TheNextBigWriter Premium → Breaking Time
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How do you show the passage of time--days, months, even years--between scenes and chapters? I've got a very few tools, but I know they aren't enough.
I don't recall this question being handled in any books or blogs I've read, so suggestions on them would be most welcome. Suggestions on books that do this very well are also welcome, but that's probably 20 percent or more of what's in print, and I haven't picked up enough from reading. What can I say, I'm dense.
You probably already thought of this, but I usually put something at the top of the scene/chapter (centered) to indicate time jumps. Those also serve as the markers for scene breaks. My first chapter of Galaxy Tales was an extreme case. It fast-forwarded through key childhood experiences of the two kids in the story. I jumped four times in a single chapter, resulting in four scenes. Something like:
AD 4005
Four-year-old Joseph lay in his big-boy bed...
Five Years Later -- AD 4010
Seven-year-old Apollo sat in the game room...
Seven Years Later -- AD 4017
Sixteen-year-old Joseph descended the stairs...
Same Year -- AD 4017
Fourteen-year-old Apollo rode in a four-man swampcraft...
The references to N Years Later meant that the reader didn't have to go back to the beginning of each scene to figure out how much time had elapsed between scenes. Also, the scenes began by giving the age of the POV character of each scene. Finally, giving the exact year allowed me to orient the reader as to the millennium in which the story takes place, especially 4017.
I like Norm's suggestions, and I do it in my central story where the passage of time is often decades or centuries.
Another trick in my tool bag are use a child character (who's let's say is a sixyo playing with blocks).
Need a soft time change? Child has grained basic reading.
Need a hard time change? Cut over her 8th birthday party.
Yes, I just used this trick, and yes, you'll see reviewers asking for age confirmations, but that's just reading gaps
You can always simply put a time reference such as the date at the beginning of each chapter kind of like a heading or you can have the narrator or a character make a reference to the time elapsed since the last episode described -- a week later Joe blow blew smoke signals or "You know, Joe, you blew smoke signals a month ago when we were in the firehouse" or "Since your skiing accident, you've been in a coma for three weeks" or such. A thousand ways to say things to reference time.
But it may not always be necessary to tell the reader the exact time lapse as the action unfolding will clue them in. Say your character was flying to Australia or somewhere halfway around the world, then you picked up their activities after they had arrived. That would indicate a certain amount of time had transpired assuming you don't want to follow everything they did on the flight. The storyline and characters will probably give you lots of opportunities and ways to reference the passage of time in various increments. See you next week. Take care. Vern
I may have to pick up one of those epics that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read, and see how the author does it. Suggestions?
I don’t know which “epics” you’re referring to, but I really don’t think there’s “a way.” There are multiple, even within a single book.
The Cloud Atlas has 6 distinct periods across which the 6 stories unfold, and I couldn’t for the world of me remember what the Mitchell did, had to look it up. The first story is told via diary entries, with date stamps, the second is letters, there’s one that’s in the form of an interview, etc. (note that I’m not implying this is a great example, but it’s an example).
I agree with what Vern said though. How important is it for the reader to know the exact time passage? What works for your story?
—she returned there a week later
—His hands grew calloused from months of work aboard the ship
—Over the years, Cercei’s drinking habit made her too fat for her dresses
—mentions of seasons, birthdays, anniversaries
—a change of setting already an indicator of time passing, e.g. if he was a uni student and now he’s working in an office. Dialogue can give more details and colleagues always ask how long you’ve been working there
—And if you really hate your readers: “after exactly 18,753 hours the ship entered the Bla solar system.” But things do get really confusing between different planets with different calendars. It’s not usually addressed very well (or at all).
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TheNextBigWriter Premium → Breaking Time
