I'll go and have a look at Wringland too.
S
x

I've several times done sections of other voices like that, usually at the end of a chapter, starting on a new page, and sometimes in italics as well. If it's a diary you could head it with dates, which would make its nature clear, and then you wouldn't need italics, which are slightly tiresome to read for more than a few lines. If you want it in the middle of a chapter, it would be unconventional to start a new page, so I'd be tempted to italicise to make it absolutely clear. Or separate it off with an asterisk before and after.

Emma

As anyone who reads my stuff will know, I'm quite a fan of 'inserts'. I usually do them in newspaper articles as they are a great way of letting a reader know what's going on in the outside world.

JB

OK - I've figured out how to do the in-between inserts - thanks! But, I've decided to start with one. It's only 125 words so isn't a chapter on its own but it is a totally different setting, different characters, different scene from chapter one. It looks pretty weird on a page of its own without a heading. Should I call it a prologue? Any ideas which is the correct/easiest/best way to do this? I particularly want it at the beginning.

Sue

I would call it a prologue, I think. Or could you head it with a date or a place that would make it clear?

Emma