“No Matter How You Feel. Get Up, Dress Up, Show Up And Never Give Up.”

“No matter how you feel. Get up, dress up, show up and never give up.”

— Unknown

Skipping time in your story

When writing you’ll most likely skip time in your story. It’s very rare that you will come across a story during a short, unbroken chunk of time. So, skipping time is an important skill to learn, and I’m here to help!

Scenes and Chapters

With the exception of very short fiction, most stories are broken into scenes. Each scene tells the tale of a particular movement or event. In longer stories, such as novellas and novels, the scenes are grouped into chapters. Sometimes a chapter contains only one scene. It all depends on what needs to be conveyed in the certain chapter. Either way, starting a new scene or chapter is a natural way to represent the passage of time in your story. Unless stated, readers will automatically assume that time has passed between each scene. But, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t make the transition between each scene, because without that transition, the passage of time will seem clumped together and won’t flow properly.

The key to skipping time between scenes or chapters can be done two different ways:

Set up the time skip: At the end of the chapter, hint at what is to come.

Example: My eyes focused on the board in front of me, the words reminding me of my impending doom. Our first test of the year in a class I hadn’t paid attention to at all. My heart rate accelerated as I wondered how well I will do on the upcoming test.

Clarify time, place and -if necessary- POV at the beginning of the new scene, or chapter, playing off the set up from the previous scene or chapter.

I found myself back in school monday. As I walked into class, my eyes twitched and my hands shook. I took my seat, all the way in the back of the classroom, chewing on my pen cap, wishing I had studied.

Notice how the set up at the end of the previous scene/chapter flows seamlessly into the beginning of the new scene/chapter? Because the passage of time is expected between scenes and chapters, it’s not always necessary to be direct about how much time has passed. Especially if the amount of time is unimportant or already implied.

Direct: Early on Monday morning Margaret dragged herself out of bed, painfully aware that her ability to pass highschool hinged on the test she would be taking today. She hated the uncertainty of what was ahead, but what grinds her gears even more was the thing she did know: today was going to be a horrible day.

Two hours later, Margraet walked into her classroom, cold coffee in hand, trying to seem bubbly and happy even though she knew that her entire life depended on whether or not she failed this test.

Less Direct: Early on Monday morning Margaret dragged herself out of bed, painfully aware that her ability to pass highschool hinged on the test she would be taking today. She hated the uncertainty of what was ahead, but what grinds her gears even more was the thing she did know: today was going to be a horrible day.

With cold coffee in hand, Margaret sat down in her seat, trying to seem bubbly and happy even though she knew that her entire life depended on whether or not she failed this test.

In the second example, even though you don’t say “two hours later” it’s clear that time has passed, and so has the setting. No one is going to assume that Margaret is going to be taking her test in her bedroom. Try to save “two hours later” and “walked into the classroom” transitions for when the context would otherwise be unclear, or when those specific details (how much time or a specific location) would be important.

If no time is passing between the two scenes or two chapters, try to make that clear. For example, if one scene ends with Margaret falling asleep and then being woken up by a loud knock at her door, the next scene should continue with something like, “Heart pounding from shock, Margaret jumped out of bed to see who is at her door.” Now, it is clear no time has passed in the next scene, but since a new situation is beginning, it still warrants being its own scene.

Expository Time Skip

Sometimes you need to show a quick glimpse of something that happened but it doesn’t really warrant its own scene or chapter. In this case, you may want to illustrate the time skip using exposition within the scene. It may look something like this:

Winter Break was over in a blink, and I soon found myself back at school, dealing with all the problems I left behind during a break that felt far too short. I quickly headed to my locker, avoiding Melinda and the newly formed rift between us. She glared at me across the hallway as I spun the combination on my locker.

Later that day, during lunch, I sat at the table Micheal and I had always sat at. Despite the amount of people in the lunchroom, I could still feel Melinda’s icy glare shooting me down.

Terms such as “later that day” and “two hours later” help the readers understand that time has passed, without transitioning to a new scene or chapter. This allows you to cover smaller moments and events that don’t warrant their own space.

Whether you use a transition between scenes or chapters to show the passage of time, or whether you clarify the skip between time through exposition, just remember to pay attention to where you left the readers before the skip, and where you take them. Make sure it’s clear, flows well, and wouldn’t leave anyone confused. Do that and you’ll be in good shape! Happy writing!

91 notes View Post

justanothergirlsblog

4 years ago

“Easy reading is damn hard writing.”

— Nathaniel Hawthorne

425 notes View Post

justanothergirlsblog

4 years ago

Writing Theory: Controlling the Pace

Pacing is basically the speed of which the action in your story unfolds. Pacing keeps the reader hooked, helps to regulate the flow of the story and sets the tone of the entire book. So how can we write it?

Genre & Tone

Really in any novel the reader has an expectation that the book will be fast paced or slow. Readers will go into an action novel, expecting it to be fast paced. Readers will pick up a romance novel and expect it to follow a steadying climb of pace as the story goes on.

Pace is a good indicator of how the story is going to feel. If you want your readers to feel as if they are in a calm environment, you don't place the events immediately one after the other. If you want your readers to feel some adrenaline, you keep the curveball coming.

How to utilise Pacing successfully

1. Give your readers time to recover

When readers are reading a fast-paced novel, they need a breather and so do you and your characters. By peppering in a few moments between peaks of fast pace, you are allowing your readers to swallow down what they've just read and allows you to explore it further. Consider this like the bottle of water after a run. You need it or you'll collapse.

2. Track Events Carefully

When planning your book's outline or at least having a vague idea of it, you have a fair idea when things are going to happen. Usually books have an arc where pace gets faster and faster until you get to the climax where it generally slows down. If you're writing a larger book, you have to space out your pacing properly or else your reader will fall into a valley of boredom or find the book a bumpy ride. The climax should have the fastest pace - even if you start off at a high pace. Your story always should peak at the climax.

3. Localising Pace

If you want to put your reader into a certain state of mind throughout a chapter or even a paragraph, pay close attention to your sentence bulk. Long flowy sentences but the reader at ease, slowing the pace for them. Short, jabby sentences speed things up. An argument or a scene with action should be quick. A stroll through a meadow on a lazy summer's noon should be slow.

4. Information is Key

When writing pace in your overall novel, the reader should be given more information as you go through the story. You begin any story estentially with the who, what, where of everything. But peppering in all the whys, you broaden the story and keep the reader feeling more able to keep up with everything. For example, in any murder mystery your reader is given the body. As the story goes on, your reader should be given more and more information such as the weapon, the where until you get to the climax.

5. Off/On Stage

All events of the story do not need to be shown on stage. When you want to slow things down, allow things to happen away from the readers view. If you show event after event at your readers, everything is at a faster pace.

941 notes View Post

justanothergirlsblog

4 years ago

Reminder to self:

Your writing seems boring and predictable because

You wrote it

You’ve read it like eight million times.

A person who has never read it before does not have this problem.

442K notes View Post

justanothergirlsblog

4 years ago

“It takes an awful lot of time to not write a book.”