May 7, 2024 • 16 mins
This is often overlooked, but it’s essential for great stories.
How do you make time pass?
Well, when you’re living your regular life in the real world, you don’t have to do anything.
Time is constantly passing, no matter what you do. And when a timer goes off, or you look outside and see the sun’s gone down, or you feel your stomach growl with hunger, you notice time has passed.
You hardly have to think about it. It’s just happening, all around you, all the time.
In your novel, though—well, there, you are responsible for charting the passage of time. You are the filter who determines how time passes.
More than that, you are responsible for telling your readers how much time is going by.
It’s an essential part of storytelling, and yet it’s often overlooked. So in this episode, we’re talking about time.
You’ll learn:
- Why writers often forget to mention time passing
- 3 ways you can use time passing to enhance your story
- What happens when you don’t show how time is passing in your story
- 2 kinds of tension you can create using time
- And more!
I’ve read so many manuscripts where I lose track of time and have to ask the writer, “Wait, when does this happen?” Check out this episode and save yourself from this common oversight.
Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts
"I love Alice and Your Next Draft." If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more writers through the mess—and joy—of the editing process. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap the stars to rate, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!
Loving the show? Show your support with a monthly contribution »
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Your story has a setting inspace and time.
(00:04):
I find that writers usually knowthat they need to ground their
readers in the physical settingof their story.
I don't generally encountercharacters who are doing things
in an undefined void.
It's usually pretty clear wherethings are happening.
But writers often forget thetime part of the setting.
It's just as important to tellus when something is happening,
as it is to tell us where ithappens Welcome to your next
(01:01):
draft.
Right now, as I record thisepisode, it is may of 2024,
which is pretty wild.
I have no idea where the timehas gone.
It seems like just yesterdaythat I was putting together all
my plans and dreams and goalsfor 20, 24.
And somehow here we are nearlyhalfway through the year.
It's been an exciting year sofar, I've gotten to take several
(01:24):
writers in their manuscriptsthrough my story refinery
process, where we set them upwith a really clear outline for
their next draft.
I've brought on a few newcoaching clients and I'm getting
to dig into their stories everyweek, which is always so, so
fun.
It's one of my favorite thingsto do every week.
And we're getting closer andcloser to my big, exciting
summer project.
(01:44):
My new seen mastery workshop,which is starting in late June.
And it is a warm spring day herein the Southeast United States.
So when I went on my walk towrite this episode, I got to
enjoy the gorgeous springweather and the smell of all the
flowers, blooming and the plantsgrowing.
And hear all the birds chirping.
(02:04):
And then I got rained on becauseI didn't tie my day quite right.
But Hey, it's spring.
That's what happens.
It was not a very heavy rain.
It was actually kind ofpleasant.
I'm just soaking up all of thisgorgeous spring weather before
it gets really hot because Ilive in Georgia and once summer
hits, it gets really, reallyhot.
I say all this because somehowthe year feels like it is just
(02:27):
flying by.
And I was looking at my podcast,editorial calendar, and I
realized that for the last threemonths, most of my episodes have
had something to do with themindset that it takes to edit
novels.
I stand by every one of thoseepisodes because your mindset is
just so important.
Those episodes are all drawnfrom real conversations that I'm
(02:48):
having with the writers that Icoach one-on-one every single
week.
These mindset challenges come upwith the writers that I'm
working with.
And then I turn around and sharethe big takeaways with you here
on the podcast.
For instance.
In April, I shared a coupleepisodes about the learning
stage and the execution stage ofskill development.
And in April, I had one-on-oneconversations with several
(03:10):
writers about their currentprojects, their goals for their
manuscripts, and whether theyshould shift into a learning
stage or an execution stageright now, in order to meet
those goals.
And I have clients who are goingin both directions.
Some are moving into more of alearning space and some are
moving into more of an executionspace.
