Where Ladybugs Roar

Confessions and Passions of a Compulsive Writer

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Day Five--Time is on my mind

I can't even think those words without think of this movie whose title escapes me but it was freaking scary.

Anyway, I want to experience lost time. I'm not talking alien abductions... because that would be strange and awkward. (The awkwardness comes later.)

So, I've found when I'm writing--I like to crush everything into a few days. I don't like to let time pass. There is no Tempis Fugit. I can't figure out how to let my story spread over time without outlining every day. I'm not sure if this is a flaw or not.

I *think* in YA books it almost makes sense not to let days go by unnoticed because really... when you're in high school... each day can be significant. Plus, if you have any type of romance going on... which... I'm a girl (gasp! What! Wendy is a girl's name?) My books always have some element of romance even though none of them are "romances." If you have any type of romance, time slows down for lovers. I'm convinced of that. So, maybe in some circumstances, it's okay to suck the life out of days.

I find myself watching for time bridges as I'm reading now to see how other authors handle it. Life can be mundane. You don't need to tell when people brush their teeth.

How do you handle passing time? Do you cut to new chapters? If you could post excerpts... I'm sort of curious. (Wendy blushes... if you wouldn't mind... I mean. No pressure.)

24 comments:

  1. My sister just read my most recent book and there was a whole chapter missing, but she didn't even miss it! It made me realize that so often the details we think are important to the story our readers don't always need. So, I cut it. I tend to write every day in my first draft, but then I go through and cut, cut, cut. I've cut a good 30k from my most recent draft.

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  2. It's agonizing to me to write something that doesn't move the plot forward, mostly because I write like I'm reading my book for the first time. I put in a little day-to-day to not make my story so encapsulated, but I do skip large chunks, often a week at a time.

    The secret is to not make a big deal of it. Bring the current scene to a natural close, and then pick it back up later with something like, "A week later, I was at the store when..." etc. etc. Also: do it more frequently, and it doesn't stick out so much. If you only have one time gap in your entire book, your reader will notice it. But if you do a few times, it's normal, for them, in your world.

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  3. Fallen, I believe, w/ Denzel Washington... at least that's where I remember the song from.

    My most recent piece took place over 2 - 3 days, so time wasn't really an issue; otherwise, I tend to have trouble bridging time (and knowing what's important or not, as Candice pointed out).

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  4. YES, Bane! Ding ding ding! If I had a prize, you would win it. It was Fallen. (If this song sticks in my head, I won't blame you or come swear in your blog--promise.)

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  5. I've written stories that took place over days and stories that took place over years. I think I always have to start a new chapter when I do the time lapse thing and begin it with: "The following Sunday..." or "Later that year..."

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  6. Wow. I'm amazed that you were able to cut 30K, Candice. That's astonishing. I'm impressed. I have a hard time cutting the recommended 10%.

    L.T., that makes sense. A few jumps would stick out less.

    Julie, we were cross posting. I'm listening to your blog still of course.

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  7. Ohhhh...Tiiiime is on my side, yes it is. Tiiime is on my side, yes it is.

    No one but myself to blame.

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  8. I LOVE the name of your blog! So great. :)

    I have the same concerns with passing time. But in my current WIP, I need to get to winter break so I'm thinking I'll need to breeze over a couple weeks. Hard to know how to handle it. I look forward to reading the comments.

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  9. I had to stop back by and tell you that, yes, my story is about actual skinwalkers. I grew up in Northern Arizona, right on the border of the Rez. The Navajo girls used to scare the crap out of me on basketball trips. It's all coming in handy now. :)

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  10. P.S. I'd love to chat about skinwalkers and our stories. Shoot me an email if you'd like. anissaaz@gmail.com

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  11. If nothing important happens, "a few days later," or " a few weeks later.". Heck, even months or years in a really long story.

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  12. My WIP covers a period of several months so I do have some fairly big temporal jumps/transitions. I generally make the jumps at chapter breaks, or at least section breaks. Except for the major jumps I do find it difficult sometimes to summarize or gloss over unneccessary details. I have to really pull the reins in on myself so as not to fall into the "and then I brushed my teeth and went to the bathroom..." type of descriptions.

