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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/33102
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/33102
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Honestly, you don't.

Everything that happens in your story must move the plot forward to justify its inclusion. It should give your characters personality (and strongly so - everyone has a daily routine, so showing a character going through their routine very rarely qualifies), introduce conflict, show characters making difficult decisions, foreshadow something that happens later, clarify an aspect of the setting that will become a plot point later on... Any scene that does not accomplish any of these goals will be tedious to read. There's no way to make a scene that doesn't advance the plot interesting. Your only viable options are to cut the scenes or tie them into the plot more strongly.

If nothing happens that advances your plot, your readers will be much happier with reading the words, "A few months later," at the top of the passage following the period of straightforward normality than having to slog through several pages that go nowhere.

* * *

If the fact that your character spends four months living an ordinary life are actually important to advancing your plot, you need to make sure you understand exactly why and then write the passage about those four months in a way that emphasizes those aspects. Don't write about the character's daily routine in general. Write only about the specific moments in or aspects of their routine that advance the plot.

For example, if your character spends several months on a daily routine because they're waiting for the love of their life to come back from war, emphasize how dealing with being away from their significant other affects their day-to-day life. If the character just got out of prison and is enjoying a pedestrian life for the first time in years, emphasize how the character takes pleasure in their newfound freedom.

Original score: 3