Time jump

I have a part of my story where it moves seven years in the span of one chapter. So, the first forty pages of the book is when a character is ten, then we reconnect with the character when he's seventeen, and the rest of the story moves on from there. My question is, I need to explain what happens in those seven years without spending a whole lot of time on it, because obviously, we can't just assume nothing significant happened in that time, and I need to know if the way I'm doing this is a good way to do it. I'm making it so the chapter between when the character is ten and when he's seventeen is a bit of exposition, sort of an info dump I guess. But I really don't know how else to do this. Do you think this would be acceptable if I just do a brief summary of that seven years in one chapter? Or is there a better way to do this?

 

If at all possible I would completely skip the info, and whatever is absolutely necessary to know I would pepper into the following chapter a little at a time, just when the reader needs to know it. Leave it mysterious for as long as you can, keep them in suspense about what happened.

 

This reminds me of Jane Eyre. I googled and checked the exact point in the story. So in chapter 9, Jane is still a student at the school and by the end of chapter 10, she has become a teacher at the same school and is ready to venture out to the world. If memory serves, that transition is perfectly fine and natural. Perhaps it would inspire some solutions if you study it.

 

I would, but like, it feels weird jumping seven years from one chapter to the next. How would I make THAT transition not awkward? I want the reader to know exactly how far they're moving forward in the story

 

You can just start the next chapter with 'Seven years later', or you could make it clear immediately that the character is a teenager now, not a child anymore.

'Seven years had gone by. He still lived in the same room, but the toys had been replaced by heavy metal posters and model airplanes, and now an electric guitar leaned in the corner against an amplifier where previously had been his Nintendo station.'

Something like that.

 

Then maybe also his physical changes in the next sentence:

'He stood two feet taller, his once-buzz-cut hair now hung over one eye in the latest Goth style, and he wore all black in place of the colorful clothing he had worn as a child.'

Change to taste of course.

 

The beginning is very integral to the story, it sets up everything, and it can't be a prologue, cause I also have other characters' perspectives in there as other chapters. It's complicated

 

You could even divide the book into Section 1: Childhood and Section 2: Adolescence.

And if necessary you could include a few prefatory paragraphs between sections or at the beginning of section 2 stating whatever needs to be known in between.

 

Ok, so I think leaving the personal details about the character and what happened to him out is a good idea, I will sprinkle those in later. However, what's also described during this chapter is how the world changes, there's one government in one chapter, when the character is 10, and a whole different one when he's 17. It is ESSENTIAL that this change be highlighted to the reader, that way they understand what the world is like when the character is 17 now. So what do you think I could do about that? In that case is a short info dump fine? I really can't think of another way to put it out there.

 

Maybe you could write it up in rough form and post it in the workshop? I don't know how different of a government it is, if it was replaced peacefully or otherwise, what kind of government it is, or any other relevant info.

 

It's in there if you wanna check it out