posted
I have this dilemma with my novel. I've written about 30,000 words, basically following the main character closley through about a week. While time may pass for a for a few hours without being mentioned, usually there is something important going on that merits a scene or two. However, I've gotten to a point in the plot where I need him to do something for a long period of time, so that he can move on to the rest of the plot.
The only example of this that I can think of is in movies, where someone needs to go "train." Like in Rocky (one of them!) where they do the running/pushup/boxing practice montage that takes just a minute or two on screen, but conveys a large passage of time.
My current solution basically consists of two paragraphs that summarizes what happens but I can't help to think that this throws off the pacing of the story and seem kind of cheap. An alternate solution I've toyed with would be to write in a subplot to make the long passage of time interesting enough to write about. (But then I fear I will have this problem again, and might end up with endless subplots, ala Robert Jordan or Terry Goodkind, with no real resolution of the main plot.)
In short, what have you done if you've ever encountered this problem? (or would do?) I was going along at a fairly good clip until I hit this snag.
Thanks,
[This message has been edited by Random (edited March 25, 2004).]
posted
Break into exposition. If it's possible, have your character resume his/her normal life and speak aloud his concerns with recent plottish events.
Example: "There wasn't much I could do but go home. I was restless, tossing and turning for hours, and I couldn't get any rest. So I walked alot, I searched out some old haunts. Days went by, and still nothing. But then I saw it---the golden chalkboard. I smiled, and made my way over."
Okay, that was lame, but you get the idea, don't you? I'm kinda against the whole "training" thing. I have a little role-playing experience, and whenever anyone has any downtime they say that they "train" or "practice" something? Is that what people do in the real world? NO! Most people are sedentary by nature, either that or they have habitual time-wasters like video games or t.v. Sure, some people "train" for a little while, hitting the gym or whatever, but then it's back home to the book/tv/video game.
Just remember, take your character clearly and firmly into exposition and the time he/she spends, and how he/she wastes it, will give a broad insight into their character.
posted
Well I don't know specifics so I don't know if it will work, but perhaps this "Training" happened in the past and you just reference to it. Or if that doesn't work, go to the next page and write "section 2"
Posts: 1895 | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
JB's right--break into exposition. So long as you don't spend pages and pages telling us in detail what he did, most readers don't mind a little exposition. However, you might have to write 10 pages of it and let it sit for a few months before you're able to scale it back to 5 pages, or even 3.
Posts: 130 | Registered: Apr 2007
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posted
Do a chapter break and come back XXX weeks/months/years later, and don't force the exposition out too quickly. Keep in mind whatever range of experiences and changes the character might have had over this time, including the possibility of new acquaintances.
No need to be in a huge rush to explain everything that happened, and you can even jump back into his daily life a little before he finishes doing whatever long-term thing he's doing.
Just my 2 cents on the matter
[This message has been edited by AeroB1033 (edited March 26, 2004).]
posted
I'd go with JBShearer's advice, with some important modifications. First, don't have the character "speak aloud"...if this is in 3PLO, then the character can just think about it at an appropriate moment. And I mean at the appropriate moment, give the character a literal time and place in which to think about these past events.
I also buy the chapter or other noticable scene break advice.
Using the boring-train-ride (distinctly opposed to the interesting-train-ride) example here, you would end the preceding chapter when the POV character gets on the train or perhaps when he gets to his seat, depending on when boredom sets in. You should establish what he plans to be doing...in this case, he plans to take a train somewhere, and making that decision was probably part of the plot...character decisions are always shown.
You would pick up the next chapter just a little before anything interesting happens, during a moment when the POV character has some reason or other to remember the essential details of the train ride (and any subsequent boring events, like taking a cab and checking into a hotel, perhaps spending a night). In this scene, the character could be mentally orienting himself in preparation for something that he knows is coming, or just chilling out before some unforeseen event.
"Derek stretched out on the unfamiliar hotel bed and looked at the smoke detector set directly above him." We now have a physical setting (a basic hotel room in which there is a smoke detector placed directly over the bed), and the character has time to think about what is coming (if he knows) and how he got there (which he should know in most cases). He could think things that reveal his character and amuse the reader. "It always made him suspicious that those things were centered over the bed like that...the intermittent blinking of that red light made it seem like it could be a video camera, and he had no way to know it wasn't." He can think about the train ride and the cab. "At least he'd gotten a good night's sleep after that wretched train, and the cabby had been decent enough to put out his cigar." He could think about upcoming events. "It was a good thing he didn't have to meet these mysterious finacial backers in a wrinkled suit that smelled of cheap cigar smoke." He can do all three...or I guess that he already has.
But remember, if an important unplanned event or scene happens during that stretch of time, then you might want to show that.
quote:Derek sat watching the trees zip past the window. Twenty minutes ago it had been gravel covered slopes, an hour ago the outlying area of Origin City. He was starting to feel the effects of sitting in a seat that never held quite still enough for him to doze off and didn't offer anything interesting enough to keep him awake.
Then a beautiful woman stopped in the aisle, resting her hand on the empty seat next to him. "Excuse me, is this seat taken?"
Again, you set the physical scene, establish a reason for him to think about the boring-train-ride thus far, and then move directly into the unplanned event. We know it is unplanned because you had previously had a scene where Derek planned to take the train, then a cab, then stay at a hotel before going to his planned meeting. At no point in that planning did he plan on having a beautiful woman sit next to him on the train. We don't view the paragraph (and it could have been more) where Derek reviews what has happened thus far as exposition, because he has a good reason for thinking about the boring-train-ride...he's starting to get bored. And it all happens in a physical setting, those moements leading up to his next adventure.
posted
Other solution, if the story structure is the right shape: do a visible cut into two parts: before and after the gap in time. And put something like : "Ten months later" as a chapter head. The drawback is that it can look weird if the gap is not in the middle of the book. (+ it's not very subtle...)
Posts: 121 | Registered: May 2002
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posted
A good way that may work, depending on the exact situation of your story: Give some resolution to the scene/section before jumping ahead, chapter break, then start with either the few paragraphs of summary you have, or start in the next key scene, making it clear simply by setting/feel that something is different or time has passed, and work in the summary as a sort of flashback (In the three months since X, Rudolph had developed a sense that...)
[This message has been edited by TheoPhileo (edited March 26, 2004).]
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