Passing time

[melissajm]

Two sepaarate comments, from two different people, have come together to make me realize something about my writing. Time transitions are a weak point-AND I use scene breaks as a substitute for an effective transition. This is useful, because it gives me a signal for when I'm copping out on a transition.

As Malak would say, I'm a cheat. I just hope the story's "Bent, not broken." ;)

(And thanks to those 2 people. You probably know who you are. ;))

Comments

[buffysquirrel.livejournal.com]

These insights are invaluable :). And yeah, transitions are tough.

[melissajm.livejournal.com]

And sometimes a combination of insights is even more effective.
(Synergistic insights...Cool! ;))

[jjschwabach.livejournal.com]

I think the thing to realize is that you don't need to show *everything*. For instance, it is important when Gorbar the Barbarian gets his first sword (which we assume happens when he's five or so ;-) ) because he's a barbarian, and hacking people up is a Clan Pastime. We don't really need to know about the first time he gets drunk, or his first roll in the hay (Please, NO -- he is a barbarian, after all) When I need to say, (to quote William Goldman) "What with one thing and another, three years passed," I treat it as a short story. Look for a good stopping point. Sort of a completed chapter of his life.

Think about the story of your own life. You graduated from college. You might talk about the day; "The sun was warm in the clear June sky...." but once you had that magic piece of paper in your hand, the story's told, and we can hop to, "700 'thanks, but no thanks' letters from employers later..."

Because graduation is the end of a life chapter.


Unless you're Buffy. Then the Mayor is going to turn into a giant snake, *despite* the fact that it never helps...

[elizabeth-welsh.livejournal.com]

Of course it's not broken. Otherwise I wouldn't have spent my lunch reading ahead yesterday -- I knew I didn't have time to edit thoroughly, but I was too interested not to see what happens next.

[melissajm.livejournal.com]

Oh, cool! (The "bent, not broken" reference comes about midway, BTW.)

This story just won't leave me alone. A new scene from quite early on popped into my head and demanded to be written, and I'm actually thinking of keeping it.

[jcdrainville.livejournal.com]

Your story's bent, and definitely not broken. There might be a few wobbly bits, but I'm sure you'll take care of them if you haven't already. :)

[melissajm.livejournal.com]

Got the hammer, nails and duct tape out...

[melissajm.livejournal.com]

Well, it DOES need some straightening out. ;)

[jcdrainville.livejournal.com]

Ack! I meant it to say, Your story's NOT bent, and definitely not broken.

My internal editor must've already gone to bed when I wrote that. ;)