5 OUTLINE OF CHAPTERS & THEIR PURPOSE

POST NO. 5.



OUTLINE OF CHAPTERS & THEIR PURPOSE

The first chapter of A Hint of Darkness opens with Ellie meeting her great grandmother Daisy. Daisy is Emmaline’s granddaughter and by entrusting Ellie with Emmaline’s journals she was the necessary  link between the two women.

The journals also provided me with the means to relate the details of Emmaline’s childhood at Chateau Fontenay in the Yarra Valley.  The vineyard is the realization of Papa’s dream & was to be her legacy. Emmaline & not her brother Thomas had learned the art of viticulture, she shared his love of the land the loss of her inheritance became a central theme. Her hatred of her mother and the desire for revenge are driving forces throughout the story and are pivotal to the plot.

The unfolding of the events leading up to her present situation took place over many chapters until gradually Emmaline’s journals related entirely to her present time.

Each chapter was devoted entirely to either Emmaline or Ellie. My decision in when I would bring about a transitional link was influenced by the events which were taking place in each of the stories.

In order to achieve the final layout I outlined the basics of each chapter and how  best to fit the literary puzzle together so that the story retained momentum.

In my final edit I took the story full circle so that A Hint of Darkness concluded with Ellie.

4 LINKING TWO TIME FRAMES

POST NO. 4

LINKING THE TWO TIME PERIODS

Each of us has a different path in life, yet we are all actors in life’s story.  How we choose to play our role is what makes the difference.

My two protagonists, Ellie & Emmaline must take control of their lives or others will control their destiny.

Once I had established the theme I used it to guide my story line. However, I have learned the hard way that starting out with a theme is not enough. A well thought out structural plan saves endless hours of re-hashing.

Initially I wrote scenes which I incorporated into chapters. These were mostly written as they came to me so were not necessarily in any order.

The historical portion of the novel was a stand-alone story. However, the contemporary part, featuring Ellie, had to be linked in. The first obstacle I had to overcome lay in deciding when & how I would interweave the two stories. To achieve this I virtually separated out all the chapters and then linked them together again, rather like a literary jigsaw. These transitional links had to be achieved in such a way, that ultimately, the fabric of the story would appear to be seamless.

On many occasions the reader was whisked from one century to the other at a crucial phase. In doing this I utilized Sol Stein’s tactic of never taking the reader where the reader wants to go. It's always good writing practice to end a chapter with a hook. The tricky bit is to achieve this without allowing the transition to appear contrived.