Need Help: Huge jumps forward in time in a story

Hey all,

I'm currently writing two stories that deal with a relatively huge jump in time in the middle of the story. One of them even has two huge jumps in time, one that I've already managed to pull off quite well because it was the twelve years in which the main character grew to adulthood. The other one is more difficult because it spans nine years, during which the male and female mains are supposed to be forging a strong romantic relationship. If my novel was a movie then things would be different, but it just seems so awkward when you say "Nine years later" and suddenly the main couple has been together for nine years and is ready to marry.

On the other hand, it seems nearly impossible to squeeze that many years into a novel which I'm trying to get to be under 600 pages.

I'd like your honest opinion on this. Do you guys think it is better to do a flash forward and skip a lot of the details of a relationship in between, or is it better to really elaborate and take your time with it? Also, would it be better if the story were separated into a series of shorter stories? Would the jump in time work if there were follow up stories from the missing time frame that explained some of the things that happened then?

Ok, I think I've asked enough questions I hope I get some responses to this, because this issue has kept me from really being able to write my stories!

Jae Angel

 

If I were you I'd skip forward the years, but write the last steps toward marriage. You could have one of the characters reflect on the past nine years, maybe even sharing a funny story or two that drew them closer together, then have the actual proposal and stuff happen right after the skip.

 

Is the bulk of the story before or after the time jump?

If it's after the nine year jump, you could start there and tell the early years stuff as a series of flashbacks.

 

I was actually considering telling part of the story as a series of flashbacks. I just think that I have to get to a certain point in the story, where I have significant development of characters' relationships and situations, before I do the jump. It's kind of hard to start out at the end, just because I already have 150 pages worth of beginning which would be very difficult to put into flashbacks. If the material at the beginning is greater than the stuff at the end of the story, should I just do the jump forward and not give another thought to it? I will leave significant room to tell the story of the engagement and marriage and all the mayhem that surrounds it, and there will have to be some flashbacks to that period of time that was skipped over.

It's getting a little clearer as to what I should do. I'm still open to more suggestions or more comments on what I just said.

Jae Angel

 

150 pages is a bit much to handle with flashbacks.

 

Dropping by this board, just for a change, and found this. Interesting, because it's something I handled by avoiding it- I just labelled one bit 'prologue', another bit 'epilogue', and plunked the main story right there in the middle. So maybe I'm not the best person to be giving suggestions, but anyway.

It might be an odd sort of question, but are you sure that you haven't in fact got two stories there? Can your earlier timescale section be expanded to reach a reasonable end-point, and then the later timescale form a sequel?

So far as developing relationships go, my suggestion would be that partly depends on what sort of story you're writing. If it's character-driven then skipping several years of relationship development is probably a mistake. If it's plot driven, or has more of an action-adventure feel then you can probably get away with relevant flashbacks (hopefully worked logially into the 'current' timeline) or perhaps a couple of scenes leading up to the proposal- or, if it was a new story entirely, just pick up where your plot does and cover the intervening years whenever your plot bunnies feel obliging about snapshots, short stories, or another long story.