Writing Techniques in The Ancient Child

The Ancient Child Techniques

In many ways, this is a fragmented text in comparison with House Made of Dawn. It is roughly divided into four sections or books arranged from longest to shortest. The books entitled "Planes, "Lines," "Shapes," and "Shadows," suggest an artistic progression in the fashioning of an image, and by implication, an ontological progression in self-creation. Each book is preceded by an epigraph; the opening of the book also has a prologue. Within the books are numbered chapters ranging from a half-page to many pages, entitled with a line or phrase from the chapter. The chapters themselves are generally static in nature, styled as imagistic scenes, with limited dialogue and action. The scenes shift between Set and Grey, between present action, memory, and vision. Even the scenes of Bill the Kid are narrated through the eyes of Grey, further fragmenting the action of the novel. While the variety of chapter lengths...
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