So, what you hear on thispodcast really is coming
(03:32):
directly from the coaching andediting that I am doing every
day with my clients.
But here's the thing.
I know that you really love mysuper technical, how to
episodes, where I give youspecific strategies for how to
edit your manuscript, what tolook for, how to spot the
problems and opportunities fordevelopment and how to figure
(03:52):
out what to change and how tochange it.
And since I have spent so longtalking about mindset in the
last few months, We haven't hadmany how to episodes lately.
It's been a bit of a, how todesert.
But I'm not going to leave youin the desert.
So this week we are heading backinto that.
Good.
How to content?
And I have a topic that I'mreally excited to share with
(04:13):
you, because again, this issomething that's coming up over
and over again.
And the work that I'm doing withwriters one-on-one.
Let's talk about time.
Specifically, let's talk abouthow to convey the passage of
time in your novel.
I began training as an editor in2017.
(04:33):
Back at the first story grid,editor training with editor,
Shawn Coyne.
And I remember Sean mentioningtime passing.
In fact, I think he spent likean hour, one day showing us how
Jane Austin Marks the passing oftime and pride and prejudice.
And I remember thinking, okay,that's nice, but I want to get
back to the important stuff, toall the good story structure,
concepts that are what editorsreally need to know.
(04:56):
This feels like a no brainer.
Of course, we know that time ispassing in this story.
Well, seven years and many, manymanuscripts later, I can tell
you that it is not nearly asmuch of a no-brainer as I
initially thought it's actuallysomething that is so often
overlooked in the manuscriptsthat I edit.
And as an editor, it issomething that I definitely need
to know.
(05:16):
And I bring it up all the timewith writers.
So let's talk about it over thenext three episodes.
I'm going to show you how tomake your readers feel the
passage of time in your stories,just like your characters.
Do.
in this episode, we'll talkabout why this matters so much.
Then in the next two episodes,I'll give you some specific
techniques to convey the passageof time on the page.
(05:39):
That's three meaty.
How two episodes in a row.
So get excited.
All right.
Why are we talking about thepassage of time?
Why does this even needmentioning?
Why is it so easily overlooked?
Well, I think this is a case ofauthor brain.
That is when you, the writerknow your story so well that you
think that what you've writtenon the page is clear to your
(06:01):
readers.
But in fact, there's informationin your brain that you haven't
put on the page.
So there's something that, youknow, that is not clear to your
readers.
Every time you read yourmanuscript, your brain fills in
the missing informationautomatically.
So you don't even know that it'snot there on the page, but when
someone else picks up the story,they feel the gap.
This is going to happen with alot of story details, but the
(06:24):
place where I see it most oftenis definitely time passing.
You know how much time passes inbetween the events of your
story?
But a lot of times writersforget to put this critical
information and yes, it iscritical information on the
page.
The thing is for yourcharacters.
The story is taking place overdays, weeks, months, or even
(06:47):
years, but for your readers,it's probably happening a lot
faster.
They might spend just a fewhours reading your book.
If you have a page Turner,that's hard to put down.
They might finish it in a singleday.
And that means that for yourreaders, the story will feel
like it's taking place over thespan of just a few hours.
They'll feel like it rushesthrough to the end.
(07:08):
Like me being surprised thatwe're in may, already.
Unless you make it really clearthat it's taking much longer.
The good news is that this issuper easy to fix and it doesn't
take a lot of words to fix it.
You won't be in danger ofballooning your word count from
adding markers of time.
And it will have a big impact onyour readers experience of your
(07:29):
story.
So why do we need markers oftime?
More than that.
What do we want to do with them?
How can markers of time actuallyenhance your story?
I'm sure there are many thingsthat markers of time can do, but
there are three main ones that Iwant to draw your attention to.
The first goal of time markersis to establish the setting of
(07:51):
your story.
Your story has a setting inspace and time.
I find that writers usually knowthat they need to ground their
readers in the physical settingof their story.
