Tuesday, June 15, 2010

i need more time!

I just realized that it's been over a week since my last post. Not that I have a rigid posting schedule or anything, but I do like to put something up a bit more frequently. So my apologies.

Now, on to the problem at hand.

I’m waist deep in my current WIP, already sending off chapters to my wonderful co-worker/”Alpha” reader (she prefers that term, since she’s the only person seeing my work right now), and naturally getting some feedback. And though it’s really positive, there’s one part that she questioned, and frankly I have, too. So I’m turning to the trusty blogosphere to try and find some solutions.

Here’s my question: How do I make time go by in my WIP? As it stands, everything that has happened to my characters thus far appears to be happening within a single week. I write organically (i.e. I’m a pantser), so whatever comes up in the story I put it on paper. This probably doesn’t help much with the time issue.

Any thoughts? How do you go about creating a sense of time passed in your writing? And also, does it seem unbelievable to have several dramatic, overwhelming things happen day after day after day? Help!

2 comments:

  1. This is a really good question. You can use time breaks between paragraphs, and start with "the next day." Or "later that week" or something seasonal like "it had been a long miserable winter and Jamie couldn't wait to plant tomatoes in the freshly turned soil of her garden."

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  2. Thanks Karen...I've used the "later that week" or "a week had passed", but I hadn't thought about the seasonal bit...that's awesome!

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