How & Why to Skip Time in Your Novel
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.พ. 2025
- Skipping time is often necessary when writing a novel. You might need to convey different stages of your characters' lives or you might want to jump over the time your character spends in a boring situation. In this video I go over how and why you might need to make minor and major jumps in time. If you have any questions about skipping time, let me know in the comments.
TWITTER: / ellenmbrock
So what you're saying is... I shouldn't use Spongebob transition cards?
lmao ...
two hours laaattaaa
If you going for comedy then I'd say that is something to look into XD
Characters walking to a restaurant.
"Im so excited to try there new pasta sauce!"
THREE SECONDS LATER
"GO GO GO! I GOT THE BOMBS ARMED AND READY LETS MOVE!"
The Marine708 I wouldn't want to eat at that restaurant. I prefer a quieter ambiance.
Lol XD
One eternity later
For a six-minute video, it elaborates an even more sensical writing tips than all those 20-minute videos with many recommendation and stuff
Brevity is a missed concept
Hey guys! This was one of my most requested videos, but I'm sort of a minimalist with skipping time (just mention it and move on!) so let me know if you want information on approaching time jumps in a more complicated way. Thanks!
i would love to hear about how to handle things like flashbacks and flashforwards - when theyre useful, pitfalls/cliches to avoid and how the fit into the story arc etcetera would be super useful!
Wow. This was very reassuring. Writing my first novel and ran into these same issues and self-criticisms, am glad to have know I managed to solve these issues on my own. Just wish I had the answers sooner.
But the REAL question is, how do we get a professional author head shot like you? Seriously that picture of you looks really professional.
Thanks for all of your videos! They are really helping me out!
Thank you
Great info! I'd love to see you do a video on dual timelines, as in novels that switch between past and present, through the eyes of the same character(s).
In Nevernight the first half of the book’s chapters are split in half, Mia as a 10 year old and Mia as a 16 year old, I found this pretty good as it shows Mia’s backstory whilst showing her current journey, as opposed to constantly explaining what happened in the years that started her adventure as a child via infodump
Thank you! Yes this is very helpful, Ellen. I needed to know how to skip time since my character don't need to show their entire time in boot camp, and in telling a story in war, I find that there is a lot of time that passes where nothing decisive happens.
Could you make a video about non-linear storytelling? Thank you! :3
And make the video non-linear so we have to figure it out
I want to try out a book that starts at the Belly of the Whale/Darkest Moment/All Is Lost beat of the story. But I want to inform about how it got to that situation without resorting to info dumps and flashbacks.
@@StarlasAiko I started a few chapters behind at this point in the story writing a zero draft but I wouldn't recommend it; the amount of flashbacks you will need and story reasons to cover it kill pacing and force story obstacle conveniences to halt the immediate progression.
@@gamewriteeye769 Thanks, I will put that idea on the back burner...way back
@@StarlasAiko Yeah. I'm still trying to figure out the story's first half (although the second half has structure) with a lot of story missing, now that I've turned it into a linear one. Will see how it turns out after outlining the scene structure.
I did once read a book that broke all the rules that you lay down here, and I thought it was superbly written. It was called The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells.
I think she's more inclined to give modern advice. I wish people would simply read a book and forgive the prose.
I'm inclined to disagree. There is a prologue, where the audience learns the rest of the narrative is a telling from the time traveler, this helps frame the story by also ending the novel (it is pretty much the same scene). The vast majority of the piece is linear, taking place over a couple of weeks to the MCs perception.
Well played...
what's worse is that i had last read time traveler ten years ago. I reread it after I posted this to make sure I was correct.
Emphasis on the 60% into the novel cue the time jump when the book is called "The Time Machine."
A good way to deal with time jumps is to tie them together with transitory segments. Make the "jump" as smooth and organic as possible. Turning the page and suddenly finding yourself a month or a year ahead will almost always be a little jarring, but if you ease the reader through it with some storytelling then it feels a lot more natural. This can be as little as a short paragraph or as much as a whole chapter, just so long as you make the passage of time interesting. If we take our two week hacking job, for example, a paragraph could be added explaining how the hacker ran into obstacles, had a scare where someone almost caught them, or felt like giving up, only to push on and finally get the job done after several days of attempts.
Throw a little mini-narrative into the transition. Add some tension and release. Use it as a chance for your character to be introspective. The longer your skip gets the more room you have to add interesting transitory material. Over the course of several years something interesting *will* have happened in your characters' lives. You shouldn't get derailed by this or let it interrupt the flow of the pacing, but condensing it down into a mini-narrative that ties the rest of the story together will make for a very natural transitory period.
And of course, you can do the exact opposite if being jarring and abrupt is the whole *point* of your time jump. If you want to create a stark contrast between the before and after, leave the reader reeling from some dramatic upheaval, or make a mystery out of what happened between then and now, then you can forgo the transitory period entirely do what works best for your story.
