Do you ever write chapters set in the future or the past?

Leyelle 2024-05-06 22:21:20 UTC #1

I'm currently working on a special bonus chapter set 25 years in the past, when Kattar (my male lead) was a toddler. I really enjoy writing how different his personality was back then, and yet it still seems to make sense for him to have evolved into the man he is now.

I've already written some chapters that dwell on moments that happened in the past, but those weren't completely set back in time:

KevinReijnders 2024-05-06 22:50:49 UTC #2

I do!

While the story itself is told mostly chronologically, there is the odd scene here and there where I explore bits and pieces of the past.

But for my shorts however, those are a free-for-all when it comes to time and place. I have several in mind that would go back in various timespans. Some only a few months (my upcoming anniversary special is set 6 months prior to the events of chapter 1 for example), but I do have some that would take place yers before the start of the story.

I don't plan on doing making shorts that take in place in the future though. At least, not until the main story is finished. I don't want to spoil anything and feel like the shorts should build on already established information, provide a new insight moving forward.

Leyelle 2024-05-06 22:52:36 UTC #3

yeah, i've not done anything set in the future as that's spoiler material XD. but who knows, for other stories I might, maybe comedic stories wouldn't lose anything from spoilers. Or ones where every episode is a separate set of events with the same cast like a sitcom

BoomerZ 2024-05-06 22:57:59 UTC #4

I have multiple episodes that take place in the past as the main characters (2 of them) are immortal. I also have flashback panels to show thing that are being described. I like it as it give me a chance to draw different clothing than the modern clothes I normally draw.

KevinReijnders 2024-05-06 22:58:04 UTC #5

yeah the future is tricky to do, because you don;t want to spoil.

You'd either have to have it be about someithing completely unrelated or do some unreliable narrator stuff to keep the flow of events interesting.

Leyelle 2024-05-06 22:59:50 UTC #6

or if you have stories where the future is pretty obvious, you can just give readers a chance to see it knowing it spoils nothing. like if the character's are already a couple with no conflict assuming they're going to break up, you can show the chaos of them being 60 years old with annoying grandkids just cuz it's fun to see, without it being spoilers

skidiggy 2024-05-06 23:45:08 UTC #7

I do, too. For Apparent Secrets, the entirety of Book One is set three months before the events of Book Two, as a flashback. Also, I'm writing bonus side stories that take place largely between the books, but often feature flashbacks to previous events and backstories. I'll likely include an Epilogue for the story too, set in the far future.

Leyelle 2024-05-06 23:47:02 UTC #8

the whole book one is a flashback? so sort of like a prequel?

skidiggy 2024-05-06 23:51:16 UTC #9

That's right. The Prologue is in the "present" of late September, and the rest of the book takes place starting in mid-June of the same year.

MK_Wizard 2024-05-07 00:38:05 UTC #10

Well, in Psychoborg, Cupcake War Machine and MK's Frankenstein, the Prologues take place in the past. In MK's Jekyll and Hyde, there is a flashback moment. For Word is the Bird, there are quite a few time skips.

Leyelle 2024-05-07 00:41:55 UTC #11

I have no prologue in "Damsel in the Red Dress" but there's sort of a prologue in Rigamarole, in that section one starts well before (probably a month or two) the continuous time line which is a little more day to day.

kyupol 2024-05-07 01:03:09 UTC #12

... we obviously don't use phones that big anymore...

melezaban 2024-05-07 13:26:35 UTC #13

well both probably. more than trying focus on one, i want to narrate the story in most creative way so that the audience feel the thrill. well normally I write chapters set in present if that makes sense. btw if you guys wanna then try reading my new novel

pablo-costa 2024-05-07 13:50:30 UTC #14

I would if we had more formatting options. It's a sin to me when I learned that we can't ever use different colors for text.
In one of my story, I wanted to show different voices speaking in their own set of colors to set them apart, but the site didn't allow it, which sucks.

Leyelle 2024-05-07 13:54:18 UTC #15

Ahh, i've used colors in text for poetry, but I don't think most sites accept it.

mg_xiii 2024-05-07 19:16:41 UTC #16

Of course I do. I live for flashbacks and flash forwards.

Leyelle 2024-05-07 19:23:25 UTC #17

Same lol. but I've yet to release full chapters set in the future or the past

PenguinAngel 2024-05-07 19:46:59 UTC #18

not exactely, but i like to made illustration about it!

sophialyn 2024-05-07 20:11:32 UTC #19

A good chunk of my story is told in the past through flashbacks. I play with the concept of immortality with POC history. My upcoming chapter (yet to be released so GET READY-) is the first time I dive into the past. I’m looking forward to the complex conversations that may spark from these characters’ histories.

Leyelle 2024-05-07 20:54:36 UTC #20

complex convos in your story?