Bisky's Twitterling's Scribbles! discussion

So I'm trying to revamp my plot during my second edit. The first chunk of the novel starts in August and goes through maybe early October, than I plan to skip to early December for a bit, then the last chunk of the story takes place in March.

Does that seem acceptable for a story? Having time gaps like that?

What is your opinion? Harry Potter books cover an entire school year, so I guess it's okay? :3

Maybe I'm the wrong person to ask, because my current series has a completely scrambled timeline that jumps back and forth constantly, but yes I don't see a problem with it at all. :)

I don't see a problem with that either. I've read a few stories that did that and it didn't bother me at all.

@Josh, Tolkien skipped plenty of months, so it means that's an acceptable thing.

Curse you anime time skips! :p

Oh and besides, if it's not a play, the timespan can extend to more than 3 days

It is very acceptable...the trilogy I am currently writing (now on book 2) has spanned almost past two years. As long as you are comfortable with it then all good.

I have a period of a year that I just mention big events for, then I do a One Piece style 3 year skip. Then another 3 months at the end.

My other novel explains a three month period constantly for the MC and takes gaps of weeks for smaller characters.

@Bisky, the OP mention was too soon...

You didn't like it? :]

still too many feels!

Ooohh I see what you mean.

You can't fangirl over dead characters *sob sob*

If nothing interesting happens for 3 months, then, yes, it's fine to skip those three months. It's a luxury we don't get in real life.

@Bisky, I'm still trying to get over Darth Vader's death.... And i watched episode VI in the 90's

You obviously have not found the right booze, Adrian.

Bisky, what kind of life would I live if I was blacked out most of the time? It's the boring moments that make the exciting ones worth the wait.

Also, Doctor Who reference: "I, weary traveller, must always take the slower path."

Thanks for the tips, everyone. :3 I was using the big whiteboard in my residence hall and put up a timeline and was thinking, "Golly, there's a big gap" xD But now I feel more comfortable with what I have planned. I considered spacing the events a little more, but that just didn't feel right, so I'll keep the big gaps. :3

Murder, murder, murder... then a gap...

The gap would be a period of 'solace' I guess, so I skip it. The only exciting part within the gap is my character receiving a letter from a fashion institute that declares if she's accepted or not. :3

...then another gap and finally murder, murder, murder. The end. yay!

I guess you can kind of paraphrase what happens during those periods. Like so and so passed her classes, wrote an x amount of stories for the paper... stuff like that.

If things get too mundane the reader would probably skip it anyway :]

Yeah, true. Maybe it would be probably be best just to have a sentence or two that describes the time change. 'Nelly and Vladimir spent Thanksgiving break on campus. The Monday afterward arrived, and during her classes, Nelly could only think of her acceptance letter arriving in her mailbox.." I don't know something like that maybe? lol

Yeah thats kinda what I do :]

Goldhead has two timelines- September & October of 1523 and June & July of 1959. I have to keep the 16th century narrative just a bit further ahead than the 20th century one to avoid "spoilers".

Josh, that's exactly right. Just a few overarching summary sentences like what you wrote will bring the reader up to speed and inform them of the time passage in an informative but efficient way. Then you don't waste time in your book, but you also cover everything that needs to be covered/conveyed.

@Jaeme - Do the 16th century narrative events coincide with the 20th century events? What happens in the 16th affects the 20th? or something like history repeating itself?

@Christie For a moment I considered developing 'stuff' to happen during that time, but I don't want any fillers. haha! Just have enough information so the reader isn't lost in the setting. :3

I'm editing a manuscript right now that covers about thirty years of someone's life so there are portions where I skip weeks, months, and years at a time.

BUT I always reference them in some way so the reader keeps a good grasp of linear time by saying something along the lines of "weeks passed and so-and-so...."

Another way to do this is to put a subheading at the next chapter along the lines of:

Chapter Six
Three Months Later

...also...fillers kill! Even thought the inner-fangirl in me wants Fairy Tail to be running right now I totally understand why it went on hiatus while the manga to continue the current story line is published.

I had oodles of fillers in my old stories, and I think they are what made editing dreadful. lol

There's a section in the second book of my old story where the main female OC's old friend (who we just meet about 75 pages earlier) dies and I spend the next 100 pages (30,000-ish words) in a flashback of her experience with him. xD Yeah, fillers in a novels are killers lol

I thought of doing that subheading concept, but by putting the date.

Chapter One
"quote that can be used as a chapter title" "It's shameful what happened last night"

Monday, August 23

--something like that, but with 'pretty' formatting haha

In anime, I guess fillers are all right if the new concept/problem is interesting. The Bount Arc in Bleach was beyond awful, but the one with the defying zanpakutos was all right. :3 - just as long as the fillers don't last for over a year! haha

The fact that you are focusing on your action scenes, or in time periods where something happens, is completely acceptable. It doesn't always work, but from the sounds of what your novel is about, I think it will work just fine.

I think you might run into issues if you start skipping ahead years or decades at a time, but a few months when the novel spans maybe a year isn't that terrible.

I shuddered when I read the word bount there.

I have a rule, if I don't want to write it, they won't want to read it. I rarely read a book without skipping atleast a chapter worth of pages because I have a short attention span. Why I like the movie serenity so much, its just all action and meaningful dialogue. If you can achieve this by skipping time, then why not?

Josh wrote: "@Jaeme - Do the 16th century narrative events coincide with the 20th century events? What happens in the 16th affects the 20th? or something like history repeating itself?

@Christie For a moment ..."

The events of the mid-1500's set the stage for the modern storyline. I could have just used a lengthy introduction, but it wouldn't have been nearly as much fun or nearly as challenging. I also would not have been able to have the nuances I can add to the introduction as a narrative. In a way, it also mirrors the impact I feel that history has on us. History is made of of people, emotions, risks and actions- not just a series of "on this date, so & so did this", etc.

Sorry for the late reply--I've been busy.

I like that idea. :3 At least we have literature that dates back that can represent the emotions from past events that textbooks don't convey.

I didn't realize you were into anime Bisky. I used to love watching Bleach. But to comment on the subject, I have several months that I skip in my current project where nothing much happens. I am only writing this from the main character's perspective, and during those months he is just recovering from injuries. It would bore the reader to read that, and bore me to death to write it.

I absolutely love anime :3 I'm realising as I'm editing A Dance With Fury just how influenced it is, lol.

Recently I've been trying to squish a week into one chapter. I'm a person who loathes filler in stories (anime's fault lol) so I condensed three chapters into one. I've cut out quite a bit but I think beta reading will let me know if I've achieved what I wanted.