Nice video. Time jumps are expected by the reader but I definitely agree with setting a precedent early with what amount of time is reasonable to pass between given portions of a story.
Thank you so much for doing these videos. You've made me feel a lot better about a lot of concerns I had in my work. Keep up the great work!
I only got from this reasons why. I need to see an example of what jumping time would look like in terms of the actual writing format/grammer.
Thank you so much! Overthinking timejumps is something I struggle with
Thank you Ellen for Your Videos Each one Has TRULY helped ME with My Frist Attempt to Write my Life Story Novel...God Bless YOU
I used to put the date at the beginning of the chapters to show how much time had passed, but I agree with you! I doubt anyone pays attention to the dates.
In my novel that will be coming out this year (2022), I wrestled with this problem. Part 1 (The Incident) of the novel takes place in 1950. Part 2 (The Investigation) (50 pages in) skips to 2011. I felt that I had to deal with this jump since the protagonist ages from 4 years old to 65. To deal with this passage of time, I added a chapter at the end of Part 1 that dealt with major relevant, yet general events, that happened over the course of this 61 years. Almost a stream of consciousness writing. I went back and forth with my editor on the need for the chapter. Ultimately, I decided to leave it in because without it, the pacing of the novel felt off, too jarring for the reader. So, for me, having a transition chapter that acts as a bridge worked to bring the reader along from the past up to the current time within the novel.
Mentioning seasonal changes perhaps: yellowing leaves, or full bloom of flower perfuming the air?
The date indication, we can have an exception for that if the story calls for it. Like in one of my stories, where something bad is bound to happen at a specific date; therefore, I needed to indicate some dates to let the readers know who much time does the protagonist have left.
A video on languages would be great. I have characters who speak one language and it is written in their language while the story is in the protagonists POV. However, when it switches to their POV, I would like to write dialogue that the reader can understand but want to ensure it isnt a jarring switch.
What about when time jumps involve POV changes? Say you introduce Bob at the start of the story. Then you want to introduce Doug, but you don't necessarily want the two arcs to start at the same time. Then you have another jump for when Bob & Doug intersect finally.
Thanks Ellen, this was very helpful. So basically: have self-contained story arcs pre-jump and post-jump. So that conflicts and storylines before the time jump are solved before the jump? As an example. If a character is in a lot of school drama with another student. You'd want to complete that conflict before the jump if said conflict is not important for anything but character development and does not have a big say in later arcs? On the other hand. Pre- jump can work well as a set-up for a future post-jump event as well? If the student the character was in conflict with in the example above has a larger role later, you can capitalize on that in both parts by planting the seed for that early in the story? Just wanted to see if I understood this correctly. What I got from this was, do NOT leave loose plots up in the air when transitioning, if those are not concluded later?
Hi Ellen, great videos. Could you do a video about how to write and incorporate flashbacks?
Thanks from Amsterdam.
This is the perfect video for a novel I've been having a super hard time writing. One of the main parts of the book was to have it take place over a portion of the characters' lifetime. Most of the characters are ageless/immortal in this book-to-be, so time passes quite differently for them. Thinking now, dates/years in narration would be good, but I'm also thinking that maybe dialogue hints could be a ton more interesting. So like after some long downtime the chapter picks up on a scene where the character reads a newspaper and sees its been six months. To which they comment on how odd or familiar it feels.
Useful tips! You're right that suddenly jumping from young to old can be disappointing for readers. We mustn't leave too many un-filled gaps in between. Plus young characters are more fun to read about (in my opinion)
i always struggle with skipping scenes, so i usually end up woth scenes that does not advance the plot... i use them for some character development tho
Everything you write is a part of the story, things cannot happen all The time, just like in real life! If people are gonna complain, then they shouldnt read the book
@@Bashbroder Here's my advice, treat writing like a business, treat your readers like customers, if you want to make a career out of it. If you want to keep it as a hobby, then disregard everything I am about to say. Keep in mind that writing IS art, however, if you plan to sell it someday, it can ALSO become a business. Many talented writers fail to make a penny, not because they lack creativity and talent, but because they lack an understanding of the business. Popular writers have been around for decades and publishers are quick to listen to their ideas even if they are absurd. King and Rowling, for example, are famous, battle-tested writers. You are NOT. So be careful what you take from him IF your goal is to publish. IF your goal is to just write for yourself, then ignore the business part of it and go as crazy as you'd like with your writing.
However, back to writing as a business: IF an editor is asking you to do something, put your creative pride aside and do it. Writing IS a business for the editor and its fundamental goal is to help you provide a product for the reader. If the reader doesn't like your product, they will put it down and not bother with it. The editor fails, you fail, and the publishing company fails and loses money. You HAVE to understand that. Steinbeck said it many times, that as soon as he turns his draft over to the editor, it no longer belongs to him, but to the reader. He obviously knew what he was talking about.
