Series in reverse chronology?

greendragon · Jan 28, 2015

I am a new author. While I've had two travel books published, I've got no novels published yet. I've written four. The first was my parents' love story, currently submitted for consideration with a publisher. The second, third and fourth are part of a historical fiction series.

Here's the catch - they are in reverse chronology.
The first novel is set in 1846. The second is 1800, the third is 1745. They follow a family who is part of a legacy of a special brooch, given to the family generations ago by a Druid. It has some mystical powers, but no one is sure why or where precisely it came from.

The first novel follows Valentia, and her quest to find her family back in Ireland (she's in Ohio) and the brooch. She finds her great-aunt Esme.

The second novel is Esme's story, and her grandfather, Eamonn is part of her tale.

The third novel is Eamonn's tale.

I've already got a fourth and fifth planned, with Eamonn's father, Turlough, and Turlough's grandmother, Maeve.

I don't know why I'm going backwards, but that's how my muse is insisting upon doing it. As each novel goes back, more and more is revealed about the brooch and it's connection to the Otherworld.

My question: my publisher thinks that, unless the 'hook' between the novels is a huge 'hook', it won't be enough to bring people backwards. She thinks that, for a new novelist like myself, it's not commercially viable. She wants me to write all the books and publish them chronologically. Or change it to a purely fantasy world, not historical fiction. I offered to let the first trilogy be published in chronological order, and then go back to the next pre-trilogy. And so on.

What do you think? Is a reverse chronology novel series too outlandish for a novice novelist? Or is my publisher just being too conservative and I should try a different one? (She published my travel books, and specializes in historical romance eboks).

Your thoughts are greatly appreciated!

greendragon · Jan 28, 2015

Also, I know some established fantasy authors do the trilogy time-hop thing. Robin Hobb, Mercedes Lackey, Terry Brooks, to name a few. Don't know of any historical fiction authors, off the top of my head. Or any that do it novel-by-novel.

blacbird · Jan 28, 2015

As a partial example, C.S. Lewis first wrote The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and followed that with the prequel, The Magician's Nephew. I don't know if Lewis conceived of Narnia as a series when he wrote the first book, but obviously it evolved into that.

I don't see any reason why this idea can't work. It's all in the execution. So write that first book the way you want to write it. Don't overworry about planning out an entire series without having written the first one, at least in rough form. You may find new ideas germinating as you go.

But ya gotta write.

caw

Brightdreamer · Jan 28, 2015

Are you building to a reveal about the origins of this special brooch? I'd think that would work - each book may be going backward in time, but closer to answers about the brooch, and maybe the whole family line as well. (But, then, I come from a fantasy background; working backwards to the origin of a peculiar magical artifact, possibly with supernatural or divine origins, sounds cool to me.)

Naturally, each story should be able to stand on its own. And you might want to at least have solid outlines together, to show your agent just what you're planning. But if you have a compelling enough family to follow (even backwards), I could see it working.

Mr Flibble · Jan 28, 2015

Brightdreamer said:
Are you building to a reveal about the origins of this special brooch? I'd think that would work - each book may be going backward in time, but closer to answers about the brooch, and maybe the whole family line as well. (But, then, I come from a fantasy background; working backwards to the origin of a peculiar magical artifact, possibly with supernatural or divine origins, sounds cool to me.)

Same here

I would read the crap out of thatI think it sounds great, but I have a history of pitching novels no one knows how to market.

But if it's not fantasy your demographic is going to be different (with some overlap)

Basically it will come down to this:

How married are you to this idea?

Once! · Jan 29, 2015

What you are proposing is riskier than a story told in chronological order. If I know how the story ends, will I be all that interested to learn how it begins?

Some stories can be told in reverse chronology. Just about every whodunit does this. A crime is committed, but we don't know who did it. The detective then has to work through the clues to recreate the crime. It's a kind of time travel.

But while that can be sustained over a short story or a novel, it's harder to see how you'd do it over a trilogy. How do you keep the readers sufficiently interested to keep on reading?

So it's another of those "risky but doable" things. You might be able to do it and do it well. It might not work. How much of a gambler are you?

greendragon · Jan 29, 2015

Since I've already written three of the stories, (and they do stand on their own), I love the idea myself. Yes, each one reveals more about the magical item, and I hope to go back even further, past the trilogy, into more trilogies.

I'm in the editing stages on the last two. The first one I've already submitted, and that's where the publisher has brought up the question. She isn't sure it will be marketable unless it's FANTASTIC.

I asked her if publishing the three books as is, in chronological order (1745, 1800, 1846) and then going back to a pre-trilogy, would work better for her.

In a sequel where the main characters change (even if there is some link, like the grandchild of the first main character) - is going backwards really any different than going forwards?

Dave.C.Robinson · Jan 29, 2015

greendragon said:
Since I've already written three of the stories, (and they do stand on their own), I love the idea myself. Yes, each one reveals more about the magical item, and I hope to go back even further, past the trilogy, into more trilogies.

I'm in the editing stages on the last two. The first one I've already submitted, and that's where the publisher has brought up the question. She isn't sure it will be marketable unless it's FANTASTIC.

I asked her if publishing the three books as is, in chronological order (1745, 1800, 1846) and then going back to a pre-trilogy, would work better for her.

In a sequel where the main characters change (even if there is some link, like the grandchild of the first main character) - is going backwards really any different than going forwards?

To answer the question I've bolded, yes.

It's the age-old prequel problem writ large. People already feel they know how it ends before it starts. They won't know all of it, obviously, but for many there is enough of that feeling that it reduces the dramatic tension.

There's also the issue of relative importance. If the initial story can stand on its own, then there's the perception that the prequel is unnecessary, simply because if it was necessary the story would have started there.

It doesn't mean you can't do things that way, but it does make it harder to sell.

shortstorymachinist · Jan 29, 2015

So long as the stories didn't feel like foregone conclusions, I would read that so hard. I love fantasy, doesn't matter that it's in the real world, so a story traveling back in time to discover the origins of an object of power sounds faaantastic.

greendragon · Feb 16, 2015

Well, I spoke at length with my publisher, and she's on board with the idea now, provided I make some changes (which I agree with). She wants me to beef up the fantasy element, the magical piece that ties all the books together, and that's fine. It was something I was going to do in a longer arc, but starting strong works fine. I just need to go even stronger in later books.

My publisher gave me several good pieces of advice, and is excited to see them when I've worked through the changes.

I'm putting enough hints and flashbacks in the end of the book (when the current protagonist, V, meets the protagonist of the prequel, E., her great-aunt) that you are (hopefully) interested in E. Then, in the second book, I put in tantalizing glimpses of E's grandfather to be interested in his life, in the third book.

Hopefully!

And yes, this would end up being in the Historical Fantasy genre. Set in 1846, 1800 and then 1745 Ireland and Scotland, with a heavy mystical element (communing with faeries via a magical brooch family heirloom).

The only fantasy aspect in the first couple of chapters, though, are the protagonist's dreams. She doesn't encounter anything fantasy until she arrives in Ireland.

Series in reverse chronology?

greendragon

greendragon

blacbird

Brightdreamer

Just Another Lazy Perfectionist

Mr Flibble

They've been very bad, Mr Flibble

Once!

Still confused by shoelaces

greendragon

Dave.C.Robinson

... with the High Command

shortstorymachinist

The score is still Q to 12!

greendragon