Hi all,
I'm currently converting my script in to a novel, which has been quite straightforward except parts of it are based in Victorian times and i'm not sure how best to write them..
The bulk of the story is modern, following the protagonist who finds a diary and discovers a story very similar to her current situation.The diary may or may not influence her decisions which ultimately affect her life (the reader decides). Obviously within a script format both stories are played out the same. The diary story comes in and out when the main character decides to literally pick it up, usually at a poignant moment. I had thought the best way to write the diary story in a novel would be as diary extracts but now I have started I find it very limiting with there being no dialogue. I don't want to limit this secondary story to a diary as it to needs to unfold without knowing too much about the characters feelings. A diary would literally lay them on the table. As the script is finished it would be easier to convert parts of Victorian dialogue in to the novel, as I have with the modern, rather than rewriting it in its entirety.
My question is would there be any problem with my main character picking up the diary and then immediately transitioning in to the new story (with the appropriate time changing header). I can't see any other way of doing it other than running the two timelines, but they do have to be linked, they can't run independently. I am sort of new to the whole book writing world and up to now have just done what feels right, but I really wanted to check on this in case I was committing some sort of horrendous writing crime.
I hope I have made sense and welcome any advice.
Thanks
I think you could achieve a similar effect by having a series of flashbacks so that you include dialogue from the Victorian diarist. You would need to signpost that your modern day reader had picked up the diary and started reading it. Another possible avenue would be for your modern day read an entry and then make up her own dialogue of how she thinks the Victorian writer may have said, or try to identify with her feelings. Why did she write that in a particular way, is there some hidden meaning in her words. It can be very intriguing.
Thanks for your comments, Adrian this is kind of what I am trying to achieve, it's just how I write it that I have the problem with, well the transition mainly. I want to write both timelines in the same way and as Lorraine and Jeff point out a smoother in story transition would be better without headings. Funnily I don't use headings in my script it just goes in to italics and always returns to the modern time when she puts it down. Both timelines are set within the same building so Adrian it's good to hear that you think it will add depth and atmosphere.
Thanks again, this is my first time on here and I appreciate the replies, no doubt i'll be back!
What Lorraine said. I'd be attracted to that kind of thing in writing far more than a chapter heading 'London March/April/May 1883' every time (which I have seen, and it became very 'clunky') and I think readers would latch on immediately.