How do you show the passing of time in a novel or short story without being awkw

Jump to Last Post 1-6 of 6 discussions (6 posts)
  1. jcoop profile image61
    jcoopposted 12 years ago

    How do you show the passing of time in a novel or short story without being awkward?

  2. Dobson profile image76
    Dobsonposted 12 years ago

    This can be a challenging task. The current project I am sharing on Hub Pages covers a fortnight, but so far much of my plot has happened in a few days. I am going to have to be creative moving along toward the end, when the bulk of my plot elements play out.

    I find short stories more challenging, because you have so much less room to work. It is a matter of narrowing your plot so that you can easily cover the major events in a flowing manner.

  3. Lord De Cross profile image69
    Lord De Crossposted 12 years ago

    When we write scripts, we acommodate the word fast forward to, which I think I'm entitled to use in narrative.
    LORD

  4. Nell Rose profile image91
    Nell Roseposted 12 years ago

    Hi, I think the best way is to mention something that we would all notice, for example if your story is set in the summer to start with, to show time, maybe say something like, 'She noticed a chill in the air, winter was coming' or 'The leaves crunched beneath her feet, as she walked...' or even, she was sad, but seeing the beautiful red and gold of the leaves turning for winter, made her smile, okay?

  5. FloraBreenRobison profile image61
    FloraBreenRobisonposted 12 years ago

    I would start a new chapter in a novel. In a short story just leave a big space and say "Later that day, Michael realized ..."

  6. Borsia profile image41
    Borsiaposted 12 years ago

    It really depends on just how much time is supposed to have passed.
    You can mention certain traits about different characters.
    Mentioning something like a "5 O'Clock shadow" will jump a day, an added beard would signify months, a change in fashion could move you years, a hunched back could move you decades.
    I find it better not to use clock references unless you only want hours, minutes or seconds. But saying the clock went round and round give the impression that your character has nothing better to do than stare at a clock.

 
working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)