how do we deal with transitions

[Jo Zebedee]

I have a 2 year period followed by a 5 year period in quick succession where very little happens. I've tried to cover this by a few cut scenes for the 2 year period, then jumping to the start of the next scene and making the time distance clear.
I don't want to fill the time with banal stuff which has no bearing on the story but I also don't want the reader going eh what? I thought they were still in nappies... you'll grasp by this, philosophical conversation isn't a possibility, unless it's about the relative qualities of teething rings
How do I do this gracefully, and in a way to hold the reader's interest? How does anyone else do it?

 

[AnyaKimlin]

well couple of ways:

start the chapter with ... five years later

or use an event the reader knows about. It isn't such a big jump but one of mine involved a week skip. The reader knew a funeral was about to happen. Then I had my MC and his best friend discussing the ginger jar on the side near his bed. So the reader knew that at least a week had happened. In the case of five years maybe have a birthday ? or something similar some kind of anniversary.

 

[Dozmonic]

"Seasons came, seasons went, little changed in Somewheresville..."
"Over the next five years..."
"Bang. It was five years later and..."
"The passing of weeks and months saw the trees grow a little taller in Somewheresville..."

A million ways to pass the time. If you've had a significant portion of a book happen prior to this, you can split your book into Part One and Part Two.

 

[Ashcroft]

"Seasons came, seasons went, little changed in Somewheresville..."

I like this approach.

I think it's important, however, to show the progression of time. If you need to be precise, then it's still doable through imagery e.g.

"The roughened callouses of five years of axe work blighted his hands"

Try to make it incidental. I think the straight-up "Yo dawg, five years be gone" styles of approaches can work in commercial fiction, but even then they're to be used sparingly; just straight-up telling one's reader that time has progressed seems like a big waste of imagery that could be substituted for it.

 

[Susan Boulton]

This is how I did it when I had to move the story on four years. It might help spark some ideas.

Since being medically discharged from the army in June 1918 he had struggled with the matter of doing what was expected, just as his left leg had in its thwarted efforts to move again as a leg should. Over the past four years his leg had become better at doing its job. Hardy, however, could not get the hang of doing what was required of him by others and society.

The expectations of family and station hung on him. They fitted him as badly as the suit he was wearing. The hope of others for his future had turned to disappointment and Hardy had begun to drift. He was afloat in a sea of mud-soaked self-recrimination without a shore in sight.

 

[Colbey Frost]

Maybe something else happened somewhere that links into the story. You could show time passing this way so when you do come back to the main story it doesn't feel like a big jump?

That's only if it fits your story though.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I like this approach.

"The roughened callouses of five years of axe work blighted his hands"

because some of the main characters are babies, I'm kind of able to do this, I might look to heighten it.

That's only if it fits your story though.

I don't think I can, but I will hold this in reserve; i have another break coming up where this might work very nicely

This is how I did it when I had to move the story on four years. It might help spark some ideas.

This is kind of how I've done it; although not as well.

Thanks for all suggestions, they've been really useful.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

I would probably go with a simple section breaking page that says, "Five Years Later" or gives a date corresponding to the time passed, possibly along with a location if you're picking up at a new setting.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Thanks TDZ

 

[HareBrain]

The subtle approach (Ashcroft's calluses etc) would perhaps be better as long as you can slip it unobtrusively into the very beginning of the new section. If you can't get it to work there without it seeming clumsy, then it's better in my opinion to just come out with it and use the "five years later" approach. What you mustn't do, I feel, is leave the reader floundering about and wondering where and when he is, either by delaying the crucial temporal info until too late in the new section, or by making it so subtle that the reader might miss it.

 

[Ashcroft]

The subtle approach (Ashcroft's calluses etc) would perhaps be better as long as you can slip it unobtrusively into the very beginning of the new section. If you can't get it to work there without it seeming clumsy, then it's better in my opinion to just come out with it and use the "five years later" approach. What you mustn't do, I feel, is leave the reader floundering about and wondering where and when he is, either by delaying the crucial temporal info until too late in the new section, or by making it so subtle that the reader might miss it.

Precisely correct. The subtle approach should be used as soon as the time lapse has occurred. As Hare rightly points out, leaving the reader to simply guess at why an apparent change in setting has occurred will always be a bad idea.

EDIT:

Thanks for all suggestions, they've been really useful.

Always glad to help out, Springy!

 

[alchemist]

I don't think anybody's mentioned date-stamping each chapter (or Book, depending on the structure of the story), i.e. "March, 2045". Sure, it's inelegant, but it's very effective.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I don't think anybody's mentioned date-stamping each chapter (or Book, depending on the structure of the story), i.e. "March, 2045". Sure, it's inelegant, but it's very effective.

Actually, do you know what, this might just work, and it might help to strengthen another part of the story. Thanks Alchemist.

 

[leonard.white]

If you are dealing with babies then putting a descriptive for a change in you MC should be pretty easy. I like that myslef.

 

[Phoenixthewriter]

Dazmonic had some good ones.

I like to see things like "It had been three weeks since..." or maybe mention someone's age?

"Samson was twelve now, quite nearly a man and well beyond the days of 'insert-event-here'"

If his age was mentioned before, it helps people understand that substantial time had passed.

 

[Interference]

Start with a birthday cake.