I don't generally encountercharacters who are doing things
in an undefined void.
It's usually pretty clear wherethings are happening.
But writers often forget thetime part of the setting.
(08:13):
It's just as important to tellus when something is happening,
as it is to tell us where ithappens and just like
establishing the setting andspace.
You'll want to establish thesetting in time very quickly.
When we enter a new scene, wewant to be grounded in the
settings so that we can imaginethe scene accurately.
It's jarring to get halfwaythrough a scene, thinking that
(08:33):
we're at one point in time.
And then discover halfwaythrough that it's actually six
hours or six months or six yearslater than we thought.
There's only one time that I canthink of when you might want to
withhold information about thetime setting of the story.
And that's when being unsurewhen it is, is plot relevant.
If your character wakes up froma coma and they don't know what
(08:55):
year it is, you might choose notto tell the reader what year it
is.
If your character is trapped ina room with no windows and they
lose track of how many daysthey've been in there, you might
not tell the reader the date.
But even here, you can stillgive the reader clues about the
passing of time that yourcharacter does have access to
the person who just woke up froma coma.
Doesn't know what year it is,but they can see the sunset and
(09:18):
know how many days have passedThe person who's trapped in a
windowless room might not knowwhat day it is, but they do know
when they get hungry and whenthey get tired.
There's almost always somethingyou can share with the reader to
help ground us in the story.
The second goal of time markersis to make your readers feel
time passing the same way thatyour characters do.
(09:41):
Your readers want to readstories that make them feel.
They want to connect withcharacters that they care about
and feel what those charactersfeel.
And that includes feeling thepassage of time, the way that
your characters are feeling it.
In my regular life, I feel thepassage of time.
I feel it when I walk outside inmay and the day is sunny and
(10:02):
warm, not icy and cold.
I feel it when I get hungry andrealize that I haven't eaten
food since lunch, I feel it whenI look up and realize that it's
dark outside.
And that probably means that Ishould do something about
dinner.
I feel it when I visit my bestfriend's toddler and she's
walking now, when she was onlycrawling on my last visit.
These are all ways in which Ifeel the passage of time.
(10:25):
It's not just information thatI'm aware of.
It's something that Iexperience.
Your characters also experiencedthe passage of time and you want
your readers to experience itthe way that your characters do
to feel time passing as thestory progresses.
And the third goal of timemarkers, really?
This is the culmination ofeverything that we've talked
(10:47):
about so far.
It's to create tension.
Time markers give you anopportunity to create tension,
anticipation, curiosity,conflict, uncertainty in your
story and who doesn't want that.
There are a couple of differentways that you can create tension
with time.
Actually, there are probablymany different ways, but there
are two that I'm going tohighlight.
(11:09):
First there's backwards lookingtension.
You can think of this as, howlong has it been since something
happened?
Maybe something major happenedin the past and your character
is reacting to it.
They might react to it by tryingto get back to whatever life was
like before that thing happened.
As time passes, it carries themfarther and farther away from
(11:29):
that before time, time passingis painful and it makes things
harder because your characterdoesn't want to let go of that
before.
Or they might react to thatmajor thing by trying to get
away from it.
Forget about it, leaving itbehind them in the dust.
So time passing is a relief,making things better.
And the opposite of this isforward looking tension.
(11:52):
You can think of this as howlong is it until something
happens?
Maybe something major is comingup.
Your character knows that it'scoming and your reader knows
too.
And now everyone's looking atthis point in the future,
wondering what's coming next.
What will happen when we get tothat major thing?
I just read funny story, thenewest novel from Emily Henry
(12:14):
and she uses both backwards,looking tension and forwards
looking tension to shape herstory.
I won't spoil the book for yousince it just came out.
But I will tell you how EmilyHenry creates this tension.
Funny story is a romance novel.
And in April, a few weeks beforethe book begins, Daphne, the
protagonist gets dumped by herfiance.
