tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2092805684169371138.post2553079717080683330..comments2023-08-27T04:22:55.468-07:00Comments on The Literary Lab: Passages of TimeUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2092805684169371138.post-47260818581235245252009-06-10T11:47:42.016-07:002009-06-10T11:47:42.016-07:00Thank you, Scott, for some good thoughts on this. ...Thank you, Scott, for some good thoughts on this. I like how you mention flashbacks as well. I have been struggling with this in my book, and finally realized the flashbacks shouldn't be passages of time at all. It's complicated. Passages of time can be handled in many different effective ways, but I think you are correct in saying that when we study writers whom we admire, these devices become clearer.Michelle D. Argylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09696465137285587646noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2092805684169371138.post-28301584130207262342009-06-10T08:33:43.900-07:002009-06-10T08:33:43.900-07:00Very good advice. I just read "A Wizard of Ea...Very good advice. I just read "A Wizard of Earthsea" and the novels spans something like 8 years. I never once noticed that she just rushed me through three years of schooling because the narrative was so flawless. What a skill--one I'm still working on.Elana Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05877856005992028912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2092805684169371138.post-55646462873047027442009-06-09T15:36:14.002-07:002009-06-09T15:36:14.002-07:00The movie "Same Time Next Year" does the...The movie "Same Time Next Year" does the same thing.scott g.f.baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05726743149139510832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2092805684169371138.post-58445996528331780422009-06-09T15:08:14.382-07:002009-06-09T15:08:14.382-07:00A book I love--A long way from Chicago--does this....A book I love--A long way from Chicago--does this. Chapter 1 recounts the summer vacation week that 2 kids from Chicago spend with their Grandmother. The next chapter is that same week the following year and so on. Cool concept. Great book.lotusgirlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06663641163048764869noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2092805684169371138.post-86909628240322033342009-06-09T14:56:10.344-07:002009-06-09T14:56:10.344-07:00Tara Maya: I'm betting it depends on the conte...Tara Maya: I'm betting it depends on the context. The style of the prose and the effect desired. Plenty enough books are broken into big sections, with section breaks coming at leaps in time. So, yeah, it likely depends. And there's also probably no universal reader response to stuff like this (unless it's really clumsily done).<br /><br />As for your second question, I don't think that's an issue. As long as, IMO, the focus remains on the story. In my last book, the first six chapters cover about 25 years. Chapter 6 is four or so years long. The next 20 chapters cover a couple of weeks. I like to tell myself that the transition isn't jarring, because there are no big skips in the storyline, as I used the techniques I mention above to deal with the biggest stretches of time passing. Hopefully readers will feel the same way.<br /><br />Like so many other things in writing, there aren't really any hard and fast rules so much as this is just another thing we writers need to be aware of.scott g.f.baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05726743149139510832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2092805684169371138.post-64706558756356742682009-06-09T14:44:39.185-07:002009-06-09T14:44:39.185-07:00Another question: Does it make a novel read oddly ...Another question: Does it make a novel read oddly if time flows at different rates throughout the book? (I don't mean in an sf way, where a blackhole is messing with the spacetime continuum.) What I mean is, I've read books where the first half of the book covers three years and the second half of the book covers three days, and it feels awkward because of the disparity. I've read other books where the author can pull it off, and I am wondering what they did to make it seamless. <br /><br />If I could remember the books where time passages are deftly handled , I would go back and re-read them. Alas, in most cases, it was so deft, I don't remember, or so daft, I've blocked the memory.Tara Mayahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09095632631554776002noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2092805684169371138.post-3199078735286481902009-06-09T14:40:12.231-07:002009-06-09T14:40:12.231-07:00Do you think it's important to pass time in th...Do you think it's important to pass time in the same way in the same book? For instance, if you use a flowing narrative in one section, to smooth over a few months, would it be too confusing to use a hard break and fresh scene to show a new year? <br /><br />Granted, I am sure a good enough writer could pull it off, but in general do you think that would be jarring, or is it completely dependent on the context of the novel?Tara Mayahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09095632631554776002noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2092805684169371138.post-27426186678067937272009-06-09T14:17:58.589-07:002009-06-09T14:17:58.589-07:00Davin: You've summed it all up nicely. I was c...Davin: You've summed it all up nicely. I was clearly padding for length. But yes, you should probably find one way that you use consistently through the work to structure time passing. Likely there are as many actual solutions as there are narrative problems; I just threw out a couple examples so I could say "and some other adjective" because stuff like that amuses me.scott