Thanks Emma, that's really helpful. I'm glad that it's OK to do this sort of thing. I'm starting to panic a lot about breaking the 'rules' and I just wasn't sure what the right thing to do in this situation was.

Seems like I wasn't too far off anyway. Phew!!

Use the film rule and start with the heading.

A Year Later.

JB

Films do it because they have to: it's one of the many ways in which fiction's so much more fluid and flexible. 'One Year Later' does the factual job, of course. But if you can take the reader with you by narrating that year in however compressed a form, rather than just skipping it, they'll have that sense of a wodge of time behind them as things start hotting up again, because they've been through it. And that's much closer to how your MC feels. I know that I frequently forget that time's passed in a novel, if I'm not in some way shown it passing. (Maybe it's really a show-don't-tell distinction! )

Emma

Or you can use the tried and tested public events riff - 'the 30 years War came and went, Louis the Umpteenth painted his palace in gold and vermilion, Hitler invaded Poland ...' etc etc

Right, that's about 300 years dealt with ...

Jim

Or end on an annual event and restart on that annual event, one year later:
Everton lost the cup - again


- NaomiM

Perhaps I was a bit flippant there.

JB

Films do it because they have to

Hmmm, I'm not sure that's strictly true. Demonstrating the passage of time is one of the key skills of good film-making and it's generally considered a 'cop-out' to use an on-screen display. Apart from anything else, such displays destroy any chance of suspension of disbelief since you're instantly and firmly reminded that you're viewing a film.

I'd imagine much of the same 'rules' and techniques used by film-makers could be applied to books. Some of the more obvious tricks used in film are to open with a shot of a clock, or of trees in autumn (when the previous scene was clearly summer). Sometimes the plot of the film itself can offer a good marker - for example if the plot involves a derelict house being rebuilt then an obvious clue to time passage is to show it completed.

A single year presents something of a quandry because it's too long a period for the 'shorter' tricks and yet not long enough for the more long term devices. Also, being a whole year rules out most of the seasonal clues. However, depending on the exact timings involved you may be able to use certain regular events. For example:

"As he stumbled into the street, Carter couldn't believe that already Christmas lights were again being strung along the street."

There are several other events you could use; the start/end of the football/cricket season, school holidays, British Summer Time: -

"Leaning forward to slide the clock back onto it's peg, an hour of his life taken, the walls were suddenly splashed with Jane's blood. Summer Time had started again, but in a year the memories had never stopped."

or something well written

There are personal clues as well, of course. Has the MC lost or gained weight? Has he now grown a beard or his hair? Is he losing his hair? Maybe he has a new car and he can complain about how it's done nothing but break down since he bought it after finding his grandfather's hidden Nazi gold?

Sometimes (and I'm struggling to think of a good example from a published work) it's only necessary to make it clear that time has passed by the style of the writing and how the character behaves. Someone that's been brought to his knees by illness or events can be shown to be behaving in a manner that suggests substantial time has passed. A serious injury can be healed but still aching, a traumatic event now uneasy memories and so on.

Hope this helps some and isn't rubbish.

Jon

Thanks Jon, that's really helpful actually. I really liked your descriptions too!!! Lots of good ideas, thanks

I just say really obvious things like, 'A year went by. It was shit again.'

I think any of these suggestions could work well.. either the blunt 'a year later' or the 'dropping clues that time has passed' ones.

If I were you I'd just shove one of those in for the moment and plough onwards (I'm sure that's what you're planning on doing anyway)...it's just that when I was trying to write fiction I'd take a relatively minor issue about plot/structure or whatever and use it as a massive thing to procrastinate about. Sure you're a lot more sensible than that though!

I'd like it if we could still do it the way they used to do it in old-fashioned books.

All through that long autumn and winter, Charlotte sat at her desk, writing away at her novel as the wordcount grew and the leaves turned scarlet and gold and then scattered to the four winds outside her window. When spring came, she was still to be seen there, hunched over the keyboard, the fleece and wool scarf of January and February discarded in favour of lighter clothing, her slippers abandoned, and her bare feet seeking the cool floor beneath her desk. By the time summer was mellowing to autumn once again, the book was almost done.



Rosy xx