How to show a character being bored for multiple chapters without boring the reader
When my protagonist is learning to use their magical skill, they must remain in hiding. Because they have not yet mastered their magical skill.
My protagonist is bored from being holed up for so long. There's very little to do beyond read boring books and practice boring magic spells.
How do I keep the reader from being bored too? Maybe I just shorten it all?
Edit: Just an update that these two chapters, after following Erin's excellent advice, are now two of my favorite chapters. :-) Thanks all.
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Have the character day dream. You don't have to reveal it is a dream and they are bored until it is over. There is a whole story on this. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by James Thurber.
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Make the character bored, not boring. Whatever the reason that you want to show how your character is bored for chapters, exactly that reason should be making the story interesting. If that doesn't make sense, your reason to have chapters of boredom is a bad one.
An example would be to show the contrast between interesting politics and an oblivious king being completely bored by that. While the story evolves around him, the character is bored but you have to show how the story evolves.
If however the reason for the boredom of your character is that the story is boring and there is nothing else happening, and nothing else that's interesting and that you can show, skip that!
You cannot sell a book that goes she was asleep, breathing in, breathing out, breathing in ...... a little snore .... for pages. But you can sell one that says while she was sleeping, someone stole all her stuff.
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Plot doesn't have to move at an even speed. Just as you can slow-motion over an important battle, you can speed up over long periods of time. A couple of paragraphs evoking boredom: staring at the rain, practising magic, staring at nature some more, counting days, whatever. Then move on to whatever ends the monotony.
A lull in the action is also a great time for your character to do some introspection: what do they think about the situation they are in? Are they afraid? Angry at something? Expectant of some even to occur? Maybe they reflect on the path that brought them to this point, and draw new understanding, that they didn't have time for earlier, in the heat of the moment.
Your novel doesn't need to be a roller-coaster. The slower places let your reader reflect on what your character has experienced so far, and where they are going next. So, ultimately, it is up to you: give the slow part as much meat as you feel it needs, and then skip on to the next interesting part.
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