From Charles Dickens to Anthony Doerr, writers have explored the possibilities of telling a story from dual perspectives. It allows you to focus on the contrasting experiences of two characters, or can even bring your reader into the mind of a character at different points in their life. But how do you juggle the competing focuses of a dual narrative?
The first thing to consider is whether your story would benefit from a dual narrative. Do you have two key characters that you want to contrast with each other? Do you want to create a fast pace and ratchet up tension? Do you want to create an unreliable narrator?
At its heart, the purpose of a dual narrative is to set two things against each other, and highlight each by doing so. If one of your narratives shines much more brightly than the other, then you may find your readers skipping chapters.
Ideally, what you want is for both elements of the narrative to have their own charm and draw your readers
