Two-part story in one novel

[WriterInChains]

My WIP has finally taken on a life of its own [@ about 40K words, but I try not to keep track of that kind of thing :)] & it's going in a direction I'm unfamiliar with [linear minimalist that I am]. As it's progressing right now, the first half [maybe 2/3s] takes place in 1993-4, and the second part begins about 9 years later. Not much happens during those nine years that's important to the story, so it could be captured in the opening paragraph of the second section pretty easily [which is how I know the direction it's going -- I just got that paragraph a little while ago].

That's a substantial time-jump -- from a reader's POV, would I need a new section or just a new chapter?

Can anyone recommend a novel that did this well -- or even poorly -- so I can give it a read and see how they did it [or how not to do it, whichever]. My WIP is Women's or Mainstream/Contemporary fiction, but any genre will do.

Thanks in advance! :Sun:
Caren

P.S. Any comments about how you've handled this in your projects will also be welcome. I don't need to figure this out immediately, but it couldn't hurt.

[Saanen]

I had a similar problem in a book I completed earlier this year. It was my nano project so I was only shooting for 50,000 words. Once I'd finished it, I realized several issues I'd brought up in the story hadn't been resolved, and I also realized I had no way to resolve the issues without switching viewpoint characters. So I wrote a second half to the novel, picking up the threads I'd left hanging and bringing up new story points. I think it worked well, but I haven't tried to market it yet.

I can't think of any other books I've read that are broken into two like this, but I know of a number that break the story into several sections to indicate a passage of time or a change in the story's direction. Watership Down does this.

[Sesselja]

White Teeth by Zadie Smith springs to mind. It's not broken in two, but in 4.

[Maryn]

I'm blanking on titles, naturally, but I've read many a novel which separates sets of same-time-period chapters into two or more books-within-a-book. So book one, consisting of many chapters, is set in 1988, and book two, also many chapters, is set six years later.

When a novel's divided into two books, they tend to be approximately the same length, in my limited experience, but three or more books are often of unequal lengths.

Maryn, who will smack her own forehead until she comes up with a title (Ow!)

[WriterInChains]

Saanen -- It's funny you mention Watership Down, because it seems like every-other thread I read lately mentions it -- must mean it's time to re-read (which will feel like the first time, I'm sure, since Jr. High was too many years ago to admit to).

How long did your project end up? I think part of what I'm concerned about with this one is the length it's stretching out to -- at ~40K words I haven't even written the whole first half yet. Maybe this will be the first project I have to cut from instead of add to? Thanks for your response! :)


Sesselja -- Thanks! I'll put it on my library list. :)


Hi Maryn! :) I'm having the same problem! I'm sure I've read novels that do this, but can't think of a single title. :Shrug: Thanks for trying, though, & please, don't knock anything loose up there!

[Silver King]

"East of Eden," by John Steinbeck, is separated into three parts. It's been a long, long while since I've read it, but I believe the book is divided that way to show three generations of the same family.

[littlewriter]

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.

[UrsusMinor]

"Jumping the Green" by Leslie Schwartz does a nice two-part time jump, and could have been split into two--but instead she interwove them by chapters so the past was constantly illuminating the present.

"Three Junes," Julia Glass' bestseller and the winner of the National Book Award, is cut into three.

[Southern_girl29]

I'm also spacing out on names of books right now. I'll have to go look at my book shelf when I get home. I do know that Danielle Steel did it in a number of her books.

I did it in my own book. I jumped about six years. In my first draft, I did it by having two parts, but now, I'm rewriting and hoping to intertwine the first half with the second half.

[Saanen]

Saanen -- It's funny you mention Watership Down, because it seems like every-other thread I read lately mentions it -- must mean it's time to re-read (which will feel like the first time, I'm sure, since Jr. High was too many years ago to admit to).

How long did your project end up? I think part of what I'm concerned about with this one is the length it's stretching out to -- at ~40K words I haven't even written the whole first half yet. Maybe this will be the first project I have to cut from instead of add to? Thanks for your response! :)


My second half ended up almost exactly the same length as the first, so it was 100,000 words in all--a good length for a fantasy novel. Don't worry about the length of your book yet, once you're done you can look at pacing and subplots and stuff and change the length. :)

[WriterInChains]

Thanks, Silver King, littlewriter, UrsusMinor, & Southern_girl29! I'm going to start with the most recently published & work my way back in time. :)

Saanen -- Thanks again. You're right, of course, that it's way too early to worry about the final length since I'm still working on the first draft. I'm trying to divert my attention from the fact that I have to start querying ms #2 unless I want to put it in the trunk next to #1. :)

[Alan Yee]

I think my WIP will be a two-part novel. The first part is currently about 50,000 words, but it doesn't resolve all the issues. It just merely changes the direction of the story and leads it into part two. I haven't written part two yet, but I presume it will be about the same length as part one.

[gabbleandhiss]

Lolita is divided into two equal halves. Although, that has more to do with Nabokov's focus on doubles than on time span.

And then there's The Bible. Generations upon generations of time passes in that one. ;)

[mkcbunny]

I think my WIP will be a two-part novel. The first part is currently about 50,000 words, but it doesn't resolve all the issues. It just merely changes the direction of the story and leads it into part two. I haven't written part two yet, but I presume it will be about the same length as part one.
What he said. Someone dies, shift in perspective, begin Part II. it seemed pretty clear from the beginning that it had to be that way. I have about 45k on Part I, and expect to have a little more in Part II by the time it's done.