My novel's plot begins and finishes in six weeks and i've developed a compulsion to fill in all the gaps of time.
If my MCs meet at the weekend and not again until, say, Thursday night, i can't control the urge to explain, one way or another what has happened inbetween.

Even on a daily basis - if something happens in the morning and next in the evening, i'll leave an appropriate line space between the two sections, but still feel this urge to slip in what has happened inbetween.

My worry is that i'm slipping in banal waffle, to fill the gap.

Does anyone else have this problem and how do you overcome it?

Casey

I thought I was the only person who did this!

What I've been trying to do is just to read widely and make a mental note of how other authors handle this. I've noticed that in the vast majority of novels it's not actually that clear what the timescale is, or precisely how many days or hours have passed between chapters, and it doesn't matter. I've come to the conclusion that I have this problem because I tend to plan my writing in great detail before I begin, then, because I know precisely what the timescale is, I have an urge to tell the reader, too!

Glad to have found a fellow sufferer, hd!
Yes i've noticed that too, other writers manage to blur the timescale, either that or they fill in the gaps so seamlessly that i don't notice.

That's interesting what you say about planning, because i have planned this novel in great detail too.

I don't know about the timespan of yours, but i think i'm also having a problem with this because mine is set in only 6 weeks. Having said that, my last one was set over a year and i would still link time togther by throwing in phrases like
'it had been a hard week at work'.

Casey

I wonder if it would help for you to look at your novel as though you're watching a film? Films (good ones anyway) always seem to focus in tightly on only the most relevant scenes/facial expressions/clues/red herrings. Every piece of footage must bring the story forwards or deepen the mystery. Anything that doesn't contribute to that needs to be chopped.

Just a suggestion :-)

Casey, sometimes you have to write it, and see what emerges, and cut what doesn't add anything. I can write wholly pointless dialogue by the yard about 'would you like some coffee' and 'do sit down', then suddenly, contrary to all my plans, she throws it in his face and they end up in A&E. I once wrote a whole, long bus journey, from 'he walked to the bus stop' to 'he rang the front doorbell'. In the end I cut everything between those two, but I knew an awful more about him and how he (literally and figuratively) saw things. Sometimes there is a kernel in the waffle which is really valuable, and you won't find it unless you write the waffle too: some people call it process writing, as opposed to product writing. I more and more tell myself that every word of the first draft is provisional, and might be changed: it's amazingly liberating. It's a bit like someone's description of a favourite knife: the handle's been changed twice and the blade three times, but in some strange way it's still the same knife.

Emma

<Added>

Mermaid's idea is a very good one too, just as long as you don't neglect the other senses!

<Added>

It may not be the actual number of weeks involved -one strand of TMOL (i.e., about 70,000 words) is about eight days. One thought is to examine your central character - how much does he/she notice/think about/comment on? The shape of your narrative may be wrong for their character: if you keep wanted to put more in, maybe it's because they would.

I thought I could get away with this in my work-in-progress because it's set all in one day. But then someone rightly pointed out that people in the TV series 24 didn't go to the toilet, or talk about what they'd done if it wasn't part of the action. So I think I'm with Mermaid on this one!

Thanks for your comments.

Mermaid,

that's a really interesting idea which i'll certainly try.

Emma,
Those examples you give are exactly the sort of guff i've been writing. In fact sometimes a paragraph i've written even bores me, but at least i can recognize this now. Maybe i shouldn't worry too much then, about the waffle, as long as i assess it's real importance to the action when i come to edit.

Luisa,
I can't imagine writing a book set in one day, i'd definitely be clock-watching!

Casey

I used to have this problem. If a scene began at home, I'd show the journey to work or school rather than just switch. Usually switching, and cutting out the middle bit, works perfectly well, but if it feels like it jars then an alternative technique is separate the two scenes with another event - more usually, another character's storyline. But don't be afraid to just cut - cinema style. You have to trust your reader to fill in the gap - if not, if you lead them by the hand every step of the way, you'll risk boring them.

Colin M

I think that's exactly my problem, Colin, i'm spelling everything out for the reader and not giving them credit to be able secondguess anything. I suppose i need to have a little more confidence in my ability and the abilities of my potential readers.

Casey

You can sometimes slip some information in to help out with the jump cut, i.e. for going straight from waking up in the morning to, 'The rain that soaked me at the school gate eased off by lunchtime, and when I saw my lover he was sitting in a pool of evening sunshine under our favourite tree.'

Yeah, I know, but you see what I mean.

Emma

Emma,
i see exactly what you mean. They're the kind of seamless joins i need to create.

Casey

...It was three weeks later that the parrot finally died.

(bring back the RLG )