How do you follow

the storyline in the shape

of the Golden Mean?

—Christy Hoff, ArtRoot Writer-in-Residence

Boring! We want our writing to be anything, but not boring.

Five gold rings, four French hens… I’m sorry. Most of us do not want to think about the holiday season yet, but I bet you started singing the rest of that stanza (or at least heard it in your head). This would be an example of linear logic. Proceeding from greatest (twelve) to the least (one you-know-what in a pear tree).

Linear logic provides a progression or regression along a predictable path. So often we are told to make things logical. Predictable. Would that be good or bad? Beginning, middle, end, we all know this is the pattern for a good story. Well, in elementary school it is.

 In writing, there are many ways to demonstrate linearity. Nonfiction usually proceeds from the general to the specific. Novels often present chronologically. Call 911 for a domestic disturbance and someone goes to jail… If you present a hammer in chapter one, you need to invoke it by the end of the book.

If it is predictable, is it interesting?

Flashbacks, or flash forwards, and following more than one character can be forms of non-linear storytelling. Felipe Alfau employs non-linear storytelling alongside his meta-fiction in Locos and Chromos. I’ve read the first. Well, most of it. My western brain had a hard time wrapping around the interplay of characters who do not necessarily maintain consistent personalities. It feels a little bit like picking up fragments of book that has been torn asunder. A chapter here and a few paragraphs there, move forward, look backward, and shake it all about… See if you can figure out the message.

I have read interesting books that follow along the growth of more than one character. Real life can be mimicked by slipping from this character to that as we slide from chapter to chapter. Pony Confidential is a mystery by Christina Lynch that we might consider non-linear. The owner of Pony is Penny. Pony discovers Penny is accused of murder and sets out to help her. Throw in flashbacks and it sounds disorganized. However, Lynch tells a very fun tale.

Yet, there is something comforting in reading beginning, middle, and then the end. Stories that follow linearly may not be boring. Characters can still surprise, mysteries can be slowly revealed, and questions may bubble up.

What do you like to read? Stop in and discuss it with me tomorrow at Vintage & Modern Books on 6^th in Racine. 12:30 – 2:30.