Writing something fully retrospective...

So I'm reviewing the first draft of my WIP and just wondering what the implications are for how I've written it.

In general it's a middle grade/realistic fiction/domestic drama novel at 44K words that is told in multiple third-person with dual MCs (man/girl).

It's fifteen chapters long, and the last chapter is the 'wrap up' and closure. Chapter fourteen is the pinnacle. What I've done is take the last half of chapter fourteen and use it as the beginning/chapter one. What basically happens is the male MCs is gravely injured protecting the other MC. As he slips into unconsciousness, he "recalls what brought them so close together."

Then the rest of the book is told in a retrospective that leads to what happened in the beginning. Despite what might be seen as 'giving away the ending', events in the book very much change how the reader will see it once they reach that point. It will carry a lot more significance once they reach chapter fourteen.

So, without being too brutal, are there any inherent issues with telling a story like this? (Where the entire book is essentially one big retrospective.) I did a search on the word 'retrospective' in the forum and didn't come up with anything substantive.

Any thoughts?

jeffo20 said:

it can work when done well

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You make an excellent point here, and I certainly appreciate that It may come down to how well I've written it.

My main concern was that this was something that is 'frowned' upon or such. I was a bit concerned when I wrote it this way, but it seemed to work well for this particular story.

(By the way, for the life of me I tried to think of other examples and drew a blank too. )

thothguard51 said:

Unless the real PoV is omniscient...

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It's third person multiple (subjective), so POV isn't an issue. It's more the story technique. I hadn't seen it done like this, so I just wanted to know if that was because it's not done at all, or if it's because it's just not done very often.

Josie Cloos said:

what's your plan for transitioning between the different pov's?

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It's written in a third-person multiple subjective narrative. It's not as common a narrative as third-person limited, I know, but it works for what I've written. Some scenes stick with one character's POV, while other scenes may rotate back and forth. (Although never more than one POV in any one paragraph) Since the story revolves around only two characters (with only rare appearances of third parties) things flow back and forth pretty smoothly. This author helps cover some of the reasons why I like using it.

So far my teenage beta readers have liked it and haven't have any problem with the POV, so I'm not too concerned in that regard.

I was more concerned that a retrospective might be seen in the same light as starting a novel with a character waking up. I haven't written a retrospective before, which was why I asked.