@@barchetta575m yeah but its always you who should be happy and proud of your work, you cannot write something that others wanna read, but you wouldnt wanna read, ofc you Maybe cannot write too exaggerated, but still on a good level, but it should come from your heart, and not others, you Will always find your fanbase, The ones who Will appriciate you more than anyone! But you need to understand the business part too, what are your audience? How can I reach out to people? Take advice from friends and family and find like 10-20 others, Maybe you miss something, but you shouldnt change too much of your saga that you wrote with your heart, mind and soul, because then it isnt you! 🙏
@@Bashbroder What you just said is what 99% of writers say and most never get published, and when they self-publish, they end up losing their money. Anyone can come up with a good story, it's the execution that matters and there's no exact formula for it, but there is a general idea of what people expect when they buy a book--to be entertained. I'll repeat what Steinbeck said -- "once you hand over your story, it no longer belongs to you." There's a reason first-time novelist must adhere to a word limit on their first manuscripts (J.K. Rowling) and their subsequent novels become significantly longer. They understand the guidelines exist to weed out those whose creative egos get in the way of editors who understand publishing is a business, first and foremost.
@@barchetta575m thats why I also said you cant exaggerate it too much, then it Will definitely flop, but readers now a days, according to many many MANY comments in videos, they want something thats never been done before, or havent been done too much cuz they're tired of all The existing tropes and want some realism in The book!
I may have a trope thats been done before, but Im trying to use a new Twist, and stuff happens thats not really explained, just like in real life, stuff happens without an explanation, thats my realism with the readers, and I do have some time skips, but I have a tiny explanation on what the people are doing during the time skips! 👊
This video applies to my NIP (novel in progress). Very helpful.
I'll apply something to your nips 😉
Awesome! Thanks!
What about time jumps between books? Say a thirty year jump between the first and second books? The jump happening not because nothing interesting happened between the intervening years, but because the things that happened couldn't be made into their own full length novel?
Mythical Creature Comforts
In some cases I've seen of that what the writer did was spend the first couple chapters doing a series of shorter jumps, making short stories that highlight the major events of the years in between.
Otherwise you could start out as if this were the first time the audience had met the characters. You could recap the previous story a little, but a jump that large is likely to be its own self-contained adventure and wouldn't really need any more recap than the initial novel might have given to background lore. For example, instead of saying "my father was a hero who fought a demon" you could say "I was hailed as a hero once, but that's not important right now".
Maybe this wouldn't work for everything but the 'Before' Trilogy handled this idea well. The sequel, Before Sunset, is set nearly ten years after the first. The first "chapter" or scene is set in the present (the future relative to the original) and has the character reflecting on what happened in the preceding film.
This accomplishes a couple things. First, setting it in the new present (instead of writing a chapter that immediately follows the events of the original and then saying something like "Ten years later") helps to make the new work stand on its own and be a more complete story. So it's less bound to the beginning while still being informed by it. Second, the reflection aspect both serves to give a good recap for people who may have missed the original but it also shows how important the events were and how they have affected them.
Also to avoid the opening becoming an info dump of everything that happened in between; in Before Sunset they are brought up naturally and sparingly during the course of the feature. Only things that were relevant to the character's development or things that were interesting were really mentioned.
I know I'm two years late but I posted this 'cause I hope it would help anyone else who was stuck on the same issue. But this is only one of many ways that you could handle this sort of thing. You might prefer to avoid methods that have already been used however, in the case of this method, it has been used well and might be effective if nothing else is coming to mind.
PS. I highly recommend watching the Before Trilogy, they're like a crash course in interesting dialogue
I actually plan to jump in time from Chapter 1 to Chapter 2. Chapter 1 establishes the world my protagonist comes into, but Chapter 2 shows how my character fits within the status quo before things shake up again.
I'm writing a romance that is a sequel to a YA romance I just completed. In the adult romance that I'm writing now, the prologue starts in 2012... and then we jump to the present time in Chapter One (and the story continues in the present from here). Is this acceptable to do without saying "five years later" as part of the prose in Chapter One? I was just going to write (as a header) something like: "Five years later..." or include 2017 as the date in the header.
Also, I've heard from some agents that you should always set your story in the future (so that it's contemporary when it's published). However, I've read too many stories that are either set in the recent past or never specify the year at all. So, I'm wondering how accurate that advice is. What are your thoughts on this?
The problem with saying "five years later" at the beginning of chapter one, is that many readers skip prologues. It may be better to just state the year since you're establishing precedent (and importance of current time) in the prologue. Just my 2 cents :^)
Maybe you could say "Five years earlier" in the prologue?
Who the hell skips prologues?
