magycmyste: (Default)
([personal profile] magycmyste posting in [community profile] writerstorm May. 1st, 2009 02:29 pm)
 Ok, this isn't so much a brainstorming question as advice.

If you have a short story that takes place over 3 days, and you have something important happening on the first day, and on the third day, what do you do with the second?

Would you try to find something interesting to go in the second day? Or would you gloss over or skip it entirely?

EDIT: Thanks, guys, for all the ideas! I didn't think about how vague I was being, but it was really me being curious in general as to how you'd handle a situation like that. For extra context, if you'd like, it's a short story that's sort of a prequel to a novel I'm planning, and involves how two of the characters meet for the first time. On the first day, they meet. On the second day, they do stuff together, and on the third day, something happens. Since I'm writing this partially for my own benefit, and to get a sense of the characters, I think I'll write out what I can of the second day, and then cut it out if need be. I've already got the first day done, which already has a bit of glossing over it, so just need to finish the other two.

By the way, is everyone all right with my editing the original entry to show that it's resolved, or would you need me to respond to your comments individually? (Obviously, discussion about specific comments should go with those, but I thought this might be better for overall.) Let me know what you think.

sweet_sparrow: Miaka (Fushigi Yûgi) looking very happy. (Work)

From: [personal profile] sweet_sparrow


Trust you to start with a toughie question. Personally I'd never try to make that second day interesting if it didn't want to comply of its own. I have to ask, though, how important is the fact that nothing important happens on the second day? Because that'll have a bearing on whether you could skip it or not.

If all else fails, you could, of course, always write about the second day and see whether it needs to stay or go in subsequent drafts. ^-~ (Yes, I'm hedging the answer completely with this.) I think I'd be most inclined to gloss or opt for the "Two days later..." approach if I could work it in. (I know it doesn't take a whole lot of effort to start a scene with 'two days later', but that won't always suit your goal.)
.

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