    Just a few transitions from my WIP (keeping in mind this is a first draft, please):

    It was midday, the fourth since our arrival, when Donnchad brought an end to my brief happiness.

    ***

    During those endless days I found myself impatiently watching the progression of the sun as it slowly traveled across the blue arc of the sky.

    ***

    The next four days passed in a blur of back breaking labor interrupted by pitifully brief stretches of sleep.

    ***

    As I dragged myself once again through my solitary monotonous routine, the summer crept on towards fall and the warm days became bracketed by crisp mornings and chill evenings.

    ***

    There are more, of course, but those are just a few of the temporal transitions I've used in my WIP.

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  13. Anissa, we'll totally have to chat about skinwalkers. I'd send you my take on skinwalkers to beta in return for yours, but mine is the fourth of a series... and that would mean catching up for poor you.

    I'm so excited to have found someone as excited about skinwalkers as I am. Yay!

    Now, I'm disturbed that I'm so excited about skinwalkers.

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  14. Hey Chris... I mean Matt. I don't know that I could do a "several years" book. I mean... flashbacks or expositional portions maybe, but during the actual narrative, I don't think I could handle stretching it out like that.

    Sesq, that's perfect. That's EXACTLY what I was wondering. (You get bonus points.) I really liked the last transition--very nice. They're all really smooth, though. (I'm glad someone else struggles not to brush their characters' teeth.)

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  15. My WIP spans a year. I have it cut in 4 parts for the four seasons and I start a new part with a qoute that has to do with the seasons. I feel like I end to many chapters with my MC going to bed though.

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  16. Mary, I do too. I wonder what percentage of mainstream authors do that. I'm reading a YA book right now where she does that. It seems like a natural chapter ending, but--at the same time it does jump around the brushing teeth level of time passing breaks. BTW, I'm just about to send my main character to bed, but I feel dumb doing it now. She'll just have to stay up all night. So there.

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  17. I am so happy to hear I am normal, well if you think obsessing over details and creating timelines for people who don't exist is normal, then yes, I feel normal. In my outline notes I (put in parenthesis what time frame it is.) Here's a question, sometimes I will spend three chapters in one day and then the next chapter happens over a week, is that ok?

    I struggle with all the above. I can't write my last chapter even though I have it beautifully outlined in amazing detail because I freaking out thinking "Is this how I should end the book?" Ugh!

    Ok, I feel better now that I've got all that out.

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  18. The only thing I ever outline typically is time. Everything else I fly by the seat of my pants on. The exception was that one of my Sarah books contained someone with a sort of synethesia who saw auras around people based on their emotions. I did keep notes on what colors were linked to what emotions.

    I'm with you on cheat sheets for time, though, definitely.

    I think spending different amount of time in chapters is fine depending on what determines the depth of description. Skipping ahead of time due to a lack of events or depression seems normal... skipping ahead to an action scene just because it's more exciting... probably not. Some things deserve to be "glossed" over in my opinion.

    Toothbrushing is rarely exciting.

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  19. Chapter breaks work well for me. I can pick up a few weeks later, months or years later and it flows pretty well. I hate having to pass time within a chapter though--that is challenging.

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  20. My first book I realized I kind of based time changes on holidays. It's not published yet so maybe that's a bad idea but time will tell because...

    Tiiiimme is on my side. :)

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  21. Natalie, that seems like the easiest. I don't know why it feels like a trick of some kind.

    Karen, LOL. Nice.

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  22. It's funny because there have been several posts today in which us writerly types are worrying about dialogue or time lapses and I start to wonder how much my MS must suck because I simply write and don't think about those things. Ugh!!!

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  23. LOL. Yep, Tina, it either sucks or it's perfect. Those are the only two options. It can't be that some of us (me) choose to worry about EVERYTHING.

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  24. Hey hun, I have you an award on my blog =]

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