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After coming back to my story after a long hiatus... I sort of feel like doing a time skip. Lots of reasons why. One part is just for the story itself I feel like it could benefit from just being jostling forward a little -- not a lot, since it's a story about someone's gradual and subtle growth over time, and I don't want to skip those aspects, but just like jumping ahead like a week or so -- and another part is because it's been a while since I worked on it at all because of depression and life issues, I feel a little disconnected from where I left off. I feel like a small timeskip will allow me to sort of eternally "soft reboot" my relationship and flow with the story. I also think for readers who were already reading the story, and went through the hiatus with me, a time skip might also offer that for them.
But thinking about the flow of the story as a binge experience, previously I was writing it with each progressive day being addressed. I did this intentionally, because "slow" is part of the story -- a slow life, slow progress, slow growth, etc. -- but also because it's a VRMMO story and I just think time on the internet, especially in games, is so compacted. A lot can happen and then you stop playing/step away from the computer and you realise, "oh that was only like two days of stuff". (Obvious example: how quickly people get worked up about and then move on from disc horses on the hell bird website :) ) So I feel like going from writing that way, then suddenly having a time skip might be jarring. IDK. :S
I guess as a general discussion point, how do you feel time skips should be utilised? Both dramatic time skips like the ones utilised in manga (Shippuden etc) where the time skip can almost be like a whole new "era" of the story, but also small time skips within the flow of the narrative like jumping forward days or weeks, or even months (thinking of Harry Potter, where, since each novel was a full calendar year, often times entire months would be skipped over). As writer, do you find yourself using time skips mostly as a writing tool to cope with "story lulls", or do you try to be very intentional with them? Or use them as "montage" devices? As a reader, how do you feel about them?
For myself, working under the assumption it's actually done well -- I understand why the TS in Naruto happened, for instance, but I found it jarring and wasn't a fan for more or less the same reasons I'm hesitant to implement one myself (the story had a certain pace and sense of chronology, and then it propelled forward in a way that felt sudden). I prefer stories that set a kind of flow and precedent for TS, like the aforementioned Harry Potter where the bulk of the story is just school and classes and it flows very naturally between "the big story events" and then handwaves the rest of the empty time.
As a personal discussion point, I guess I'd just like some thoughts and opinions.
But thinking about the flow of the story as a binge experience, previously I was writing it with each progressive day being addressed. I did this intentionally, because "slow" is part of the story -- a slow life, slow progress, slow growth, etc. -- but also because it's a VRMMO story and I just think time on the internet, especially in games, is so compacted. A lot can happen and then you stop playing/step away from the computer and you realise, "oh that was only like two days of stuff". (Obvious example: how quickly people get worked up about and then move on from disc horses on the hell bird website :) ) So I feel like going from writing that way, then suddenly having a time skip might be jarring. IDK. :S
I guess as a general discussion point, how do you feel time skips should be utilised? Both dramatic time skips like the ones utilised in manga (Shippuden etc) where the time skip can almost be like a whole new "era" of the story, but also small time skips within the flow of the narrative like jumping forward days or weeks, or even months (thinking of Harry Potter, where, since each novel was a full calendar year, often times entire months would be skipped over). As writer, do you find yourself using time skips mostly as a writing tool to cope with "story lulls", or do you try to be very intentional with them? Or use them as "montage" devices? As a reader, how do you feel about them?
For myself, working under the assumption it's actually done well -- I understand why the TS in Naruto happened, for instance, but I found it jarring and wasn't a fan for more or less the same reasons I'm hesitant to implement one myself (the story had a certain pace and sense of chronology, and then it propelled forward in a way that felt sudden). I prefer stories that set a kind of flow and precedent for TS, like the aforementioned Harry Potter where the bulk of the story is just school and classes and it flows very naturally between "the big story events" and then handwaves the rest of the empty time.
As a personal discussion point, I guess I'd just like some thoughts and opinions.