6 ways to manipulate time in fiction | Live writing thrives (2023)

FAQs

How do writers manipulate pace in a story? ›

One of the easiest ways to control pacing in your story is through the length of your sentences, paragraphs and chapters. In a fight scene, for example, you want to keep things fast-paced and exciting. To achieve this, use short, choppy sentences and shorter paragraphs to keep readers' eyes flying over the words.

To show the passage of time and indicate a new scene is starting a writer might say: The next morning the fluffy clouds turned dark and grumbled, mirroring Kira's darkening mood. The first phrase, “the next morning,” lets the reader know how much time has passed.

Time manipulation, or timeline alteration, is the concept of altering past events in such a way that it significantly affects the present or future. For example, in the classic Ray Bradbury story A Sound of Thunder, characters travel back in time to the prehistoric era.

You can manipulate your story's pacing with the time you spend communicating an idea or describing a scene. Generally speaking, longer, descriptive sentences tend to slow down your writing. Using passive voice is another way to slow things down since passive voice is indirect. Use active voice to speed things up.

The trick is in the word count. To quicken the pace of a book (and make time whip by for the reader), fiction writers can make their chapters shorter. Likewise, stretching out the chapter will make readers feel as though time has slowed to a crawl.

When a period of time passes in a story, it can be shown using an asterisk (or two or three) between paragraphs, or using an extra space between paragraphs. I'm working on one just now where only a fortnight has passed. The main character is attacked, then the story jumps forward to a fortnight later.

Think about a fighting scene between the hero and villain in an action movie. Just when they are about to fight they slowly and intensely run towards each other. This is a time manipulation technique that builds suspense and anxiety.

Manipulation tactics are the specific ways that an emotional abuser attacks their victims. These tactics are used to control a person by eroding their self-confidence and cultivating a deep dependence on the abuser that makes leaving the relationship difficult.

What are the examples of manipulation techniques? ›

Rowling quite literally puts pen to paper. She revealed that, like many old-fashioned writers, she prefers to write in longhand first then types up her story afterwards.

Top Google search results turn up impressionistic descriptions like "JK Rowling's writing is whimsical and rhythmic, with lots of irony and good flow", "her humor is dry and witty", "her writing is very subjective and personal", and "most of the sentence structure feels quite casual".

It's the author's job to manipulate readers, to urge them to feel a certain way: get their pulse racing when the characters are in a crisis – done through short, direct sentences to quicken the pace of the text; to calm them when our heroes finally reach safety – longer, more detailed sentences; and to mislead readers ...

The most common techniques have to do with either using short sentences, paragraphs, and scenes to speed things up—or lengthening everything to slow things down.

How do you move forward in time in a novel? ›

Chronokinesis, also called time manipulation or time control, is the ability to mentally alter time.

A manipulative character is someone who cleverly manipulates to get what they want. They may lie, cheat, or use other underhanded tactics to achieve their goals. Although manipulative characters can be unlikable, they're often essential to a good story.

Most stories inhabit at least two time zones, the moment of action and the moment of telling, and writers can chart the reader's travel across them. The control of time can maximize suspense, underscore theme, develop characters, and influence structure; there is no aspect of fiction that it does not touch.

A work of literature can be thought of as involving four different and potentially quite separate time frames: author time (when the work was originally written or published); narrator time (when the narrator in a work of fiction supposedly narrates the story); plot time (when the action depicted actually takes place); ...

Four factors appear to influence time perception: characteristics of the time experiencer, time-related behaviors and judgments, contents of a time period, and activities during a time period.

What are the types of time control? ›

There are two main forms of time controls. The first time control type is moves-per-time. In this type a player must complete a specified number of moves within a fixed period of time. The second time control type is called “sudden death”.

Omnikinesis: the power to manipulate anything.

Manipulative skills are gross body movements in which force is imparted to or received from objects. Manipulative movements such as throwing, catching, kicking, trapping, striking, volleying, bouncing, and ball rolling are considered to be fundamental manipulative skills.

Not one or two, or five, around 12 major publications rejected the Harry Potter script. She was shattered but not defeated. She kept approaching other publications and her efforts bore fruit. A small publishing house accepted to publish the book and only 1000 copies were published.

We can only work for so long. Pretty much, Rowling writes for six hours a day. That is a good amount of time and acceptable for a writer who is doing this for a living.

The novels fall into the genre of fantasy literature, and qualify as a type of fantasy called "urban fantasy", "contemporary fantasy", or "low fantasy".

What are the 6 writing strategies? ›

The Six Traits of writing are Voice, Ideas, Presentation, Conventions, Organization, Word Choice, and Sentence Fluency.

And we kind of conceptualized about six steps. These are just the steps that we have put together at the writing center to give you a general idea, we look at prewriting, drafting, sharing your work and receiving feedback, revising, editing and proofreading, and reflecting on your writing.

Rowling is the first author in history to have her net worth valued at $1 billion, yet prior to her first Harry Potter book being published, she lived a very ordinary lifestyle, much of which was spent in relative poverty.

The answer is plain and simple: "J.K. Rowling is not directly involved in the creation of the game, however, her extraordinary body of writing is the foundation of all projects in the Wizarding World.

The pace is determined by the length of the scenes, how fast the action moves, and how quickly the reader is provided with information. It is also sometimes dictated by the genre of the story: comedies move faster than dramas; action adventures move faster than suspense.

Word choice and sentence structure

Long sentences and paragraphs will force your reader to slow down. Repetition, lengthy sentences, and long paragraphs also slacken pace, so be sure you're using them intentionally.

Foreshadowing and flashbacks are two literary devices, when used judiciously, can positively affect the pacing of your narrative. Using dialogue is another method to quicken the pace when there isn't much action. It allows the narrator to reveal information which will instigate action.

As explained in the USC Rossier infographic, “There are three writing capacities: writing to persuade, writing to explain, and writing to convey real or imagined experiences.” These three types of writing are usually called argument, informative, and narrative writing.

Pacing strategies in track and field are the varied strategies which runners use to distribute their energy throughout a race. Optimal strategies exist and have been studied for the different events of track and field.

How do you slow down the pace of a story? ›

Mix it up, using longer sentences or paragraphs slow the pacing where needed. You can also lengthen action- and dialogue heavy scenes by adding brief spurts of description, inner monologue, or narrative summary.

Remind them that this should be a part of the story where something important/interesting/exciting is happening and they will slow down time by expanding sentences to add concrete words and sensory details. This will build anticipation and help readers imagine events and experiences.

Writers' speeds vary … a lot. Some writers would consider 100 words an hour to be a perfectly productive rate. Others would be disappointed by 1,000 words an hour.