Time span question

carley · Sep 25, 2005

Hi all. I'm new to these boards (although I have spent many hours reading through all of the posts) and I have a bit of an issue with the novel I am working on.

The book takes place over five years of my main character's life. It has to be like this, there is no other way to tell it. The book is broken down into three parts, each part being the significant issue of that period that the character is dealing with.

My dilemma is this: Because it covers such a large time span, I obviously only write about the important days of the years and not every single day (that would be one thick, boring book!!) I always give the reader an idea of where they are at in time. I do this in different ways-sometimes I'll just mention the month or the season or the weather or whatever to give the reader an idea of where they are at. My character has a child who is an infant at the beginning of the book. I show passage of time with the child such as her learning to talk, walk etc. and this works well.

Now I have seen it done in some books where the author will put the date at the beginning of each chapter. This would be the easiest way to show the reader where they are in time but I'm not sure I like it.

What do you guys and gals think? What have you seen done or how do you handle it? Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks for your time!

Cathy C · Sep 25, 2005

My first impression is that five years is too long a span. You say that there's no other way to tell the story, but I have to respectfully disagree. There's ALWAYS another way to tell the story. Why couldn't you start the book beginning with month six, year five and tell the past through backstory or dialogue in pertinent spots? While it's important to keep things in present time to hook the reader, if you're skipping big chunks of life anyway in order to hit the "important" spots, then it's just as easy to tell it in real time at the end.
JMHO!

scarletpeaches · Sep 25, 2005

I wrote a book that covered three and a half years of the MC's life. That was the only way to tell the story. I just skipped over the 'boring' bits and let the reader know the date by slipping in details of birthdays, seasons, bits 'n' pieces of conversations...Sometimes that is the only way to do it. I mean, look at Gone With The Wind. You couldn't re-tell that story in a week or two, could you?

carley · Sep 25, 2005

Thanks for the response, Cathy! I read your chapter from Touch Of Evil and have to say you guys did a great job describing Denver! I'm from Denver and loved the little touches like the spinners on the wall in the underground concourse train at the airport. Can't wait to read more!
:Clap:

carley · Sep 25, 2005

That's kinda where I'm at, Scarlet. I've tried re-writing it with backstory, but it's just doesn't work. Just like I tried writing it in third person and then had to go back and rewrite the whole dang thing in first. Silly stories . . . :Shrug:

Birol · Sep 25, 2005

Cathy, while I agree there are always other ways a story could be told, at a certain point, I think it is necessary to trust the writer. Covering the high points of a five year period is the way that Carley feels works best for the story he/she is telling.

Many novels only hit on the high-points of the main characters' lives. It's part of what keeps a reader turning the pages. After all, who really would have wanted to spend pages and pages reading about Princess Buttercup packing her trunks full of clothes?

To me, Carley, it sounds like you have a good handle on things. Remember, phrases like 'three months later' aren't necessarily evil if not over done.

mistri · Sep 25, 2005

As long as the reader has a good sense of what time period they're reading about, it should be fine. It's all in the execution, as the old writing cliche goes

Five years is a while, but if you feel it's right for the book and that you can do the time justice, without losing the reader, go for it. My current WIP takes place over a year, and I found that hard at times

Jamesaritchie · Sep 25, 2005

Time span

carley said:
Hi all. I'm new to these boards (although I have spent many hours reading through all of the posts) and I have a bit of an issue with the novel I am working on.

The book takes place over five years of my main character's life. It has to be like this, there is no other way to tell it. The book is broken down into three parts, each part being the significant issue of that period that the character is dealing with.

My dilemma is this: Because it covers such a large time span, I obviously only write about the important days of the years and not every single day (that would be one thick, boring book!!) I always give the reader an idea of where they are at in time. I do this in different ways-sometimes I'll just mention the month or the season or the weather or whatever to give the reader an idea of where they are at. My character has a child who is an infant at the beginning of the book. I show passage of time with the child such as her learning to talk, walk etc. and this works well.

Now I have seen it done in some books where the author will put the date at the beginning of each chapter. This would be the easiest way to show the reader where they are in time but I'm not sure I like it.