(12:36):
That's the major thing thathappened in the past and Daphne
is trying to get away from it.
In fact, she's trying to getaway from it so thoroughly that
she's planning to move toanother state, But she can't
leave until a specific eventhappens, which I won't spoil for
you again.
I said no spoilers.
It's not a huge one, but I'llstill keep that to myself.
(12:56):
She can't leave until aparticular date when a
particular thing is going tohappen.
So she's counting down the daysuntil this thing happens and she
gets freedom.
I mean that literally the titleof the first chapter is
Wednesday, May 1st 108 daysuntil I can leave.
That tells us both how long it'sbeen since Daphne got dumped and
(13:17):
how long has left before she canleave town.
And the countdown continues inthe chapter titles all the way
until the big event at the end.
So there's a major event inDaphne's future and we, the
readers know it And Daphne iskeeping us on track with time
passing until we get there witha literal countdown.
And just like that in the firstfew pages, Emily Henry creates
(13:39):
both forwards and backwardslooking tension that carries us
all the way through the novel.
So there you have it threeimportant things that you can
accomplish in your storiessimply by making sure that
you've included enough markersof time for your readers to
follow along.
Here they are again.
First you'll establish thesetting.
(13:59):
So your readers are grounded inthe story and they know where it
takes place in both space andtime.
Second you'll make your readersfeel time passing the way that
your characters do.
And third.
You'll create tension.
Backwards looking tension,forwards looking tension or
both.
(14:19):
How do you do this?
How do you give your readersjust the right clues to indicate
the passage of time?
That's the topic of the nextepisode.
For now I encourage you to dotwo things.
First pick up a book that youenjoy and read a few chapters,
Look for every clue you can findthat indicates when the story is
taking place and how time ispassing through the story.
(14:42):
What are the obvious ways thatthe author tells you in each new
scene when it is.
And what are the subtle hintsthat indicate how time is
passing scene by scene, Even ifthe author doesn't draw obvious
attention to it.
And second pick up your ownmanuscript and read a few
chapters.
Where have you indicated whenthe story takes place and how
(15:03):
time is passing through yourstory?
What clues have you given thereader so that they can follow
along with time passing?
I'll be back in a couple ofweeks in late may.
With another episode of yournext draft.
In it, I will share somespecific ways that you can get
the passage time on the page inyour story.
That's some forward-lookingtension for you.
(15:23):
You'll have to wait a couple ofweeks to find out how to do
this.
In the meantime, see what youcan discover within the stories
that you love.
And what's, you're already doingin your own writing.
Happy editing.
Your story has a setting inspace and time.
(00:04):
I find that writers usually knowthat they need to ground their
readers in the physical settingof their story.
I don't generally encountercharacters who are doing things
in an undefined void.
It's usually pretty clear wherethings are happening.
But writers often forget thetime part of the setting.
It's just as important to tellus when something is happening,
as it is to tell us where ithappens Welcome to your next
(01:01):
draft.
Right now, as I record thisepisode, it is may of 2024,
which is pretty wild.
I have no idea where the timehas gone.
It seems like just yesterdaythat I was putting together all
my plans and dreams and goalsfor 20, 24.
And somehow here we are nearlyhalfway through the year.
It's been an exciting year sofar, I've gotten to take several
(01:24):
writers in their manuscriptsthrough my story refinery
process, where we set them upwith a really clear outline for
their next draft.
I've brought on a few newcoaching clients and I'm getting
to dig into their stories everyweek, which is always so, so
fun.
It's one of my favorite thingsto do every week.
And we're getting closer andcloser to my big, exciting
summer project.
(01:44):
My new seen mastery workshop,which is starting in late June.
And it is a warm spring day herein the Southeast United States.
So when I went on my walk towrite this episode, I got to
enjoy the gorgeous springweather and the smell of all the
flowers, blooming and the plantsgrowing.
And hear all the birds chirping.
