Putting your Story's Plot in Order #BYBin30

Image by StockSnap from Pixabay

I had an experience today that made me think about the order in which we tell stories. For instance, if you were telling someone about how you fell off a deck and injured your foot, you could explain what you were doing on the deck, what happened to cause you to fall, about the fall itself and then about the results of the fall.

Of course, you could just say "I fell off the deck." That much information would let people know what happened in a very simplistic way, but it wouldn't be very interesting to them, and they would probably ask questions.

You could say, "I have a sprained ankle, because I fell off a deck," and then go on to explain the details of why you were on the deck and how you fell, which would change the order of the story.

But there are times when changing the order of what you are telling is not a good idea. And other times when changing the order of a story can change the tension in the story or change or the over-all mood and tone of the story.

And now I'll tell you a bit about what happened to me today which got me thinking about the order in which we tell stories.

Some of you know that, back on March 5th, I had a cyst on my ovary, the ovary on the same side as the cyst and the fallopian tube on that side removed, along with a biopsy done on some tissue taken from the lining in my uterus. Today, I had a follow-up appointment.

It was a new (to me) doctor.

Doctor: "Unfortunately, we found something we were not expecting when we examined the mass that we removed."

(long pause while I start to freak out)

"It wasn't a cyst. It was a borderline ovarian tumour."

(another long pause while I REALLY start to freak out)

"Let me stress that it is NOT cancer."

Me (in my head): Dude, LEAD with "It's not cancer"!!!

So for a little while after that appointment, I was feeling emotional because for a brief moment in time, I thought I was being told I had cancer. (I'm so relieved it's not though!)

And this is just one example of how the order in which you tell things in the story can change the entire mood of the story.

Have you changed the tone in your story by changing the order in which you tell the events in it? Let me know in the comments!