KingBowsetVlog, that's my question. I've heard about this. It's interesting that if someone wants to read a story they'd likely want to get the whole instead of leaving out a piece. I understand not wanting to read the Appendixes of Lord of the Rings, but to skip on something that directly affects the story itself doesn't seem logical.
KingBowserVlog I don't do a huge amount of reading but skipping the prologue is kind of an instinct left over from how I was schooled that I have to actively dismiss and honestly don't even think to do most of the time. I wonder why my school taught like that.. that's really weird >.>
Very helpful info! Thanks Ellen!
Thanks for this video. In my novel 'With You Forever' I plan to skip time as one of my characters stays in a coma for a while (two weeks exactly) before finally waking up, and he makes a slow recovery from a TBI. I also plan to have a few flashbacks, but I'm a bit concerned of how I could balance both of these concepts in my story. It's like fast-forwarding and rewinding a tape. Lol. I thought about having separate chapters for the flashback scenes tho to avoid confusion and to put time labels on them. For example, Fall - 1998, two years ago, etc.
Hi Ellen! Can you give us your opinion on switching location? I'm writing a book where my characters are constantly moving throughout a huge city and I'm worried that it might come off a little choppy
Very good
What about time jumps of say... 500 years? Such as in The Malazan Book of the Fallen? Great video, by the way!
Edit: I mean for using a storyline to show a character with longevity in a different tech/culture/setting. Such as in Anne Rice's books? Is that worth the jump or should it be avoided to not risk losing interests. Are there any tips for keeping readers hooked into the story?
If the character is immortal or lives a very long time, the jump in time isn't a big deal because aging (for that character) wouldn't be a big deal. What's the difference between being 200 and 300? It's not the same as jumping from 15 to 30 for someone with an ordinary lifespan. Of course, if you were to jump forward 500 years and abandon the previous plot, that could be a problem, but my guess is that this character would be more of a loner and the jump wouldn't change much about the story. Hope this helps!
Ellen Brock It does and is definitely food for thought. Thanks so much!
I think I'm good. I jump several times in the first several chapters, before settling on a steady timeline.
this video really helped thank you.
So in my fanfiction, I kinda wrote myself into a tricky spot. The main character was forced (tortured/semi mind-controlled) to join the enemy team, and I want this to feel meaningful and important, but I also want her to finally push past her fears and such and go back to the protagonists (simplified explanation but I think you get the point). When I properly planned everything out, there will be about 8 chapters (of about 6k words each for some length context) until the protagonists would recapture her, and another 5 until they could finally convince her to start working to rebuild burnt bridges and rejoin them. The problem with this is that it's only 13 chapters between such extreme juxtapositions, and that makes it difficult for it to avoid feeling flaky like she is just bouncing back and forth, almost on a whim, as it were. So I need to convey some feeling of time passing so it at least doesn't feel like it's been less than ten minutes, but I've already planned out the primary plot points that happen during this and the character interactions that would add any meaningful insight/story progression. So if I were to needlessly add chapters, it would be blatant filler and that's something i want to avoid. Do you have any suggestions as to how I could put more significance, oomph, impact, whatever word you want to use, behind this? A time skip or anything else really?
Hmmm...curious how this turned out for you. I run into this too. Sometimes I would use .... as breaks that would indicate time passing. I would think simple time passing statements as she suggested would feel appropriate. But give enough filler that reveals character traits, maybe conveying her mental state of conflict (i.e. does she feel torn about her allegiances? are there events that would showcase this?) . That would provide some general filler so the reader can feel like more time has passed then just a couple pages. I wouldn't say add chapters for this but maybe a few paragraphs within each chapter. I have a hard time condensing my stories. I feel like I get bogged down in wanting to know every detail of this person's life so time jumping is something I have to force myself to do. Hope your story turned out well!
Amazing video, but I have a question, when you say at 2:58 about establish how much time we're going to jump early in the book, do you mean that we need establish this to OURSELVES before start writing or we need to establish that to the READERS, like "saying at the start of the novel that the beggining actually happened like, 70 years ago"??
Hi Ellen, I just wanted to say I'm glad you're back making videos again. I'm resubscribing!
i love you so much your videos are beyond entertaining
I did not realize Assassin's creed 2's story had years long time jumps until late into story. Could have used this advice
"Write in the Morning. Read in the Evening? Sleep on what you Read??"
There are exceptions to almost every rule (there's an exception to the exceptions to every rule, too.) Here are two examples: The Time-Traveler's Wife. Every chapter is a different point in time, though not always clearly labeled. The novel did not follow a one-way chronology, even when dealing with the female lead. Confusing, yes, but it worked. Given the premise of the story, particularly regarding the male lead, that structure in the novel made more sense.
Second example: Centennial by James Michener. The central glue that links the story together was a hole in the ground on the bank of a river. The first 100 pages discussed the prehistoric creatures that used the hole, while the rest of the novel jumped to about 1876, the centennial of the United States. No explanation of the jump. No explanation of the hole and how if figured into the book. It was just there.
