Recently I began watching the TV show 24, and regarding my recent spiel about structure, it seemed like something I could write a post about. The action-drama show consists of seasons of 24 episodes, each episode being an hour long (including commercials). They call it real-time, as each episode covers 60 minutes of a 24 hour event. It’s really cool. For example it isn’t until episode 7 or 8 that the sun starts showing up, as the previous 7 hours have been during the night.
While it’s not the first time to feature real time in media (I recall an episode of Doctor Who and one in Stargate Atlantis that was told in real time), it’s the first time that an entire series has done it. There’s some games set in real time too, such as the second Dead Space game.
But what about writing? A lot of books vary characters, perspectives and even chronology, but there are some that remain in what you could could real time. For example, if the entire book maintains a single perspective and is completely chronological (skipping ahead doesn’t count) then it could be referred to as real time. It seems to me that many younger audience books do, I’m sure I could find find a Hardy Boys or something like that. It’s curious then, that this kind of storytelling should be so successful in a show like 24, which is very intense, action-packed and aimed at a more mature audience.