What do you guys and gals think? What have you seen done or how do you handle it? Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks for your time!

Five years is certainly not too long a time span to handle. It's very short compared to what some writers have done. I've read historical novels that covered 250 years, and SF novels that covered a million or more years. And several novels that covered the protagonist's entire life, or very close to it. Young man at the beginning, old man at the end.

How to do it is really up to the writer. All sorts of structures work. You can date the chapters, you can date each section of the book, or neither. I'd just say experiment a little. Get the first draft written in whatever way works, and go from there in the next draft.

LightShadow · Sep 27, 2005

5 years is fine, if you can handle it properly. Read it out loud to yourself, and then as a reader how would you prefer it to be written? Ask close friends and family that are avid readers. What would they prefer? Personally, I only like seeing dates at the beginning of chapters when something historical affects the future - - One chapter, in a sense, is a flashback, so the date indicates that. Then the next chapter may be in the present to continue on with the main story.

aruna · Sep 28, 2005

What Jamesaritchie said.

Five years or longer is not a problem; it always depends on the story to be told. All of my books cover a far longer period. That's becuase I usually begin with the character's childhood, and the book ends when they are young adults (19-25) or even older. My present book startes when the MC is a baby and ends when she is 49.

I have it divided into four parts. In the (short) prologue she is newborn. In part one, she is six years old; this is the time when the event occurs that propels and carries the story. It is written in scenes, each scene depicting the most interesting events. No everyday stuff; this part shows how she deals with the problem, how she grows, and ends at a point when most of the knots for this time of her life are tied, though the main problem is still not solved.
The point is: no flab. No daily grind stuff. Each scene must be absolutely relevant to story or character development. Just skip from scene to scene, getting your transitions right, The reader will follow.

I then jump straight into Part two, when she is 13. Again, only scenes showing major developments. Nothing boring, Everything is relevant to the story.

Part three: she is 19. Everything comes to a head; but ends in disaster. She flees.

Part four: 30 yeras have past. She is 49. She returns to the scene of the disaster and everything has changed. The story climax and resolution.

You don't need to date each chapter.
I dated the prologue, and part one: just the year and the place. When I got to part 2, I wrote "six years later", and same for the other parts. Time progression is always obvious from the scenes; for instance, a birthday party, then preparations for Christas, a Christmas party, etc.

In some chapters, which have to do with a historical sub-plot, I DO date chapters. These are interspersed among the main story.

All of my books are some variation of the above.

carley · Sep 28, 2005

Thank you for all of the replies and good advice. Aruna- I agree. No everyday stuff, only what is pertinent to the story as a whole. It has been a lot of fun writing this particular story. After having a few people read what I have finished so far and from everyone's advice here, I've decided to not use any dates. The people who've read it can figure the time thing out just fine. Thanks everyone!

maestrowork · Sep 28, 2005

Is your story told in chronological order or you jump around in time? If it's chronological, then the issue is minor. Just give some indication when you start a new part/chapter if the time has jumped ("three months later...") Your readers can follow you. Now, if you hop around the timeline in your novel, you will need to tell the readers. An easy way is to put a date before your chapter/scenes. The Time Traveler Wife does that to good effect.

The story of my book spans 4 weeks, and ends on Thanksgiving. Obviously I don't chronicle what happens every day. But my readers have no trouble figuring out the timeline... that a few days have passed between events, etc. because it's written chronologically. Now, five years is a pretty long time span... you will need to make sure your readers know "a few months have passed." Usually a few words would do the trick, like "I hadn't seen Marcia since Christmas, and now the daffodils had already come and gone."

Jamesaritchie · Sep 28, 2005

aruna said:
What Jamesaritchie said.

Five years or longer is not a problem; it always depends on the story to be told. All of my books cover a far longer period. That's becuase I usually begin with the character's childhood, and the book ends when they are young adults (19-25) or even older. My present book startes when the MC is a baby and ends when she is 49.