In both cases, it was nice not to have a story beat me over the head with explanation.
yes, but she's not talking about exceptions. she's talking about practical ways to move in time. every possible format/rule of storytelling used to understand and analyze narrative have exceptions.
I'm writing a romance, is it a bad idea to have a gap of about a month as they get to know each other? Or should I write that out? If so, how?
I had to add time skips to my story because the main character got shot. Twice. Over the course of the same story and needed heal time.
What if you make a jump that’s later in the book, the reader will definitely wonder what happened during that time but you explain what happens through dialogue
Do these tips still apply in screenwriting and/or animated shows?
Can you make a video on changing the pace of the plot? In the story I'm currently writing, there is a kind of cliffhanger, where the protagonist gives her old childhood diary to her best friend, to tell him her biggest secret and then leaves. Afterwards I didn't want to make a time-jump, but rather move the story in a bit of a different direction, where it seems as if she's moved on and made new friends but then finally realizes she really misses her one friend and is worried why he hasn't responded to her diary and the secret (she doesn't know at that point, that he didn't even get the diary and still doesn't know about her secret)... I wanted to write this sub-story of hers in a different pace, so that the reader can move through several weeks rather quickly. Is there anything I have to keep in mind?
Thank you!
I am still bit confused... I want to tell about process, but it can't just be a process of a few days, so I need to do some jumps, I think.
Hi, quick question on the time jump thing. I do have that in one of my novels where the main story starts when the two main characters are like in 4 or fifth grade and then after a few weeks of time passes I decided to jump time until they graduate high school and then continue the main narrative. Do you think that might be confusing or would that still work. I mainly did it realizing how little the characters could do as little kids like that and the gaps in knowledge and such that they would have at that age.
That sounds doable but potentially confusing for the reader. The young adult novel, Papertowns by John Green has a similar-ish start, with the first chapter set in childhood and the rest in high school. But what might feel better for the reader could be to make your childhood story into something of a backstory. Reference it, maybe flashback to it, but incorporate that childhood event into the main story with the characters as high schoolers. That way, you can tease out what that event meant to the different characters and how that affects the story over a longer period of time, creating a bigger arc with more depth.
I'd either make reference to their childhood together in passing ('haha remember that time we scared the neighbor's cat') or make a flashback. Either way, the events are told to the audience at or near the time it would matter to the reader.
Do these rules still apply when the story is framed as a memoir with parallel stories in the past and present running against each other? e.g. Remains of the Day
How about if there's multiple character perspectives from differing times. Say like a week's difference. Currently I use a date system establishing the dates at the start of the chapters.
What do you think about the use of blank spaces or the use of ******* in between sections of a novel or story indicating a time jump? I'm writing a short story that takes place in the last few days of a woman's life. Certain key events happen in those few days. Those events are the focus of the story. To indicate the time in between the events when one section ends I have a few blank lines and the next section begins with (something like) "Later that evening..." Most people I've shown it to get that the spaces indicate time spaces. THANKS, ELLEN!
this is what I do! It works for me but I am not a published author. haha
How can you seamlessly write a few weeks or a month forward when writing in present tense?
TWILIGHT skips a lots of days and weeks in a few paragraphs, perhaps due to the motions of a boring school life.
How do you suggest skipping time while writing in present tense? (I.e., with the first example you gave, "three weeks later, I was sitting at lunch). Do you think it would be awkward simply to go with "three weeks later, I'm sitting at lunch"?
I actually wouldn't find that awkward. It feels like the character is talking to the reader in present tense about a past thing happening. Lots of people do this and it only takes seconds to get used to. It's something like "I'm walking home from school, listening to songs on my ipod when suddenly the earbuds are ripped from my ears. Jared is there with his annoyingly stupid smirk and egomanical behaviour..." and then skip to something like "Three weeks later I'm sitting in Jared's room, his hand gliding up my thigh and I'm thinking "how did this even happen??"" Or something. It feels like it's a past story in the present tense, nothing bad about it IMO (:
Why would you say to yourself,”I’m eating lunch.”?
skaetur1 not sure what i was thinking three years ago so good question lol
Okay, but how can you put that on the page? Can you use * OR * * * which would you use and why?
While we're on the topic of time, can I ask about messing with literal time? In my story everything pretty much seems to reach a bad end for the protagonist before he's forced to use a method which takes him back to when the story was about 80% completed at the last second, making him lose a lot of progress but also allowing him to forge a new path with his new knowledge.
I've been wondering if you have any tips to make a jump backwards like that less jarring to the readers (other than setting up time jumping as a mechanism in the world in advance so it doesn't seem like a deus ex machina). It's a pretty long story I'm making so going back 20% is a LOT of stuff that now never happened, and I want to know if you have tips to make sure it doesn't feel like that time was wasted.