(02:04):
And then I got rained on becauseI didn't tie my day quite right.
But Hey, it's spring.
That's what happens.
It was not a very heavy rain.
It was actually kind ofpleasant.
I'm just soaking up all of thisgorgeous spring weather before
it gets really hot because Ilive in Georgia and once summer
hits, it gets really, reallyhot.
I say all this because somehowthe year feels like it is just
(02:27):
flying by.
And I was looking at my podcast,editorial calendar, and I
realized that for the last threemonths, most of my episodes have
had something to do with themindset that it takes to edit
novels.
I stand by every one of thoseepisodes because your mindset is
just so important.
Those episodes are all drawnfrom real conversations that I'm
(02:48):
having with the writers that Icoach one-on-one every single
week.
These mindset challenges come upwith the writers that I'm
working with.
And then I turn around and sharethe big takeaways with you here
on the podcast.
For instance.
In April, I shared a coupleepisodes about the learning
stage and the execution stage ofskill development.
And in April, I had one-on-oneconversations with several
(03:10):
writers about their currentprojects, their goals for their
manuscripts, and whether theyshould shift into a learning
stage or an execution stageright now, in order to meet
those goals.
And I have clients who are goingin both directions.
Some are moving into more of alearning space and some are
moving into more of an executionspace.
So, what you hear on thispodcast really is coming
(03:32):
directly from the coaching andediting that I am doing every
day with my clients.
But here's the thing.
I know that you really love mysuper technical, how to
episodes, where I give youspecific strategies for how to
edit your manuscript, what tolook for, how to spot the
problems and opportunities fordevelopment and how to figure
(03:52):
out what to change and how tochange it.
And since I have spent so longtalking about mindset in the
last few months, We haven't hadmany how to episodes lately.
It's been a bit of a, how todesert.
But I'm not going to leave youin the desert.
So this week we are heading backinto that.
Good.
How to content?
And I have a topic that I'mreally excited to share with
(04:13):
you, because again, this issomething that's coming up over
and over again.
And the work that I'm doing withwriters one-on-one.
Let's talk about time.
Specifically, let's talk abouthow to convey the passage of
time in your novel.
I began training as an editor in2017.
(04:33):
Back at the first story grid,editor training with editor,
Shawn Coyne.
And I remember Sean mentioningtime passing.
In fact, I think he spent likean hour, one day showing us how
Jane Austin Marks the passing oftime and pride and prejudice.
And I remember thinking, okay,that's nice, but I want to get
back to the important stuff, toall the good story structure,
concepts that are what editorsreally need to know.
(04:56):
This feels like a no brainer.
Of course, we know that time ispassing in this story.
Well, seven years and many, manymanuscripts later, I can tell
you that it is not nearly asmuch of a no-brainer as I
initially thought it's actuallysomething that is so often
overlooked in the manuscriptsthat I edit.
And as an editor, it issomething that I definitely need
to know.
(05:16):
And I bring it up all the timewith writers.
So let's talk about it over thenext three episodes.
I'm going to show you how tomake your readers feel the
passage of time in your stories,just like your characters.
Do.
in this episode, we'll talkabout why this matters so much.
Then in the next two episodes,I'll give you some specific
techniques to convey the passageof time on the page.
(05:39):
That's three meaty.
How two episodes in a row.
So get excited.
All right.
Why are we talking about thepassage of time?
Why does this even needmentioning?
Why is it so easily overlooked?
Well, I think this is a case ofauthor brain.
That is when you, the writerknow your story so well that you
think that what you've writtenon the page is clear to your
(06:01):
readers.
But in fact, there's informationin your brain that you haven't
put on the page.
So there's something that, youknow, that is not clear to your
readers.
Every time you read yourmanuscript, your brain fills in
the missing informationautomatically.
So you don't even know that it'snot there on the page, but when
someone else picks up the story,they feel the gap.
