LogFAQs > #980120429

SydnieStarlight posted...

The longer the time skip, the more the status quo has to change. Say the protagonist meets a bunch of people before the time skip and they all become friends. If you have, say, a ten-year time skip but don't factor that into the state of the friend group, it looks unrealistic. After ten years, you'd expect there to be changes. Maybe one of them died, maybe another got married. Maybe there was a falling out and half the group split off. If the friend group looks basically the same as they did ten years ago, it feels harder to believe.

But there's a flip side to that. Maybe the writer wants that friend group to be a longer-lasting part of the story. Or maybe it would hurt the story to change the dynamic too much. Like, what's the point of introducing this whole friend group if you're just gonna rip it apart with a time skip?

So in that case, just do a shorter time skip. This lets you show how some things about the world may have changed, but not everything has. The protagonist might be stronger now than they used to be, but their friends never left their side.

Basically, the more time you put between point A and point B, the more things you need to change for it to feel realistic, and there are some things you may not want to change that much.

That actually makes my point STRONGER. Do you know what else these writers like to do? The protagonist will meet a friend group and act like they're best friends after they've known each other for a few months. If they're still friends after 10 years, you know they have a real bond. Instead we get characters acting all dramatic about people they just met. Some of these guys are barely even acquaintances.