Hey Ellen. What are your thoughts about present tense narration versus past tense narration? Thanks
My characters live for thousands of years. Wut do?
So basically all you say in this video is ... and that's the video? KINGA CURIMSON
how do I write a story told in 6 years of timespan? any ideas anyone?
Your videos are always so helpful. Can you please talk about creating chemistry between characters, romantic chemistry or even bromances. Thanks.
I'm tempted to put montages in my book like in movies. You know, when music plays in the background and a character is getting things done for the next 45 seconds. Any thoughts on how to handle that?
In a book that is hard to say if it would work. Maybe tell a little summery like “they captured every one of those thief’s one by one.” This is just an example so it is kinda bad but you get the point.
That bit about not putting a big jump 70% of the way into the novel... can someone please tell that to Neal Stephenson? (Yes, I'm still mad about Seveneves)
I wonder, if you jump a decade at like 20% of the book, is the first part basically just prologue? If you have one chapter and then you jump a decade it would be clear, but if it's more than that but still not a lot in the grand scheme of things...
Oh please some more time skipping tips if you can.
I'm working on a trilogy that covers around 15 years in the life of the main characters. But there are big portions of time in which nothing new really happens. I thought of stating it as it is. "A year has passed and it was all the same. More daily bullying, more sheltering in dreams, more hours inside a room with her books and music player." Or something along those words. But I don't know if this is a good idea.
Rowling does some great time jumps in Harry Potter to the point it's almost imperceptible, but they're typically no more than a few months.
If I could be so bold, I find the best time jumps are when there's a bit of a story weaved through the "and time passed," paragraph.
e.g. "(protagonist) spent most of the following year in her room hoping to lose herself in a stack of books and drowning out (bully)'s words with her older brother's 'retro' walkman."
How? Is there an example of a story weaved in?
+KreativeKill What I mean with my example above is basically keep the prose consistent while time passes, rather than stopping the story and saying, "Time passed. This, this, and this happened."
I've read a lot of (self published) books where the author essentially stops the story to say what what happened, rather than making that section itself a part of the story.
Again, this is something JK Rowling did perfectly in the Harry Potter series. It jumps months to Christmas for a chapter, then picks up a while later without skipping a beat.
Oh I see. At first I thought that was just how people did it, then I thought I was wrong. So basically you dont add exposition, instead, just write the rest of the story and then there would be hints in the beginning of the section such as date change or people celebrating a holiday. I will do that definitely.
Im scared if I do this for a 5 year jump people will kill me out of confusion, but im going to do it.
+KreativeKill Go for it. Almost anything can and has been done in stories, and depending on the scale of what you're working on I'm sure it can work.
This is cool
Its funny I didnt even know I needed this video, but there is both a 5 year skip and then a 2 year skip in my project.
uh oh!
I have a question. How do you do the part 1 or part 2 system if you are doing a time skip. Each part is one chapter? And do you mention how much time is in each part, through narration?
The sections would only be necessary for very large skips and probably no more than four or five times in a novel. Little skips don't need parts/sections. I would mention in the beginning of the new section how much time has passed (overtly or subtly).
Oh ok, and the sections don't have to have anything special to signify that there is a skip. You just start new chapter with 5 months passed? And are each section or part an entire chapter or just a double space between two paragraphs?
Are time skips appropriate to quickly skip through repetitive scenes or scenes that are important but make no impact on the story? For instance, in an action novel, if the protagonist is in a fighting tournament for a month with 10 fights every other day, each fight is important but not necessarily impactful to the story. I was thinking that I should breeze through this part skipping around week by week to show the character's progress while not getting to nitty-gritty into a long stream of fights that might become repetitive. Do you think this method of time skip would be the right thing to do or would there be a better option?
I mean there might be a better option but if it is a repetitive and mundane task with no interesting elements then skip it and show the important stuff that happened in a few flashbacks and show how he has improved. If you are skilled enough weighting fight scenes tho you can show some fights if you don’t care about length. You can maybe summarize what happened with a few sentences like “he fought day after day but no one could defeat him. He found that it was starting to feel like a mundane task and after some time he found it boring. Until something happened.”
@@temporaryname2467 Great thank you for the help!
My project had jumps of time hitting thousands of years at one point. But the technology allows people to live for thousands of years like 70 thousand. Extends age 1,000 fold. So I see 1,000 as 1 year.l for us. It’s Sci fi and spans the galaxy not just earth. But within the time skipped it’s just the same old conflict and I don’t want to just rinse and repeat the typical missions and I want to get to the important story aspects later on. What do people think about this? There’s lots of skips of years with one from part 3 to part 4 being multiple thousand. But the timeline has to match my other story as this project is a prequel. I want to show the important events across the 30,000 year time period. Instead of day to day life. But like I said I compare 1,000 to 1 year of our real life.
