What is a literary Ticking Clock?
In fiction, in real life, and the three clocks of Acid Christmas
As my own novel launches, I find myself thinking about the concept of the “Ticking Clock” in literature. This is a literary device that amps up the tension in stories and also marks time. It’s like an alarm waiting to go off in the characters’ minds and in the reader’s mind. These clocks can be very obvious, like a literal bomb ticking, or an impending date, or an important deadline approaching.
Or they can be more subtle or metaphorical, like a pregnant woman or a beloved plant dying day by day in the corner because the main character is trapped and can’t get home to water the plant.
Ticking clocks can motivate characters to succeed or throw them into a deep depression.
I’m not sure who first coined the term, but one of the earliest examples of a “ticking clock” as a literary device is in Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare. The ticking clock is Juliet’s impending marriage to Paul Rudd, I mean Count Paris. It creates a sense of urgency that rushes the star-crossed lovers along in their death spiral.
I wasn’t thinking about ticking clocks in these terms when I started writing fiction, though my first book, Cactus Friends, has one: Saman’s failing kidney. Mushroom Honeymoon, my second novel, also has one: the mushroom ceremony at Bāne Kama’s house.
However, midway through writing Acid Christmas, I read this very short post about clocks by Chuck Palahniuk where he suggested a rotting head of lettuce could be a clock, and like a stick of dynamite, it blew an idea into my brain. I went back and added a third, more disgusting, more subtle clock to Acid Christmas, which nearly every advanced reader has commented on, so I know it’s working. It’s my favorite of all the clocks in the book.
This third clock was quite a lot of work to weave in since the book was mostly written at the time, but I think it was worth the extra effort.
Wait, a third clock? What are the first two? There are actually three clocks in the novel:
Christmas itself and the main character Candi’s desire to get home for Christmas, as well as to be home for her late husband’s postponed life celebration.
Gretchen, the second main character’s hospitalized brother, Kevin, who may die before she can fly out to see him.
???
Well, I’m not going to share the third one yet, because I don’t want to spoil the book! But if you read it, let me know what you think it is. It is definitely a more hidden clock!
And I’ll give you a hint: it involves feet. 🤢
Clocks in Real Life
Ticking clocks in literature work because we all have clocks in real life that motivate us to change our behavior, to reach harder for certain goals, and characters are like humans, or they should be, so we intuitively relate to facing ticking clocks; we understand their urgency.
After all, one clock rules us all, and that is the human lifespan.
Plus, just like in literature, we can add a clock to our own life to motivate us. We might mark a calendar, feed a virtual tree, or buy a course that will expire if we don’t use it by a certain date.
Likewise, when things get to be too much, we can sometimes just turn off the clock, drag it to the sidewalk, and wait for waste management to take it away. Not always, but sometimes.
Now You
Is there a clock you need to add to your life?
Are there any clocks you need to remove?
What was a clock in a book or movie you’ve experienced recently?
And a Reminder:
If you are a paid member of this lagoon, a VIPer, as I say, don’t forget to complete the address form so the Acid Christmas Elves can send your swag bag and signed paperback.
Want More?
Check out Acid Christmas on GoodReads and read the pretty awesome advanced reviews.
Read my personal essay on my granddaddy’s ticking clock.
Read my take on Chuck Palahniuk’s Kangaroo Book Rave.
Order Acid Christmas now on paperback!
Bye! And see you tomorrow too, as I’ll be sharing the debut of Acid Christmas and offering it at the lowest price for November!
XXXXOOO
I don't know if I need to add or remove any, but there is the one clock: the death clock 😳😱💀😄😏 I feel like I am usually eyeing that moff, wondering if I'll finish the literary work I have started.
I think of clocks when I wake up at exactly the same time every morning - without an alarm. Kind of a deja vu experience. I guess the clock is my own brain, so I can never remove it!