As Time Goes By – Ruben D. Gonzales

In the great movie, Casablanca, the whole story takes place in only three or four days. There is a flashback scene that stretches the narrative, but still for being one of the great movies ever written, the short period of time is skillfully handled. There were four or five shots of Rick’s Café American, sandwiched around a market scene and the final scene at the airport (left) where Rick tells Elsa “We’ll always have Paris.”

Authors need to utilize time effectively in their writing. Time is not limited to flashbacks and prologues. In a protagonist’s typical day opportunities to enhance and clarify your story will revolve around effective use of time. These opportunities should be sized upon, “in the Rick of time”.

Over the years I’ve struggled with the time element in my writing. I’ve used elaborate calendars to map out the sequence of events and to make sure time flows in a logical fashion throughout the book. The calendar has caught many irregularities and I’ve been able to rectify those in the second and third drafts to make my story flow with the proper time sequence.

Publisher rejections are based on a variety of reason so getting the time frame and reference correct eliminates one more reason for a rejection.

As a writer you control how time passes and the resulting flow of the narrative. Some stories take place over a very short interval while others may take years. In my first book, “The Cottage on the Bay”, my main characters life was the interval and it took ninety some years to complete. In my second book, “Murder on Black Mountain”, my main character completes her case in a couple of weeks. Both required detailed time mapping to get the story right so it flows without disturbing the reader’s journey.

Many authors use the chapter heading to identify the time period (and sometimes place) the story is taking place in or transitioning to. This is a straight forward but useful tool, keeping everyone, including the author, on the same page and point in time. Other authors strategically incorporate a time reference at the beginning of a chapter or change in a point of view; “The sun rose over the horizon in a red ball.”

When revising look for opportunities to incorporate visual clues to the scene, there-by setting the time frame for what’s to follow. Be aware of the passage of time and don’t leave the reader behind. Use your character’s senses to denote the time frame. Make sure your characters are aware of the passage of time. Make time for creatively using the need for a bathroom, meal, sleep, and all the other time interruptions a normal human would need during a regular day.

Ruben D. Gonzales
www.rubendgonzales.com