: Is it okay to skip forward in time rather than write scene transitions? Whether I'm writing short or novel-length fiction, I always find myself writing some relatively short chunk, then wanting

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I think you have to give the reader some sense of the passage of time. So in your example, I'd add at least a brief mention of it now being evening or something. Otherwise you risk folks losing the narrative flow (did he go right to the house, is it still daytime, when did he get that flashlight and shotgun?). This is especially important if you switch between different POVs that sync up in the novel. Visual media uses a lot of subtle clues to help orient the viewer (a different color tint for each POV or changing time is a common one), it is important to do the same for a reader. You don't have to explicitly describe what characters do between scenes, but a brief mention of "After a shower John went to the haunted house..." can allow readers to fill in the blanks and keep the timeline.

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Bestsellers engross their readers. There are times you want your protagonist followed for every second during the climax, and other times where months or years go by and you want to skip most of it.

What do you want the reader to feel? An abrupt transition may jar them, but maybe the character is jarred after a transition, and you're setting the tone.

Transitions which are smooth but brief will allow for flow between chapters, but a page turner also has sections where action doesn't let up between chapters. Instead, the characters or the venue of the action might be changing.

There is no simple answer to your question. But you the author set the tone and pace the action. I don't think transitioning in a short, clever fashion necessarily lengthens a novel by more than 20%, but you eventually have to get on with it, sort of. The Catcher in the Rye is one of the most popular books of all time. Really? It's like it never even started it took so long for Holden to pull up his trousers.

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