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Q&A Readability for narrative type with respect to time

You are telling a story, not a history. There are times in the history of the character when the arc of the story is not progressing. That really does not matter as long as the story arc continues ...

posted 8y ago by Mark Baker‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2020-01-03T20:41:50Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/24455
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T05:33:27Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/24455
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T05:33:27Z (about 5 years ago)
You are telling a story, not a history. There are times in the history of the character when the arc of the story is not progressing. That really does not matter as long as the story arc continues smoothly.

Where the time gap will seem disconcerting is when it creates a story gap. (The same would be true if you did not jump ahead when the story arc was not progressing. There would be action without story movement, and that would confuse the reader.) Trying to fix the time gap is probably going to create a story gap. If you absolutely need to fill in the history, do it briefly. But the real key is to make sure that you pick up again at the point where the story picks up again.

In other words, don't focus on historical continuity. Focus on story continuity. If there are time gaps in story continuity, that really does not matter. In fact, if you read with attention to this, I think you will find that it happens all the time in novels, often without you really registering it.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2016-09-02T20:41:33Z (over 8 years ago)
Original score: 1