Hi everyone, The story I’m writing at the minute is centered around a big event - I won’t go into too much detail here but for the purposes of the question I’m about to ask, I’ll explain as much as necessary: The first part of my story introduces us to the characters and foreshadows this big event - the event itself won’t happen for a little while, but we start to see it unfold here. We see three perspectives (one main character and two side-plots that will later connect with our MC) and their reactions and actions leading up to the event. After the event, things will be very different. The main character (who in the first part is well-respected and holds a good strong position) is on the run and fighting hard to survive, etc. etc. The world self will be a much darker place. My plan at the minute is: contain the first part in a “Part One” and then, ending this part on a sort of cliffhanger, where we’re left wondering how it will effect our three characters, we’ll jump to “Part Two: Three Months Later”. Beginning with a kind of “where are they now?” it might feel very different to the first part, but will make up most of the story. Do you think this is too much of a gap? The alternative is to write it as one continuous narrative, but I feel the buildup to the “main” part of the story (what happens in Part Two) might be too slow and I’m not sure if I’d have to do a series of smaller jumps - Part One, so far, takes place over a couple of days. Hopefully this makes sense and I’d really appreciate any opinions. Put simply, is a three-month jump too much of a gap between two parts of a story? If neither of these options seem to work, can anyone suggest how else I might go about writing this? Thank you, Piper
In general, time gaps happen all the time in novels, and sometimes even short stories. I see no problem at all, so long as your reader is kept clearly informed of what has changed. Simply indicating the change in the chapter (or section) heading isn't enough. Something early on in the narrative needs to indicate the amount of time that has gone by. If the scenario has changed (for example, a character has moved to another town) then you can indicate it via the change. Don't just plunk the character in the new town, though. Let us know how long they've been there. Have they just arrived? Or have they been there a while? If they have aged 5 years—or only three months—make sure the readers know this. I put this under the topic of 'always orient the reader.' Readers will tend to assume, while reading, that a new scene or chapter follows on pretty closely to what they've just read. So if there has been a gap, let the reader know what the gap is, so they won't assume the wrong thing. It can be as simple as: 'Jane woke up regretting the number of rum and cokes she had so happily imbibed at Becky's party, the night before.' Or: 'Next Thanksgiving came around, and this time Fred was prepared for his aunt to start complaining about everything he cooked.' Or: 'Tim wrote his first job application letter just after he left high school. He discovered that the rules of grammar, which his grade school teachers had pummeled into his brain, were useful after all.' In the first instance, if Jane just wakes up with a hangover, we won't be sure when she got it, unless you tell us. Maybe she's been drinking too much for months on end. In the second instance, if Fred's aunt starts complaining about another Thanksgiving dinner, we won't know if this has been going on for years or if this is only the second occasion ...unless you tell us. And in the third instance, when Tim realises that grammar matters, we won't know if this revelation appears only two weeks after his fourth grade teacher punished him for mistakes, or if it's not till he writes his first novel at the age of 50 ...unless you tell us. Just a few moments of wondering when an event takes place can drag a reader out of the story, or, worse yet, send them back to re-read passages that came before, to figure out if they missed something. Just orient the reader after every scene or chapter break—no matter if a day has passed or 300 years have passed—and you should be fine.
Personally, I don't think that's too much of a jump at all. It seems reasonable, and there are books that have time jumps a bit like that in them. My advice would be to use the time jump rather than to drag out what happens in those three months. Because if it's not interesting, the readers won't be interested, and it shouldn't be there.
Yep, yep. Time/space jumps are ok to use. Like Jannert said as long as the reader knows how much time has passed. Could be as specific as a few hours, or as vague as a few years. Or extremely specific with a date and time noted at each jump. But that could get a bit tedious, depending on what genre you are writing.
You're right. You should vary the approach if you can, and don't introduce each break with the same word order or exact same device. But I would rather be slightly tedious about orienting the reader, than leave them confused as to what is going on. I think when you're busy reading a story, you won't actually notice the orientation trick, or if you do notice, you'll forgive it. You will notice if it's missing, though.
I must admit, when I first read the words 'Time Jump' at the start of this thread, my mind jumped to 'The Time Warp' from the Rocky Horror Picture Show... Aye, this is true. I think - if you include a time jump or gap, it leaves it up to the reader to follow the plot. If you've ever read a Stephen King - he seems to feature twists and turns all the time, so time jumps aren't really that much of a big deal. Plus, in my opinion, it gets the reader thinking.
Or scrambling for pen and paper to try to work out the math, if the writer has miscounted the number of years. The original novella from which the movie Legends of the Fall was taken has a horrendous mistake in a time jump, and it drove me crazy until I literally worked it out on paper. It's been a long time since I've read it, but it was like a decade off. So for the original OP, yes, absolutely go for it! But keep good notes of where you are. In my WIP in red text I have reminders to myself of what month and year it "is."
Yeah. I actually work with a yearly/monthly/weekly timeline for all the years that affect my story. I list all the relevant years, then slot in all the 'outside' events that the characters might know or have heard about (like who was president that year, and large disasters, as well as important inventions, etc.) These are events and things that can't be changed, and my story has to work around them. Last of all I fit in every important event that happens to my characters. Their birth dates, marriage dates. Dates when they go somewhere or do something important. I actually work with a correct calendar for those years, so I can keep track of the actual days as well. (If I say something happened on a Sunday, it did.) I hope all this timekeeping doesn't show in my novel, but it does underpin the story, and ...I hope ...keeps me from making continuity mistakes. Even if you're writing fantasy, you can do this with your 'made up' world as well. Establish the framework first, and then add things in as they 'happen' in your story. It's not an outline you must work from. It's a diary of where you've been.
Hi everyone, A huge thank you to all who have replied here. Your comments have been really helpful and put me on the right path - I was hoping to go down this route rather than fill in the time, and it’s good to see you’re all in agreement! Thanks to @jannert for the tips about keeping the reader in the loop with any time jump, it’s certainly something I’ll remember when writing Part Two! And thanks to everyone else for your advice, I really appreciate everything. Piper
Yes! Me too. My WIP takes place in 1980, and I have a 1980 calendar bookmarked and a hard copy printed out for reference in my notes folder. One of my characters graduates high school, so I researched 1980 graduation dates for the city in which she lives. Maybe a reader wouldn't know the difference, but I know. Plus, with social media, all it takes is one reader to find an error and post it in a review or blog post.
Aw, thanks, @jannert ! They can say I'm a bad writer (and probably will), but they can't say I'm not accurate!
All the advice given is solid; time jumps happen all the times in a story. If you have multiple time jumps -some books do- you can also put little passages in your story that move the story from one-time frame to another. Let me give you an example from a book to show what I mean; - "The seasons long for each other, like men and women, in order that they may be cured of their excesses. Spring, if it lingers more than a week beyond its span, starts to hunger for summer to end the days of perpetual promise. Summer in its turn soon begins to sweat for something to quench its heat, and the mellowest of autumns will tire of gentility at last, and ache for a quick sharp frost to kill its fruitfulness. Even winter- the hardest season, the most implacable- dreams as February creeps on, of the flame that will presently melt it away. Everything tires with time, and starts to seek some opposition to save it from itself. So August gave way to September and there were few complaints. " Scene 1, Chapter 3 of Clive Barker's The hellbound heart. - There is nothing wrong with saying '3 months later,' but if you feel your story needs a smoother transition, I'd suggest the lyrical approach that above passage illustrates. Just some options. I wish you the best of luck. -OJB
