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I'm looking for techniques to write a fantasy story (A song of ice and fire style) but the problem is the duration of the story :

  • The first three years there are lot of plots, and betrayals.

  • After that a good lord rules the kingdom, in his reign nothing special happens, the plots against the king stop and everything is ok.

  • After his death the plots and betrayals resume

So the question is how can I skip the twenty years of his reign, mentioning just the important stuff without confusing readers?

Michael B
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Aiman Vargas
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    You could use flashbacks. Start with the struggle for the throne after his death. Periodically, some of characters reflect on the past. – paj28 Jan 08 '16 at 12:43
  • The story has so many characters, that using flashbacks will not confuse just the readers but also me. – Aiman Vargas Jan 08 '16 at 14:15
  • Consider that, during the "good" king's reign, the "bad guys" who are out of power will continue to plot and plan rebellions. I doubt the peaceful years will be completely peaceful. – Ken Mohnkern Jan 08 '16 at 14:35
  • @KenMohnkern It's not about "good" vs "bad". The "good" lord was so cruel, and after eliminating all his ennemies (bad guys for you) he focus his strength and cruality to stop criminals and expanding the kingdom, so the "good" lord was evil, but from the Pov of the kingdom he was a good man ! And for the peace question there was lot of wars outside the kingdom, but nothing to do with the story that follow Kings and Nobles. – Aiman Vargas Jan 08 '16 at 15:05
  • Okay, ignore my good/bad. I still think that, realistically, even during peace time there are unhappy people who keep things interesting. (I like @paj28's flashbacks, too.) – Ken Mohnkern Jan 08 '16 at 17:45
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    Read The Name of the Wind, by Pat Rothfuss, and take some notes. It's an excellent example of a story whose narrative stretches over a period of several years, while remaining interesting and engaging from beginning to end. – Mason Wheeler Jan 08 '16 at 19:16
  • @MasonWheeler thank you, i will check it now ! – Aiman Vargas Jan 08 '16 at 20:11
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    WRT "good lord, bad lord," it's worth noting that Vlad III of Wallachia (AKA "Vlad the Impaler", AKA "Dracula") is remembered to this day in his native Romania as a hero, a great king and a powerful ruler who made peace and greatly reduced crime. Sometimes these things do vary greatly based on perception and whose side you're on! – Mason Wheeler Jan 08 '16 at 21:53
  • @MasonWheeler "Good ol' King Vlad, he really made the trains run on time. So what if they ran on the blood of virgins? Kept the hoodlums off the streets." – Lauren-Clear-Monica-Ipsum Jan 08 '16 at 23:21
  • @LaurenIpsum: Not just "kept the hoodlums off the streets" but also "kept the hoodlums from invading and sacking the whole country." Apparently that sort of thing covereth a multitude of sins. :P – Mason Wheeler Jan 08 '16 at 23:30
  • @AimanVargas I have modified your question (quite a bit!) please feel free to edit it again, or roll it back if you feel I have changed the meaning significantly. – Michael B Jan 09 '16 at 10:23
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    I don't necessarily want to hold up Frank Herbert as the pinnacle of good writing, but take a look at the Dune series: there's a fairly natural and not at all abrasive jump of no less than 3500 years in between books 3 and 4. – Jörg W Mittag Jan 09 '16 at 14:57
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    Another recommendable source of inspiration is the Foundation trilogy by Isaac Asimov, which covers a timespan of several centuries. It does this by being divided into parts, where each part focuses on a relatively short period of time in which many pivotal events occur. Important events in the left-out years, if any, are typically mentioned by the characters in the following part. Each part is long enough for the reader to start caring about the characters in that part. (Note that there are a total of seven Foundation novels, but only the original trilogy follows this structure.) – Aasmund Eldhuset Jan 10 '16 at 06:48
  • @AasmundEldhuset it's exactly what i was looking for, thanks a lot ! – Aiman Vargas Jan 10 '16 at 11:23
  • @AimanVargas: I hope you enjoy it; good luck with your writing! :-) (While I recommend the entire trilogy and the two prequels, you'll get a good impression of this writing style from just the first two parts of the first novel, which is simply called Foundation.) – Aasmund Eldhuset Jan 11 '16 at 04:25

5 Answers5

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Skip the peaceful period. If there's no conflict, there's nothing to write about. Go to "Part II" of your book.

Open with the characters having a party to celebrate two decades of peace. In the middle of the celebratory dinner, the bad guy drops a piano on the king, and the war is back on.

Lauren-Clear-Monica-Ipsum
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  • @Mike.C.Ford look, in a story the size of ASOIAF, ya gotta put in the laffs where you can. :) – Lauren-Clear-Monica-Ipsum Jan 08 '16 at 12:17
  • I will consider the piano method in the story haha! But how can i introduce the changes that happens in this period (new buildings, new laws, new territories ...) – Aiman Vargas Jan 08 '16 at 14:10
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    Just mention them as needed. This is actually more true-to-life that it seems. When you look back at your own life, I'm sure there are wide spaces of uneventful time that seem to have passed in a flash, versus short exciting periods that take up a disproportionate amount of space in your mind. – Chris Sunami Jan 08 '16 at 14:25
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    @AimanVargas If you're having a celebratory dinner, there will be a big speech where everyone is looking back on what's been accomplished. "In the last XX years, we've built hospitals, cleaned up the parks, legalized marriage equality, outlawed derivatives, welcomed Freedonia into our empire, and granted independence to the Republic of Latveria." – Lauren-Clear-Monica-Ipsum Jan 08 '16 at 17:11
  • @ChrisSunami is that how it should work? damn! Mine's just one big empty expanse ;) – Michael B Jan 09 '16 at 18:31
  • I wonder what if all the 23 years are eventful? – Rafael Apr 16 '21 at 08:05
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The "goto part 2" idea doesn't take much.

For example, let's use the legend of King Arthur, who as a boy pulled Excalibur from the stone, etc. and have him be maybe 10-11 years old. Hooray Arthur, "end of chapter 8"

You could have Part II-Ten Years later, etc. but you could also simply say

Chapter 9: Title...

Ten years had passed, during which time Arthur grew from a boy to a man. Merlin taught him many wise things about how to rule a kingdom, but the fact of the matter, Arthur was really king in name only, and that just in his castle with the forebearance of older and wiser men who chose not to challenge his claim.

Outside the castle walls, however.....

...and you're off and writing after the peaceful period when Arthur has to go create Camelot, conquer the rest of merry old England or whatever.

Paul Ellsworth
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Use the first three years for Part I. Part II begins with the notation: Twenty years later...

Then use "flashback" scenes in Part II to catch the odd event of note that might have taken place between the two parts.

Tom Au
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I second the answers that suggest skipping the peaceful years. Work with book parts or sequels.

Part I - Before King X Part II - After King X

You just have to figure out what works best with your length of story.

Mela Eckenfels
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Start the thing in medias res, in mid-action. Then flash back. At least, that's what Aristotle advised in his Poetics. Although it is more than 2000 years old, it still has great advice for writers today.

rolfedh
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user44
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