Maybe show what has changed in the 30,000 year time skip. 30,000 years is nothing to scuff at and wars, cultures, and civilizations start and end in 30,000 years. The reader might fall out of the immersion if next to nothing changes in that time. You might have a similar problem to power creep but instead it is time creep. Try to shorten the time skips out and don’t do them too often. Maybe show the same planet twice in which the a sentient species lives but the first time you show it it is a great civilization but when you do a time skip show that civilization and species destroyed. Show that maybe for your civilization 1000 years is one year but for the rest of the world it is not like that. This might give the reader a sense of scale and it can also be used to show just how far superior or powerful your civilization is.
The intro should be looped and sent to James Nguyen.
birdemic?
What about making the jump in time to keep the reader guessing what happened during that time? Is there benefit in trying to confuse the reader with the intention of revealing it later?
Perhaps better than asking that my scenario goes like this: I introduce my main characters and after awhile have them "disappear/die" and skip the time to 3 years later where they re-appear as "new" masked characters. I then reverse time back to what happened after my characters "died" to confuse the readers as to who the masked people are. Later I reveal they are in fact the same characters and reference the 3 year skip as well as fill in the blanks in time by telling stories of what happened. Does this need to be improved?
LDS Andrew Personally, it seems okay to me but I'd advise to drop subtle hints towards the masked characters being said characters from 3 years ago for example similar mannerisms, behaviour or language.
My first book took place within a timespan of a weak.
In my novels, I want there to be a cliff hanger in the second book, where our hero hasnt completed his goals, he has lost many friends, and things arent looking good at all. Carrying the weight of his failures decides to leave everyone behind and goes off into another country, and ends up has a mercenary/bodyguard whatever. I want things to be grim, but not super, how do I say this? Depressing. Like I want my reader to be like, ok you got this Delvin, push on, and they think, yeah hes the hero, hell provail. I want them to, at the end of the book, be like "WTF are you doing! Dont leave them behind!" Anyways I want my jump to be a year, a year and a half. Each books events spans a year, and in the third book, I want the characters who where inly major supporting roles to step into the story, seek out my protagonist, and leave a one year gap where no one knows what he did, why he changed, and so on. How could I incorporate that in a good, natural way?
Why do this when you can just use King Crimson?
Tbh I felt a little uncomfortable when the skipped time in warrior cats.
I wanted to know what happened in the transition :(
My story is only a few days long .... I only need to skip a couple hours.
Do you think 500 years works?
If you wish to read a real classic which uses time skipping masterfully (and which is also an excellent example to masterful writing):
www.amazon.com/School-Frontier-Bluebird-Readers-Academy-ebook/dp/B008HS78NO/
Would I skip time, if a main character was in prison, but it was essential to the overall plot, and time needs to move ahead?
Been in prison is important for the character development. He will NOT be the same person again. Trust me on this. You should add a small storyline there.
So I know this is an old comment but it may still help, if you're writing a story with a prisoner and need advice on how to move time, try reading the count of monte cristo, it's a great example
I came here because it was 1:58 like 5 mins ago now it’s 3:00 am
Time skips dont do it for me, Im not buying it, stuff always happens, people talk and Maybe Exchange information, jumping week or months? What so you mean no one did Exchange anything valuable? Nothing happened during this timeskip? Did they just sit in a corner or something?
They may have learned or done something but it was not necessarily important or maybe it was boring. Who wants to read about every single day of a guy who just stays on an island hunting and gathering but in some rare cases something happens and then everything goes back to the hunting and gathering? Better to skip all that and put the exciting stuff that happened in a few flashbacks when the story is actually proggresing. Maybe show that the character has grown in some way in the time for example he might learn how to use the bow and arrow and learn how to hunt. Everyday life for an average human is boring and your character might have boring times too.
@@temporaryname2467 then you should always put that in as a Note in The text! Like a small brief paragraf of what they were doing! Not just skip ahead without a hint! I wanna know what happened during these months/years!
@@Bashbroder eh with this kind of stuff I like the approach of slowly revealing what happened in that time. Like a mystery you know. Like in One piece how it is slowly revealed through flashbacks and clues what happened in the 2 year time skip. Might get the reader more intrigued and speculative with what happened if done right.
@@Bashbroder also show and don’t tell. I would never out right say what a character has gained in a time skip but show how they use the knowledge and wisdom they gained when the story is progressing.
@@temporaryname2467 yes that you can do depending on what has happened, like theyre training during The time skip and then show the results!
Hi Ellen,
Do I have to be a participant in novel boot camp to receive the first page critique?
Thank you.
Does Ellen ever reply?
It doesn't appear so.
That's pretty lame. Guessing since she is supposedly an editor, she has no time to help fans on youtube. I think she has an email, you might want to try.
