How to weave the past and the present to create a great story
Does your story live in more than one time?
Whether it’s a time-slip story, or a family drama that uncovers old secrets, or a thriller where the answer to saving the world lies in the past, some stories work best if one (or more) storylines are in the past. We even know books where one of the storylines is in the far future!
Managing two or more timelines can be tricky. Understanding how each timeline impacts the other may befuddle even the cleverest author. Do you need two climaxes? Which timeline should open or close the story? Do they have to be exactly equal in length? What tense is best?
Don’t worry – there are tried and true ways to approach writing this type of story.
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Duration 1
This is an online self-paced seminar
Duration:
1.5 hours. Your 12 months’ access begins straight away
Seminar presenter: Pamela Freeman $65 | |||||
“Lots of excellent advice on tense, pacing and voice. I found these fascinating and loved the diagrams, which I definitely will use. Go for it! You’ll learn so much.”
Neridah McMullin
This online seminar is for anyone who is working on a dual (or more) timeline story, and wondering how to best use the interaction between the two to create a memorable and engaging story. It’s also for anyone trying to decide if a dual timeline is for them.
And your guide is multi award-winning, bestselling author Pamela Freeman – as together we FOCUS ON… Dual Timelines.
Stitching the past into the present
This FOCUS ON seminar teases out the multi-coloured strands of writing multiple timelines (with an emphasis on dual timelines, since this is more common).
This seminar explores the following:
- When to use dual timelines instead of flashbacks and memories
- Choosing points of view for your timelines
- Choosing tenses for your timelines
- How to write two different storylines, including:
- Style
- Voice
- Pace
- How dual timelines should be structured (opening, climax, resolution)
- And much more.
Pamela will guide you through the eddies and fluxes of the space-time continuum to help you find the very best version of your dual timeline story!
With the rules and techniques you learn in this seminar, you’ll be able to confidently weave your timelines together to create an enthralling novel.
“If you're thinking about it, dive in. The sooner you start, the sooner you'll reach your goals.”
Penny Andrews
FOCUS ON improving your craft
Each of our popular FOCUS ON seminars explores an important aspect of the art of writing – in an accessible and efficient way. The session consists of a 1 hour expert presentation plus an additional 30 minute Q&A – designed to entertain, educate and inspire you to improve your craft. In this seminar, Pamela focuses on how to write dual timelines that weave the past and present to create great stories.
Meet your presenter
Pamela Freeman is an award-winning, bestselling author of more than 40 books and novellas, plus short stories and scripts. She writes under two names: Pamela Freeman for children’s and fantasy, and Pamela Hart for mystery novels and historical fiction.
Prolific across multiple genres, Pamela has a Doctorate in Creative Arts (Writing) and she has been the director of creative writing here at the Australian Writers' Centre for over 10 years.
| Key information | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Key information: | |||||
Duration 1
This is an online self-paced seminar
Duration:
1.5 hours. Your 12 months’ access begins straight away
Seminar presenter: Pamela Freeman $65 | |||||
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