I am concerned that some parts of my story don't flow as well as others. I don't really know how to manage time and to show time passing in a story. Any help? The start of my story is in my 'shared work'.
Thanks
I am concerned that some parts of my story don't flow as well as others. I don't really know how to manage time and to show time passing in a story. Any help? The start of my story is in my 'shared work'.
Thanks
I agree with all the above.
You will naturally find the right 'pacing' for your story the more you write.
When I wrote my first draft, I was of the mindset to 'just write it down' as you, the author have the time to dictate the way the story is written. If I got 'stuck' then I would simply write about another part and come back to it later. Or go off and write a short story in a completely different genre - flash fiction is a great way to overcome writers block.
I'm off to read your shared work. I will let you know what I think :)
Jumping through time won't really change the flow of your work, as long as you somehow point out the change and the reader doesn't get confused. I think it only makes sense you would skip over the parts nothing is happening and then of course focus on the parts that play a major role in your story.
For instance, saying they traveled for three days and nothing exciting happened, but then on Thursday they met Bob on the road ... and you take a "pause" to describe the scene, won't mess with the flow of the story. That is what is expected isn't it? The reader knows you wouldn't stop to mention something if it wasn't worth it, and they do want you skip over the boring parts, get them straight to the "good stuff". I believe it is our job as writers to mention only what is needed and not bore the reader with pointless details.
I think it would be worse to evenly describe the whole journey, even the parts that nothing happens, and if you skip them, without even a small reference to the passage of time then I believe it is obvious how that will affect the story.
I would suggest to write everything down as it comes, I personally prefer writing everything down and then correct/change what I want as I edit and go over it once it is done and I have the complete story. That is when you will be able to see and judge the flow of your story.
Thanks for the support both.
Victoria:
Thank you for reading my work. I believe that you are the first person other than myself to have read it! For some reason I don't think my family would be that impressed with it and come out with the dreaded: ''well...it's interesting''. I value your comment greatly. Thank you!
Frank:
Thanks for taking the time to comment. The thing is in my story the characters travel from Alabama to New York by using a variety of different means. I think that it would be important to include the travel itself as it makes up a large chunk of the plot and that a pivotal character is introduced as they are en-route to New York. But I don't want to be constantly skipping forward and then slowing down to describe an event, won't that make the story lose it's flow? Thank you!