This is going to happen with alot of story details, but the
(06:24):
place where I see it most oftenis definitely time passing.
You know how much time passes inbetween the events of your
story?
But a lot of times writersforget to put this critical
information and yes, it iscritical information on the
page.
The thing is for yourcharacters.
The story is taking place overdays, weeks, months, or even
(06:47):
years, but for your readers,it's probably happening a lot
faster.
They might spend just a fewhours reading your book.
If you have a page Turner,that's hard to put down.
They might finish it in a singleday.
And that means that for yourreaders, the story will feel
like it's taking place over thespan of just a few hours.
They'll feel like it rushesthrough to the end.
(07:08):
Like me being surprised thatwe're in may, already.
Unless you make it really clearthat it's taking much longer.
The good news is that this issuper easy to fix and it doesn't
take a lot of words to fix it.
You won't be in danger ofballooning your word count from
adding markers of time.
And it will have a big impact onyour readers experience of your
(07:29):
story.
So why do we need markers oftime?
More than that.
What do we want to do with them?
How can markers of time actuallyenhance your story?
I'm sure there are many thingsthat markers of time can do, but
there are three main ones that Iwant to draw your attention to.
The first goal of time markersis to establish the setting of
(07:51):
your story.
Your story has a setting inspace and time.
I find that writers usually knowthat they need to ground their
readers in the physical settingof their story.
I don't generally encountercharacters who are doing things
in an undefined void.
It's usually pretty clear wherethings are happening.
But writers often forget thetime part of the setting.
(08:13):
It's just as important to tellus when something is happening,
as it is to tell us where ithappens and just like
establishing the setting andspace.
You'll want to establish thesetting in time very quickly.
When we enter a new scene, wewant to be grounded in the
settings so that we can imaginethe scene accurately.
It's jarring to get halfwaythrough a scene, thinking that
(08:33):
we're at one point in time.
And then discover halfwaythrough that it's actually six
hours or six months or six yearslater than we thought.
There's only one time that I canthink of when you might want to
withhold information about thetime setting of the story.
And that's when being unsurewhen it is, is plot relevant.
If your character wakes up froma coma and they don't know what
(08:55):
year it is, you might choose notto tell the reader what year it
is.
If your character is trapped ina room with no windows and they
lose track of how many daysthey've been in there, you might
not tell the reader the date.
But even here, you can stillgive the reader clues about the
passing of time that yourcharacter does have access to
the person who just woke up froma coma.
Doesn't know what year it is,but they can see the sunset and
(09:18):
know how many days have passedThe person who's trapped in a
windowless room might not knowwhat day it is, but they do know
when they get hungry and whenthey get tired.
There's almost always somethingyou can share with the reader to
help ground us in the story.
The second goal of time markersis to make your readers feel
time passing the same way thatyour characters do.
(09:41):
Your readers want to readstories that make them feel.
They want to connect withcharacters that they care about
and feel what those charactersfeel.
And that includes feeling thepassage of time, the way that
your characters are feeling it.
In my regular life, I feel thepassage of time.
I feel it when I walk outside inmay and the day is sunny and
(10:02):
warm, not icy and cold.
I feel it when I get hungry andrealize that I haven't eaten
food since lunch, I feel it whenI look up and realize that it's
dark outside.
And that probably means that Ishould do something about
dinner.
I feel it when I visit my bestfriend's toddler and she's
walking now, when she was onlycrawling on my last visit.
These are all ways in which Ifeel the passage of time.
(10:25):
It's not just information thatI'm aware of.
It's something that Iexperience.
Your characters also experiencedthe passage of time and you want
your readers to experience itthe way that your characters do
to feel time passing as thestory progresses.
And the third goal of timemarkers, really?
This is the culmination ofeverything that we've talked
(10:47):
about so far.
It's to create tension.
Time markers give you anopportunity to create tension,
anticipation, curiosity,conflict, uncertainty in your
story and who doesn't want that.
