How did I fix a narrative timeline for my first ski romance novel?

This was one of the more difficult parts of writing for me. 

I had plenty of ideas from the get-go but some of them could have fitted in at any point in the novel so I had to set a timeline and then imbue each part with the appropriate meaning.

That meant taking some of the heat out of the chapter where my two main characters are stuck in a forced-proximity tight spot together and putting some extra tension into the scenes where they race each other on their skis and snowboard, for the first time. 

I had a sketch of a timeline pretty early on but I knew that it all had to build and build - there’s no point writing a ski romance where they do lots of skiing but there’s not much romance until 70% of the way through the novel - so that’s what I spent a significant amount of time on. 

Early in the novel, there’s a flashback section for some extra context into Bonnie’s way of thinking and that was moved around several times before I was happy with what it brought to the flow of the story. 

Of course the words, the setting and the tone are important but if your timeline is all over the place, it’s going to be very difficult for a reader to understand what you’re trying to get across and will therefore be a much less enjoyable experience. 

I’m absolutely happy to chat about this with anyone trying to write their first novel or trying to self-publish. Just get in touch at contact@ceceliajoyce.co.uk or DM me on instagram ( @cecelia_writes ) any time.