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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/42244
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/42244
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Skipping hours, days, months, even years, is standard in fiction. In fact, it is narrating non-stop through the tedious everyday that's non-standard.

How do you skip time then?

Think of every scene as a mini-story. It should have some sort of opening, some "meat", and then it gets wrapped up (as [@Alexander says](https://writing.stackexchange.com/a/42233/14704)). Then the readers know it's time to jump to the next mini-story. There should be some arc connecting those mini-stories, some logical progression between them. Same way there is a logical progression between the paragraphs of an essay, while each paragraph is also its own mini-story.

As an example, let us look at some time skips in _The Lord of the Rings_. For simplicity's sake, I will focus on one chapter alone: book 1, chapter 3 - _Three is Company_.

The previous chapter was all about Frodo learning about the Ring, It was wrapped up with:

> 'Me, sir!' cried Sam, springing up like a dog invited for a walk. 'Me go and see Elves and all! Hooray!' he shouted, and then burst into tears.

Chapter 3 opens:

> 'You ought to go quietly, and you ought to go soon,' said Gandalf. Two or three weeks had passed, and still Frodo made no sign of getting ready to go.

There is a logical progression: from realising what Frodo has to do, to making no progress with doing it. There is also a mention of time, so the reader knows where he's standing. And the next scene is opened with the bit of conflict about Frodo's delay.

The scene is wrapped up with the issue of the delay being resolved - a decision has been reached. The next scene, again, by logical progression, opens with the consequence of that decision:

> One summer's evening an astonishing piece of news reached the _Ivy Bush_ and _Green Dragon_. Giants and other portents on the borders of the Shire were forgotten for more important matters: Mr. Frodo was selling Bag End, indeed he had already sold it - to the Sackville-Bagginses!

The scene of the hobbits' reaction to the news wrapped up, there is nothing more to tell for a while. The next scene starts:

> Gandalf stayed in the Shire for over two months. Then one evening, at the end of June, soon after Frodo's plan had been finally arranged, he suddenly announced that he was going off again next morning. 'Only for a short while, I hope,' he said.

The focus of this scene is Gandalf's absence. _Within that scene_, time passes:

> At first Frodo was a good deal disturbed, and wondered often what Gandalf could have heard; but his uneasiness wore off, and in the fine weather he forgot his troubles for a while. The Shire had seldom seen so fair a summer, or so rich an autumn: the trees were laden with apples, honey was dripping in the combs, and the corn was tall and full.  
> Autumn was well under way before Frodo began to worry about Gandalf again. September was passing and there was still no news of him.

With these examples before you, you can see how **time can be skipped between scenes, or within a scene**. Treat each scene as a mini-story: figure out what it's about, and tell that. Then progress to the next mini-story in a way that makes logical sense. "Logical sense" should be guided by narrative, by what is the story you're trying to tell. "What happened next" is secondary: it might be not interesting and skipped entirely.

Original score: 3