g.f.baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05726743149139510832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2092805684169371138.post-77657511996644748402009-06-09T14:07:02.804-07:002009-06-09T14:07:02.804-07:00I really liked what you had to say about the conti...I really liked what you had to say about the continuity, Scott. That makes a lot of sense. And, like you said, I think patterning is key. If you're going to jump around, try to do it predictably so that readers don't have to reorient themselves after every few pages.Davin Malasarnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09385823575081492949noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2092805684169371138.post-67930820581260488242009-06-09T11:59:53.510-07:002009-06-09T11:59:53.510-07:00Great post, Scott. I'll have to look through ...Great post, Scott. I'll have to look through my WIP and see how I've handled this type of situation.<br /><br />Lynnette Labelle<br /><br />http://lynnettelablle.blogspot.comLynnette Labellehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03227593491562480538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2092805684169371138.post-88612537199939461262009-06-09T10:20:36.603-07:002009-06-09T10:20:36.603-07:00Justus: Narrative summary of the skipped years is ...Justus: Narrative summary of the skipped years is fine. Buck up; I loves yer work.<br /><br />Rick: Cliff hangers are good. I like a story where you tell yourself that you'll finish just this chapter before bed, but when the chapter ends, you want to turn the page and keep reading anyway.<br /><br />B.J.: The important thing to remember is that you don't have to do something fancy, you just have to find a way to tell the reader that time is passing while keeping the story moving forward. Avoid coming to a dead stop, is really all there is to it.<br /><br />Scott: Your mention of your "one month per chapter" structure on Tara's blog is the very thing I'm referring to in this post.<br /><br />In my last book, the final 2/3 of the story takes about a week and a half, I think, and I wrote about each day of that time period. Not much happens at night, so there are (probably too many) passages where my narrator says things like "and then I went to bed and woke early the next morning." Those tend to fall at chapter breaks, too. In retrospect, I might have done something different to better effect. But that book's done, so I can try to be smarter in my next one. I'm still not even sure how long a span of time this next book covers. Months, I think. Less than a year, very likely.scott g.f.baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05726743149139510832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2092805684169371138.post-89480886550486092882009-06-09T07:42:13.497-07:002009-06-09T07:42:13.497-07:00I used the chapters as months thingy in one projec...I used the chapters as months thingy in one project. Each chapter is a new month, and each chapter is appropriately titled. For example - Chapter One: May. This worked for that particular project and I used small flashback scenes to relate some of what happened in the last month.<br /><br />Now, when I'm not using a convenient each chapter is a month format, I make sure to mention the passage of time fairly early in the chapter - three weeks since, a month had passed, four days . . . . something that shows the flow of time, but doesn't disrupt the narrative. This works for me, but maybe not everyone.<br /><br />I haven't tried the trick of jumping years forward in the narrative. I don't think I'm brave enough to try that one out . . . yet.<br /><br />SScotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06905515473737579937noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2092805684169371138.post-7433658878916708102009-06-09T07:34:55.960-07:002009-06-09T07:34:55.960-07:00I LOVE this topic because I'm majorly dealing ...I LOVE this topic because I'm majorly dealing with it right now in my WIP. I love the idea of keeping focus on an object or one thing through your narrative to keep the focus. Thanks for this.B.J. Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10767654810069240472noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2092805684169371138.post-87425354826594438272009-06-09T07:21:27.667-07:002009-06-09T07:21:27.667-07:00I have to deal with this in my novel, FATE'S G...I have to deal with this in my novel, FATE'S GUARDIAN. The story opens with the protagonist as a 10 year old boy. Then the action follows him through his teenage years, to his marriage in his twenties, and ultimately to his death in his thirties.<br /><br />Since it's a thriller, I don't want to dwell on the in-between periods where there is no action. I do need to create plausible reasons for skipping years of his life, though. The solution in this novel plays out through the motives for the antagonist...what keeps him at bay, and what inspires him to return periodically.<br /><br />One advantage of the suspense genre is that you can build tension by leveraging the passages of time (what a vile phrase you coined, Scott). I'm ending each section with a cliff-hanger of sorts, showing the reader that the battle was won but the war wages on.Rick Daleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05173516899130463413noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2092805684169371138.post-15322228224390084572009-06-09T07:16:33.528-07:002009-06-09T07:16:33.528-07:00What a baby comment near the end! Still, I'm g...What a baby comment near the end! Still, I'm glad you posted about this topic. In my current novel (you know the one), I skip months, sometimes years. But, I intend to write a few pages, rather than a few sentences, to summarize the skipped time. Is that okay? Sniff. Please love my work!Bowmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11031226145526664876noreply@blogger.com