There are a couple of differentways that you can create tension
with time.
Actually, there are probablymany different ways, but there
are two that I'm going tohighlight.
(11:09):
First there's backwards lookingtension.
You can think of this as, howlong has it been since something
happened?
Maybe something major happenedin the past and your character
is reacting to it.
They might react to it by tryingto get back to whatever life was
like before that thing happened.
As time passes, it carries themfarther and farther away from
(11:29):
that before time, time passingis painful and it makes things
harder because your characterdoesn't want to let go of that
before.
Or they might react to thatmajor thing by trying to get
away from it.
Forget about it, leaving itbehind them in the dust.
So time passing is a relief,making things better.
And the opposite of this isforward looking tension.
(11:52):
You can think of this as howlong is it until something
happens?
Maybe something major is comingup.
Your character knows that it'scoming and your reader knows
too.
And now everyone's looking atthis point in the future,
wondering what's coming next.
What will happen when we get tothat major thing?
I just read funny story, thenewest novel from Emily Henry
(12:14):
and she uses both backwards,looking tension and forwards
looking tension to shape herstory.
I won't spoil the book for yousince it just came out.
But I will tell you how EmilyHenry creates this tension.
Funny story is a romance novel.
And in April, a few weeks beforethe book begins, Daphne, the
protagonist gets dumped by herfiance.
(12:36):
That's the major thing thathappened in the past and Daphne
is trying to get away from it.
In fact, she's trying to getaway from it so thoroughly that
she's planning to move toanother state, But she can't
leave until a specific eventhappens, which I won't spoil for
you again.
I said no spoilers.
It's not a huge one, but I'llstill keep that to myself.
(12:56):
She can't leave until aparticular date when a
particular thing is going tohappen.
So she's counting down the daysuntil this thing happens and she
gets freedom.
I mean that literally the titleof the first chapter is
Wednesday, May 1st 108 daysuntil I can leave.
That tells us both how long it'sbeen since Daphne got dumped and
(13:17):
how long has left before she canleave town.
And the countdown continues inthe chapter titles all the way
until the big event at the end.
So there's a major event inDaphne's future and we, the
readers know it And Daphne iskeeping us on track with time
passing until we get there witha literal countdown.
And just like that in the firstfew pages, Emily Henry creates
(13:39):
both forwards and backwardslooking tension that carries us
all the way through the novel.
So there you have it threeimportant things that you can
accomplish in your storiessimply by making sure that
you've included enough markersof time for your readers to
follow along.
Here they are again.
First you'll establish thesetting.
(13:59):
So your readers are grounded inthe story and they know where it
takes place in both space andtime.
Second you'll make your readersfeel time passing the way that
your characters do.
And third.
You'll create tension.
Backwards looking tension,forwards looking tension or
both.
(14:19):
How do you do this?
How do you give your readersjust the right clues to indicate
the passage of time?
That's the topic of the nextepisode.
For now I encourage you to dotwo things.
First pick up a book that youenjoy and read a few chapters,
Look for every clue you can findthat indicates when the story is
taking place and how time ispassing through the story.
(14:42):
What are the obvious ways thatthe author tells you in each new
scene when it is.
And what are the subtle hintsthat indicate how time is
passing scene by scene, Even ifthe author doesn't draw obvious
attention to it.
And second pick up your ownmanuscript and read a few
chapters.
Where have you indicated whenthe story takes place and how
(15:03):
time is passing through yourstory?
What clues have you given thereader so that they can follow
along with time passing?
I'll be back in a couple ofweeks in late may.
With another episode of yournext draft.
In it, I will share somespecific ways that you can get
the passage time on the page inyour story.
That's some forward-lookingtension for you.
(15:23):
You'll have to wait a couple ofweeks to find out how to do
this.
In the meantime, see what youcan discover within the stories
that you love.
And what's, you're already doingin your own writing.
Happy editing.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.