Making a prolonged training montage work
Training montages and arcs are typically viewed as backstory, something that ends in the prologue, or shows up in flashbacks. They show us a piece of information about the world or a character.
This case is different. I want a full-fledged training that spans multiple chapters, though uses time skips and fast-forwards, and most importantly, is the main focus, instead of an everlasting flashback or prologue.
Only real problem here is the lack of real danger. The mentor's techniques aren't that unusual, and unlike Harry Potter, the Big Bad Evil Guy is dead and mentor makes sure he stays that way.
Should I, and if yes, how should I make such prolonged training arc, without the reader getting bored?
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1 answer
I had this same problem while writing my ongoing superhero story. It starts with the obligatory origin arc: the protagonist gains his powers, is taken in by the government agency that regulates superheroes, learns how to control and utilise his abilities, and is then sent out to confront the Starter Villain. I had a lot to go through, and like you, I didn't want it to drag on for too long and bore the reader to tears. I wanted to just get on with things.
So there were three main techniques I used to speed things up:
1. Interrupt the characters' training before it can finish
I'm sure you've heard this before: "But your training is still incomplete! You are not yet ready to face [villain]!" Everything from Star Wars to Sonic Underground has had the hero's training get interrupted by some grave threat, and for three very good reasons:
- It cuts off the training arc before it drags on for too long, pulling the hero and the audience back into the main storyline.
- It ramps up the tension. If we know the hero is ready to face the bad guys, we expect them to win easily. If we know that they aren't ready, suddenly the outcome isn't so certain.
- It leaves room for the hero to keep improving and getting stronger over the course of the story, rather than honing themselves to perfection right off the bat.
In my case, the Starter Villain tries to take over a city, and the protagonist's training has to be cut off so he can fly over there ASAP and stop him. In your case, the Big Bad may be dead, but some other threat needs to come up that necessitates, at the very least, putting your characters' training on hold while they go deal with it.
2. Make it as fast-paced and entertaining as the rest of the story
If you don't want the readers to be bored, then make sure the arc isn't boring. Make sure the individual scenes don't drag on for too long without anything interesting happening. Break up the infodumps with action scenes of the characters trying out new techniques on training dummies (or each other).
If there are people training the characters, make sure they have interesting personalities, and aren't just Sgt. Hartman clones or walking infodumps. Sprinkle in some humour, too - think the scene in Iron Man 1 where Tony Stark first tries out his thrusters and propels himself into the ceiling (my arc actually has a similar scene, because homages).
3. Briefly touch on world-building details, then expand on them later
Instead of info-dumping everything, if there are details that are important to the setting but not yet relevant to the story, briefly mention them without elaborating too much, and then fill in the details later, once they do become plot-relevant. This also helps avoid the awkward, clumsy "I'm sure you already know this, but I'll tell you about it anyway" sort of exposition that you get sometimes.
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