I'm not worried about it, there are a ton of other resources and I am just going to wait till I finish my wip then start looking for a critique partner. Thank you though. :-)
You're welcome.
Praise to you for owning house of leaves! :D
I don't even know how to write small time jumps without them feeling very jarring.
Have you skipped time
are you swamped with people wanting their work edited? I get daunted by the sense of competition.
How do you feel about the use of # or *** to indicate minor time jumps?
I do asterisms (⁂) as page breaks, but I think using three asterisks (***) is more conventional.
I'm new here, would you be open to checking out a novel I'm working on or do you here this daily and have no time?
The_other_black_guy Hey if you would like someone else to check it out, maybe I can. I could in turn send you some pieces from my own story.
She has a website and you can hire here to take a look at your project, she charges every 1,000 words, or by the hour of time she spends on your project.
I want to establish a friendship between two characters and I am planning to do a semi time-jump, which I skip a year but in small portions. For example, I show an interaction of the two where they learn more about each other, then two months pass, another scene where they experience something together, another time jump and so on and so on. Do you think this is a good idea or meh? I can't really think of similar examples :/
Also, I have just found about your website and your channel and I wanted to thank you for this really helpful content. I don't know what I would do without the four tiers of character post!
In Film this is typically represented as a sort of Montage to cover these kinds of time periods. You can do something similar in writing, as long as your reader UNDERSTANDS that time is passing, and as long as it is INTERESTING. I, for one, would love to see this executed well in literature but cannot think of any examples of it actually being used.
So my advice is, list your events you want to occur. If there are only 3 to 5 events, you could probably summarise them as having passed within a few paragraphs as running exposition. If it is more than this, try putting them down and then building them into a scene, and rework it multiple times to try different things. If any of them sound good, then go with it. If none of them works out, then you need to come up with a new way to convey this information. Just remember, it needs to be clear and interesting to the reader. When in doubt, give it to a friend and make them read it and tell you if it makes sense and is intriguing.
Thank you! I'll try and see how it goes.
It was a new beginning. The newest. As I emerged, dragged free with indifference by the beefy nurse, I cracked my eyes open… just in time to witness the severance of my lifeline. Then I pressed my lids tight against the brilliance, and then again opened them wide as the world diminished to darkness.
The soil covered my eyes, blotting out the moon’s glow. I could no longer close them. Irritating beyond belief. Breathing was a non-starter, the incredible pressure growing on my chest with every shovel full. I lie here, my aged heart filled with the cancer of hatred for what she did to me--how _could_ she?! With the very hands that pulled me into this world! _What_ is she?
But still, I lie here… grateful… my weary bones creaking, muscles spent after eight decades of lugging a life. Grateful for... the end.
Ha! No one liked my time skip story. And, out of all the other (well-liked) shorts that I've posted on TH-cam, this one is probably my fave. Oh, well.......
@@yapdog tbh it kinda creeped me out and confused me so...haha
@@kellywilliams1332 Creepy is what I was going for--lol! It's birth, then death, taken out of the world by the same nurse who birthed me into it. It was supposed to be a snarky take on time skips, but no one got it. It's cool, tho. I'm a literary writer; we tend to be a odd sorts :^)
@@yapdog then you did a great job! ;) . and i did like it.
Pretty girl. Pretty hair.
I love your Novel boot camp and I have a question as I've really been struggling with my novel. You helped me fix the villain issue but I have a structure issue now that's kind of relevent. I think the very helpful but somewhat confusing first page critiques on your website has thrown me off a bit and I'm doubting myself now and I'm now facing a bit of a dilemma.
I'm writing a YA paranormal fantasy and have two protagonists. Something major happens to them when they are 10 and it's too much to just be a prologue or refer to in flashbacks or allude to and it's crucial to the overall plot . I was thinking of separating the novel into parts. Part one being when they're children, Part two when they're sixteen. But if it's bad/more challenging for a first-time author to start a YA novel with adults or kids, I'm not sure what to do now. I've considered making the first part it's own novel but it's too dark for middle grade and the characters are too young for YA, toning it down to make it age appropriate would cheapen it and making them older would be problematic as well.
Mostly I'm worried that potential publishers would pick it up and assume it's middle grade or potential readers would think it's for kids if I start out with the main characters as children. I may be overthinking it, I don't know. Any ideas on what I could do?
Sounds like Stephen King's It...
Some example sentences would be nice :3
I feel uncomfortable writing romantic stuff, so I just skip time as follows:
Bill caught the eye of an attractive blonde-haired woman at the other end of the bookstore. He strode confidently towards her.
-----THREE YEARS LATER-----
Finally the divorce battle was over. Cindy moved to Aruba with most of Bill's life savings. They would never meet or speak again.
Hmmm..... 🤔
TOKITOBASHI