Muse & the Marketplace 2019

What’s past? What’s present? What’s shown onstage? What’s held for later? How much of the past is just background information, what really matters, and when (and how) should it emerge? Whether it covers ten minutes or thirty years, proceeds chronologically or starts in medias res, unravels a mystery or crosscuts to show multiple simultaneous actions, the structure of any narrative form is a representation of time. We’ll discuss the relationship of time and point of view, how time may be slowed, sped up, and skipped, and how the past—or future—can emerge through discovery or disclosure. And we’ll look at how timelines can help you see your material and make decisions about structure, and how to help the reader keep track, too.