Can anyone think of, or have any ideas on how to write, the written equivalent of a training montage? I want the character to be locked away with his old master developing his skills for a few months and come out of it an uber pugilist/swordsman/magician (delete as appropriate).
Montages are a visual thing. They don't work in books; at least not in the form you're probably imagining. They exist in film largely because it's the most efficient way to summarise a large period of time quickly. In books we can just write "over the next through months, blabla trained hard etc etc" and then just pick up after the training.
"Upon reaching the dojo, Master Sensei Frank put Chad to work immediately by having him fetch water. Over the next few weeks Chad was tried daily in combat of the armed, unarmed, and magical variety. Not a day would go by where he wouldn't, tired and aching from the days exertions, collapse into the humble straw bed alloted him. But slowly he found that getting up in the morning would be less of a struggle as his body leaned and hardened and his mind grew sharp and focused. The failures against his master began taking longer in coming until eventually, in one surprising move, he broke through the Sensei's defenses. Master Sensei Frank smiled at his pupil and bowed in respect and Chad knew that he was ready. Chad knew now that his revenge was at hand"
I'm aware of that, that's why I'm talking about the written equivalent. Obviously, they're not equivalent but the idea is to get the character out the other side better at what he's supposed to do without devoting a whole chapter or more to a period of time that could be several years. Now that I write this, I suppose I could switch to another subplot for a while and have the character reappear several years older.
A montage is the cinematic equivalent of narrative summary in literature. Basically you write a lot of action in a short amount of words, hitting the broadstrokes while ignoring the blow by blow. Kind of like how the camera only films the highlights and skips all the incremental progress that led to the highlights.
Unlike movies a book does not have time restraints. It's one of the reasons that "The book" is usually better then a film. Character development should not be cut short. Write it down even if it is a grind to do it.
You still have to keep pacing in mind. You may be able to write 300 pages of characterization, but if the structure of the story doesn't support it, it'll be grind for the reader to get through, if they even bother.
Plus, you have to keep it interesting for the reader. If you have plot to get on with, you don't want to bore the reader with 300 pages of character development.
