: Re: How can I hide a second narrative within my story? (using time travel) I've been planning a story that follows two characters. At the end, one character (let's call him Joe) goes back in time

@Si5022468

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There are a few things you can do to hide small bits of information until something is made clear until a second go through. The only piece of literature I can think of that does this well is "Where Have You Been, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?" from the anthology The Future in Questions. It is a short story and may be worth a read (if you can find it anywhere). The movie Interstellar does this quite well. Small items become major plot items as the story progresses, but things don't truly make sense until a second watch.

There are several things you can do to find information until another read:

Have one or more vague item/event that doesn't make much sense followed by
an intense/more obviously important part that helps the reader
forget about their confusion from the last scene.
You can attach importance some hidden value to an object/place that isn't explained until the end of the book and doesn't make much sense until a second read through.
Ambiguity is your friend. The less the reader knows, the better is a good saying to go by for a story like this. Keep things quite confusing until a final reveal.
The best advice I can give you is to find stories that require two or more reads/watches until you understand what is happening. Study what those stories do right and how you can reproduce that feeling in your story.

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