peggy1935

Hello everyone, my first posting. Can anyone advise me please on whether, or not, to include an Index in my non-fiction book? Generally speaking, indices are appropriate, but in the case of a Chronology / Timeline, I don't think they're necessary, or even sensible - but I want to make sure.
Mine is laid out (probably typically) with a century per chapter, then in year-by-year format, with the events within each year being bulleted. Sounds bland but I've included rare pictures, plus given anecdotes and other comments at the beginning and end of each century, to make it more readable, to give it a story thread.
Given that layout, that the reader might flip through the book to reach a certain year of interest, (much like a catalogue of artifacts in a way) then, to make an index also would be to, virtually, present the same book twice, once in the front and once again in the index. Well that's how I see it, if a reader turned to the index and found, event xyz under chapter xyz, then.... surely its just redundant? The same matter is already in the main book. Does anyone else see it that way? I'd be grateful for thoughts.
Regards, Peggy

littlegreenbob

Well perhaps.

The index will be alphabetical order and might help the reader find a certain event.

An index in a dictionary is redundant because it is already layed out in alphabetical order. Where as with your book it is layed out in chronological order.

Raging_Hopeful

Ok so a related question perhaps. In a story that uses unfamiliar dialogue or language, would it be helpful to have a "language index" that the reader could refer to if they were interested?

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littlegreenbob

Perhaps, but that could be too detracting from the actual story if they have to refer to something from time to time.

Its like when teens use forums and you have to try to decode what they are saying with all their abbreviations and short hand.

A story needs to flow at the pace the reader reads it. An unfamiliar word may be off putting.

But dont rule it out as a bad idea because I said so.

Vee

I think all of the above is a good idea.

I disagree about teens (no I'm not one) - its only a pain in the arse to work out what they're saying on a forum when they use text message shorthand instead of internet shorthand.

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chimchimski

Well, yes if you are going to include anything unfamiliar which might cause the reader to wonder, what are they talking about. I know several of my writing partners in college who did this...they received different reactions, some enjoyed the work even though they couldn't follow all of the dialogue, however, there were others who absolutely hated the fact that they couldn't keep up a steady pace.

BTW~One student received an excellent review from the writing department...it just goes to show, there are no absolutes I guess!

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Sam Winchester

Shorthand is crap no matter what. Write the flaming thing in full! I've seen countless people in high-school and college writing down class notes in shorthand. When the time comes to revise for the test, they're stupefied. They haven't a clue what they've wrote! For the extra second it takes to write it down fully, you have the comfort of knowing that you don't have to spend hours trying to decipher it.

Sam.

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Monkuta

I'm a teenager and you don't have to decode what I say on the forums. It's just the cell-phone obsessed preppy little jerks with nothing better to do then send little messages to each other when you could just be talking on... YOUR PHONE! Anyway, more on point, shorthand can work as long as you can look back at it two weeks later and completely understand everything you wrote. Might want a few other people's opinions too. It's risky, but it can work.

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Raging_Hopeful

Mm in this case its just a few words from time to time. I think adding a language index (since I actually took the time to research appropriate regional slang for Africa) might add interest and dimension to "my world."

Okay then I feel a bit better about doing it. Even if some people don't like it, I'm not writing to please everyone. I'm trying to tell a story.

Thanks for the advice
Linz

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