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Writers Retreat > Student Talk > Course Lessons > Assignment 7 > Scenes in a short story
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Beth Consugar
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« on: March 01, 2010, 12:44:23 PM »
I am revising my lesson 6 - acutally, I am starting over.  My instructor said that there is potential, but no plot *sigh*.  Hey, I can do descriptive assignments like mad (lessons 3 and 5 were AWESOME!), but I seem to be missing plot.  I think part of my problem is trying to fit too much into too small a space.  So... with some additional reading under my belt, I think I am ready to start plotting lesson 7.

I know we need to limit the amount of time we cover in a short story (to make it fit).  Would it be acceptable to have one scene cover most of the story, then skip ahead in time by 3 days or so to show the result?  Or should I wrap it up in that one scene?  I think I could do it in one scene, but I already know that it will leave some unanswered questions.  If I can skip ahead like that, is there some way to indicate that time has passed (I think I have seen some stories online show something like ### or *** to separate the two time frames), or do I simply start a new paragraph with something like, "Tuesday morning came fast.  Mr. Anderson started physics class by giving us our group project results.  Our group was stunned by the grade at the top...."?

This is for teens, probably girls.

Thanks!

Beth
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jfields
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« Reply #1 on: March 01, 2010, 01:25:43 PM »
Generally editors prefer you transition in time with WORDS not page decor. Very few magazines will allow decorative transitions. So you can do something like this:

Three days later, Cathy was ready to give up. She wasn't getting any better. She flopped on her bed and sighed...blah blah blah.

or

After three days of trying to ignore the problem, Cathy was ready to admit she needed to do something. She stomped up to her brother's room and pounded on the door...

So to transition, just use words. You don't need a ton of words, but an editor would always rather see a writer solve problems like transitions by writing.

As for whether a three day jump is okay to do...it depends upon the plot. There is nothing inherently wrong with jumping ahead in time.
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