Master of Our Universe - How We Handle Time

By
I'm not sure if you're like me, but there's instances where I need to fit different aspects in, but I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to do it.  In real life, things don't happen immediately, but in fiction sometimes we need to "quicken" things up.  Then again, there's times we need to slow things down.  If I allow it, I can become "dead-locked" not knowing what to move around, and change.  I can become set against changing the time of day or the day itself.  But, there are situations where time needs to be altered.

It's at these intervals, I remind myself that I'm the master of my universe.  How I play things out goes according to my schedule, according to what works best for the book.

Maybe you've been stuck in this "limbo-like" state, wondering so  what am I supposed to do now? Well, if so, take comfort because you're definitely not alone.  These moments can definitely strike during the first draft, if you're a "panster" like me, meaning you write without an outline, and go with the flow.  But I find they really impact me during revisions when I'm trying to ensure everything is progressing with a certain realism.

Sometimes, I hit a block where I tell myself, wait a minute this doesn't work right now, and I have to think forward events through.  There's been times when I say that it took a half hour to do this, when logically the action could be stretched for an hour to two.  Well then...if the hour or two suits the purpose of the book better, it seems like a simple solution - right?  Might not seem like it in the moment if you get dead-locked as I have in the past.  But at this point, I try to recite the simple phrase:  I'm the master of the universe.  In other words, I don't need to feel compressed by self-inflicted constraints.  I can change things, rearrange events, maneuver time in my favor.

Comments

  1. Charlotte Jane IvoryFebruary 6, 2011 at 5:22 PM

    I think it's important, too, to make sure the reader experiences these time-transitions as smoothly as possible. I've read books where I've experienced "Reader Jet Lag" - the time jumps were exhausting!
    In my current WIP, I'm struggling with making a week pass VERY quickly, but without leaving the reader thinking "What the HECK?!"
    ~Charlotte

    PS Remember the cheesy old TV meme showing pages flying off the calendar, to indicate the passing of days/weeks? Oh, times were simpler then!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Carolyn ArnoldFebruary 6, 2011 at 7:14 PM

    yeah, I remember that happening in old movies and TV shows lol

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thank you for taking the time to make a comment.

Popular posts from this blog

When Family Doesn't Support Your Writing

By
If you can empathize with the title of this post, then you're not alone.  So many writers, myself included, can honestly say they have family members who don't support their writing.  Some may go so far as to tell you they don't even want to hear about what you're working on, what you've done, what your goals are.  That hurts. But think about it this way, in some ways is writing any different that an other life decisions your family may not agree with?  I'm sure, if you're like me, you get very defensive when it comes to your writing.  In fact, I'm not going to deny that it places an iron wedge in the relationships.  After all, if your focus in life is your writing, and they ask so what have you been up to ...what are you supposed to do lie, remain quiet, answer another way even though you're so excited about your current WIP you'd tell a stranger?  Ticking clocks are heard in the background while you decide.
Read more

A Big Decision...

By
Image
For those of you who know me, and follow me on Twitter, you may be aware that I’ve been debating whether to pursue publishing traditionally, or take the plunge and self-publish.  With all the “buzz” on the internet, and after great consideration, I have decided to go ahead and self-publish. I had asked myself, does this mean I’m giving up ?  And, the answer is irrevocably no.  Self-publishing used to carry a type of stigma that somehow labelled the work as adhering to a lower standard, but things have changed.  Authors are taking pride in their work like never before, and just because of the increasing ease to self-publishing, they’re not allowing this to affect the quality. In making my decision, I also considered the fact that just because a book is published traditionally it doesn’t mean that it will meet with success.  Many self-published books have received awards, honourable mentions, and have met with even more-than-modest sales.  In fact, there’s ...
Read more

Write What You Love

By
We've all heard the advice, write what you know.  There's been a lot of debate over this piece of advice.  Some see it as valid direction while others argue that there wouldn't be any books if we just wrote what we know.  For example, how many mystery novels are written by real-life detectives?  And, I guess that advice is null when it comes to fantasy genres, and historical fictional works.  No fairy from Neverland wrote a book, and no one from over a hundred years ago can write a book currently.   But, this doesn't mean that we can get sloppy, in fact more work is involved, and this is why writing what we love supersedes all, in my opinion.  How else would we get motivated, and stay motivated to see a novel through to the end? In fact isn't it love for what we’re writing what pushes us through to the conclusion even when we may find the interest in our book weaning, or through the rough middles?  Isn't it the love for what we're writing that f...
Read more