YA Non-linear structure recommendations

I'm sorry, but I honestly can't think of a YA novel that isn't chronological.

One that MIGHT count though is Shooter, by Walter Dean Myers, which is a series of interviews with kids about a school shooting, each section giving a snippet of the whole story.

Montmorency by Eleanor Updale has unlinear aspects to the story in that there are flashback interludes.

13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher also has a split time-frame, with Hannah narrating in the present events that happened in the past, with Clay reacting in real time and looking back on those events.

It's not impossible to do a non-linear time frame, but it is v. difficult to pull off technically.

MM

The First Part Last by Angela Johnson is my favorite favorite YA nonlinear book.

But most of the nonlinear books I've read in YA have had two consistent, interwoven timelines. (For my own, I had to reorganize the book a little so that each timeline didn't have any extended flashbacks that threw off the temporal consistency.) If I'm reading you right, yours wouldn't have any chronological linearity to it at all? It would just be organized thematically?

I think that could be hard to pull off. I wonder if you can keep the thematic connections between your chapters, but arrange them in such a way that you're only dealing with two timelines and things go forward linearly within those timelines.

Aidan Chambers's Postcards from No Man's Land and Mal Peet's Tamar have two timelines - present day with flashbacks to WW2 Netherlands. Both novels won the Carnegie Medal.

I haven't yet read Chambers's novel Now I Know, but he describes it this way in his afterword: "Its story is told in three voices and in a time sequence that isn't chronological but is decided by the association between one scene and the next." (From the UK paperback edition in a single volume with another Chambers novel, The Toll Bridge.)

It sounds really interesting, and I think you should try it, regardless of if it ends up working or not.

Things that may get confusing are, well, confusion, and keeping overall tension and forward movement. since we're not going to be asking "what happens to Mark and Tessa?" since we'll know, they'll need to maybe be some other over-arcing question or tension...?

It's not really YA (though is close to it) and is a film rather than a novel, but a recent story with a non-linear structure is (500) Days of Summer. In fact, there have been quite a few non-linear films recently, and trends in cinema have a habit of being reflected in trends in novels (and vice versa), so I wouldn't be surprised if we get a few more examples in the not-too-distant future.

Two Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt is told through flashbacks and what's going on now with two different narrators.

What you're doing sounds really interesting and feels like it'll make the reader read on to know what's happening with your MCs.

I think that's an interesting idea, and would really keep the tension until the last minute. I also agree with eyeblink about the relation between non-linear films and novels. It sounds like a good way to keep the reader interested, and it seems as though people really like the change from chronological storytelling. It's very fresh and different. I'd go for it. Good luck!

A Ticket To Ride has both the MC's story and her mother's story woven together, if that's what you're thinking of.

Also, 500 Days of Summer? It's a movie, but it's a great movie.

(500) Days of Summer pulled off its nonlinear structure really well. So, it obviously can be done.

My WIP has a non-linear structure that has two timelines that "meet in the end" - an event in the past being the motivation for the MC to set out on her journey. The thing is, I couldn't tell this story any other way. It demands to be told in this manner. Whether or not it works is beside the point.

Before trying the structure as a sort of gimmick, ask yourself if it's necessary. Try it, I say! There is a difficulty in keeping the rhythm of the story. You have to be crafty enough to not make the reader aware of it at all times. It can't be in their face.

Good luck!

timewaster:
My 'Story of Stone' was sort of non linear - there were two separate stories several set hundred years apart and linked by a first persn present tense story which was non chronlogical. It was great fun to write but never sold that well.

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Ooh - interesting. How did you go about tackling that? Was the structure a conscious decision from the outset or something that evolved as you were writing? Did you write the story chronologically and then break it up or were the non-chronological bits already there in your head as you wrote?

(Sorry for the inquisition, but things like this fascinate me).

MM

My story Songbird is told using a mix of real time and flashbacks. The real time moves chronlogically but the flashbacks are out of order, pulled into her memory as events around her trigger them. Each chapter has a flashback that reveals important parts of the characters and the reason behind their decisions then and now.

Have you already written the story? I agree that it might be hard to pull of if your planning on writing it out of sequence (unless of course your very organized and have a detailed outline, something I'm just not capable of!) It sounds like an interestig concept

Momento Mori said:

Ooh - interesting. How did you go about tackling that? Was the structure a conscious decision from the outset or something that evolved as you were writing? Did you write the story chronologically and then break it up or were the non-chronological bits already there in your head as you wrote?

(Sorry for the inquisition, but things like this fascinate me).

MM

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It is a bit hard to explain. The story begins with Nela, the daughter of an archaologist touching an artefact which gives her visions of a first hand experience of events that occurred long ago - focalised through a person called 'Stone'. The other story is the story of a boy named Jerat who lived many centuries before Nela and his story intersects with that of Stone. Originally I told some events through both Stone's eyes ( first person present) and Jerat's (third person past )in such a way that the reader was not supposed to realise they were the same events - at least at first - as Stone's version was in apparently random order.
I wrote my submission draft straight off - though I did have a plan. I had the idea from the beginning of playing with time and I liked the vividness of the first person sections but it also evolved as I wrote it and I didn't fully work out the resolution till the end of the submission draft. My editor asked me to get rid of the duplication of events so I then reworked the first person sections and modified the chapter order but I kept it in my head for the most part. ( The diagram plan for this book is on my website nmbrowne.com)
If I'm honest I think I got a bit too hung up on the structure and the complex parallels between the two time periods. I did it because it was interesting and I'm not sure I was really thinking about my readers...
I have a soft spot for the book - it was ambitious in a number of ways, but it did rather sink without trace.
I would advise against getting too clever just because it is fun.

Not a book, but the musical The Last 5 Years is non-linear. It's a love story, that begins with the girl brokenhearted over breaking it off with her husband, and the boy excited over meeting this new girl. They meet in the middle for one song, but this is the only time when both characters are present in the same time together. It ends with the girl excited about meeting this new guy, and the boy brokenhearted over breaking it off with his wife.

It's a tragic story, but very well done. It's the best example of non-linear storytelling I can think of.

Justine Larbalestier's (I'm so not spelling that right) newest book, Liar, is non-linear. It's not two distinct timeline's though it's more of a stream of consciousness, I don't know if that's what you're looking for.

I LOOOVE your plot description, OP, by the way. It sounds like it could be one very interesting novel. And on the note of non-linear YAs:

- "Inexcusable" by Chris Lynch. When Keir is accused of raping his best friend, he treats us to flashbacks that explain why he could not possibly be guilty of such a hideous thing. Except that the truth is a little more subjective than that.
- "Breathing Underwater" by Alex Flinn. Nick is forced into therapy by a court order after beating his ex-girlfriend. He is made to write a diary in which he recalls his early experience with girlfriend Caitlin, while trying to deal with an abusive father and his present troubles.
- "The Love Curse of the Rumbaughs" by Jack Gantos. Okay, so not exactly. This book is essentially split into three: nine-year-old Ivy; sixteen-year-old Ivy; nine-year-old Ivy again and eighteen-year-old Ivy. The non-linear timeline isn't a huge factor in the book, except that it does move through time without becoming jumpy or random and it's never hard to tell which time zone you're in. For me, the best way to see a "neater" way of doing the non-linear timeline.
- "Sophie" by Guy Burt. I've heard it's verrry hard to get hold of in the States, but if you can, get it! It makes great use of the non-linear timeline for some very sick twists and turns.