I have it divided into four parts. In the (short) prologue she is newborn. In part one, she is six years old; this is the time when the event occurs that propels and carries the story. It is written in scenes, each scene depicting the most interesting events. No everyday stuff; this part shows how she deals with the problem, how she grows, and ends at a point when most of the knots for this time of her life are tied, though the main problem is still not solved.
The point is: no flab. No daily grind stuff. Each scene must be absolutely relevant to story or character development. Just skip from scene to scene, getting your transitions right, The reader will follow.

I then jump straight into Part two, when she is 13. Again, only scenes showing major developments. Nothing boring, Everything is relevant to the story.

Part three: she is 19. Everything comes to a head; but ends in disaster. She flees.

Part four: 30 yeras have past. She is 49. She returns to the scene of the disaster and everything has changed. The story climax and resolution.

You don't need to date each chapter.
I dated the prologue, and part one: just the year and the place. When I got to part 2, I wrote "six years later", and same for the other parts. Time progression is always obvious from the scenes; for instance, a birthday party, then preparations for Christas, a Christmas party, etc.

In some chapters, which have to do with a historical sub-plot, I DO date chapters. These are interspersed among the main story.

All of my books are some variation of the above.

There's also nothing wrong with using transitions to show the passage of time. "Johnny start walking early. He was seven months and two weeks old when he walked all the way across the room without falling." Or, "Johnny started school that week, and for the first time in several years I found myself with free days. Or, "Johnny didn't graduate at the top of his high school class, but he wasn't at the bottom, either." Or, "If thirteen was bad, nineteen was horrific."

You can bypass a lot of years with very simple transitions.

carley · Sep 28, 2005

Maestro- It's chronological.
James- I have a kid in my book and I use stuff like that all the time! It works great.

Thanks!

I'll quit procrastinating now and get back to my story.

PattiTheWicked · Sep 28, 2005

For one of my favorite examples of a story told over several decades, I always think of IT by Stephen King. Parts of the story take place when the kids are kids -- nine, ten, twelve years old -- and parts of it take place when as thirtysomethings, they return to Derry.

If an event is significant TO THE STORY, it doesn't matter if it takes place five years or ten years or a hundred years before the next event. What matters is that the space between important events isn't filled up with useless bullcrap like, "and then on Tuesday, she went to the bathroom. Wednesday she had a doctor's appointment." As James said, using phrases that indicate the passage of time is a simple and effective way to do it.

"The baby came late in the middle of a snowstorm while her parents were driving down I-80. Now the kid was three years old, and Megan was driving that same stretch of I-80 in a similar snowstorm."

scarletpeaches · Sep 28, 2005

You all want to try reading Maggie O'Farrell's books. She jumps around in time all over her books and doesn't head the chapters to tell you 'when' you are!

Jamesaritchie · Sep 28, 2005

carley said:
Maestro- It's chronological.
James- I have a kid in my book and I use stuff like that all the time! It works great.

Thanks!

I'll quit procrastinating now and get back to my story.

Do not stop prcrastinating. What, are you trying to make the rest of us feel guilty?

LightShadow · Sep 28, 2005

PattiTheWicked said:
For one of my favorite examples of a story told over several decades, I always think of IT by Stephen King. Parts of the story take place when the kids are kids -- nine, ten, twelve years old -- and parts of it take place when as thirtysomethings, they return to Derry.

If an event is significant TO THE STORY, it doesn't matter if it takes place five years or ten years or a hundred years before the next event. What matters is that the space between important events isn't filled up with useless bullcrap like, "and then on Tuesday, she went to the bathroom. Wednesday she had a doctor's appointment." As James said, using phrases that indicate the passage of time is a simple and effective way to do it.

"The baby came late in the middle of a snowstorm while her parents were driving down I-80. Now the kid was three years old, and Megan was driving that same stretch of I-80 in a similar snowstorm."

Useless what? I guess that's why people don't write books about normal, everyday lives about Joe Schmoe just going to work, getting a papercut, eating a sack lunch . . . damn, it's already putting me to sleep.

Time span question

carley

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Cathy C

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scarletpeaches

carley

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carley

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Birol

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Jamesaritchie

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