: How to show time lapse between two chapters? I have a ten year time lapse between an event in my first chapter and the second chapter. The first chapter has an event that takes place during

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Showing. Have the character look at a calender, while checking for a birthday or scheduling in a meeting.

Telling. "I can't believe I'm turning twenty-five!"

Showing. Looking though an old photo album, its pages yellowing with age.

Telling. "Ten years later" really is an option (it's not that uncommon to see).

Showing. Slamming alarm, and talking to spouse about their anniversary coming up, or their child's birthday. Be sure to positively identify the person from the previous chapter, or it might feel disjointed.

Telling. "Years fly by", "Oh, but that was years ago now, wasn't it?". Or how about:

"Oh, to be young and foolish again," he thought, reminiscing about how different was back then. These days? Life seems to be a balance between paying the bills, and racking up new ones on his credit card.

Think about your style of writing, see what fits that shows what you want your readers to pick up.

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As Adam Miller says, the most direct way is to begin the chapter by saying "Ten years later", or by giving a date. Lots of books do this.

Some stories try to communicate passage of time indirectly. For example, if chapter one is all about Bill's experiences in elementary school, and then you begin chapter two by saying, "Bill arrived early at his job at the factory that day", the reader should get the idea that bill is now an adult. Or if chapter one is set in a time when people ride horses and chapter two begins, "The cars raced up and down the highway", the reader will get the idea that we are now in an age of automobiles.

But frankly, I think just telling the reader how much time has passed is usually the better solution. It's clear and simple and it takes maybe one sentence. If you try to indicate the passage of time indirectly, you may confuse the reader. Like in my "Bill arrived early at his job" example, depending on the nature of the story, a reader might be forgiven for thinking that the story has turned to the subject of child labor, or that this is some other person also named Bill, etc. I've read many stories where I've gotten confused by the narrative at some point, and I think to myself, presumably the author knew what he had in mind was happening here, but he has failed to communicate that clearly to the reader.

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Sometime in the chapter's first sentence or paragraph, simply state that there has been a time jump, either by stating the difference (10 years later...) or by stating the new date (or both).

There's no biggie on this. Stories do it all the time. That's part of what the chapter separation is for--setting a new scene.

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