: Re: How to better imply time and place changes? For instance we are speaking of one time and then when we finish we speak of a moment that preceded, i.e.Ten hours before that. Or we are speaking

@Phylliss352

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This is probably more of a question about transitions than anything.
I often wondered about this myself (and I'm assuming you are talking about this in context of fiction writing to make it seem real).

Then I read the book, Make Your Words Work, by Gary Provost (amazon link) and it cleared it all up.

Basically, he explained it simply. Suppose you read a story and two characters are bidding each other goodbye. Then you come upon the following:

'*****

Later that day at the cafe, Barry heard a gunshot.

You see? It's really as simple as that.
Suppose you want it to be a specific time, that's ok. Readers are smart enough to follow it.

Some books do use the asterisk in between these transitions also to show the reader that it's two different scenes.

'***

At 10:05pm Barry startled from where he had fallen asleep on the
couch. The TV was blaring, but he had distinctly heard a gunshot
outside his door. Directly outside.

Your readers will understand it well enough. Readers are smart.

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