Interludes

Interlude chapters are shorter pieces that I place between books. Some actually take place during the books, but I set them aside because I feel that interrupting the flow of the narration is more disruptive than it’s worth, particularly when the intention is that the story is fully intelligible without them. There are two basic types: Interludes, which are narrative stories, and documents, which are in-universe documents of various kinds. Both are optional, but they provide potentially valuable context for the books.

The reason for interludes is pretty straightforward. This story is written entirely in first-person limited perspective. That is to say, all of the narration is from Kyoko’s perspective, written in first person, and written with no additional knowledge beyond what she knows in the moment being described. One of the greatest strengths of this style, and the reason I prefer it, is that it allows the voice of that character to show through very strongly. Everything is seen from her perspective, which also showcases how her perspective works—what she prioritizes and pays attention to, what she ignores, the cognitive links she’s making. But this is also probably the single biggest weakness of this perspective, because Kyoko’s perception is not complete. There are events she’s not present for, and even when she is present, she isn’t going to see everything. There are details she doesn’t notice or doesn’t pay attention to, contextual meaning she isn’t aware of, assessment and interpretation she might get wrong, bias she introduces. This makes it feel real, but it does mean the reader isn’t seeing everything. Hence, there are side chapters which are meant to provide context and other perspectives.

With these interludes, there are three broad purposes I aim for. The best interludes might incorporate all three, but when I write one, I usually have one of these in mind. Some interludes tell an independent story within the setting, one that acts as a full narrative progression on its own. These might read like short stories. They do still serve to support the main story, but they do so by developing the setting and characters rather than being directly related. The second type of interlude provides additional context about the story itself, elements of the plot or events that aren’t apparent to Kyoko. The third develop a character in a way that changes how they are perceived or shows a side of them that Kyoko might not see.

Most interludes are still in first-person limited, just using a different character; most of these characters will be familiar from the main narrative, but some might not have been introduced previously. Some will be a bit more exotic, and the documents are formatted as they would be written in-setting. In general I am more experimental with interludes, less concretely anchored to standard written forms. Interlude chapters are set between books, because I feel that interrupting the natural flow of the narrative with interludes of another point of view is more disruptive to immersion than it’s worth, but they vary widely in when they’re set. Some happen during one of the books, some between books, others long before the story ever starts. Some may cover quite a long time period, or jump around in time unpredictably.

There may be some interludes which don’t have much context, or which don’t seem to relate to the main story at all. However, all of them are there to support that narrative, and given time you may see more rhyme and reason than is initially apparent.