: Re: Are there rules for, or guidelines on, time gaps between a plot's scenes/chapters? I've been reading a host of old favourites, classics and authors outside of my usual reading pool, in an effort

@Megan928

Vote Up Vote Down

No rules. But some guidelines:

Try to stay consistent with the layout of the gaps. There are traditionally two allowed "zones of sparsity": Prologue and epilogue. Other than that, progression should be mostly linear.
Bigger gaps are allowed but mark them as such. Four months in a coma shouldn't be a three-asterisk break. It should be a start of another volume.
You can switch "fast forward" on by changing the format to that of a journal, a diary, a logbook. I covered three months of space flight under hibernation with a computer log. I covered thirty years of political developments with press headers.
You can switch to even higher gear by shifting the perspective to an eternal observer. A gargoyle on the roof. A sapling growing from a seed into a magnificent tree. A mountain carved by erosion. That way years or even millennia pass and the reader isn't alienated.
Don't be afraid to go in opposite direction. One of chapters of "Sum of All Fears" by Tom Clancy, not really short too, describes a complex chain of events over a span of three nanoseconds.
Instead of jumping with the storyline, use retrospection and prediction; instead of saying "30 years later" on beginning of next chapter, write "'...and that happened roughly 30 years ago,' said the protagonist closing the photo album. 'And now that leaves up with today's situation...'"

None of these is written in stone. But - as you said - violating them may be frustrating for the reader.

(0)

Login to post a comment!