How do you look at large timeskips?

[Darkstrong]

Hi everyone! We are planning on doing a pretty large timeskip in Hexameron, but the closer we get to that point, the more I am starting to doubt that decision, even though it was the plan all along, and I don't think there is any other way the story can progress. So here is a question to you, what would be your reaction if the comic about kids, skipped to them being teens or older? Would you be more interested? Less?

Hexameron | Tapas

[mariusthered]

I had to come to a decision along the same line for my next book of my comic (still in planning stage) i cannot say why here for spoilers but i have to start my book two at least a year ahead of the end of book one. so i decide to do that and have flash back time lime stories in it as well as pushing ahead with the story.

[nostalgicroxas]

It's entirely acceptable for the story to progress. I skipped several weeks in one of my novels. You can always go back in Extras to show what might have happened during that time period, or just don't show it and let the characters mention it in passing. I've read several comics where there's a jump of several years and the author never shows the past, but will have the characters talk briefly about it- such as "remember Jimmy? He's gotten married!" and things like that.

[Nachi]

I am planning to do the same, too. I would say skipping tim when the kids are growing up when nothing of great importance happens is acceptable.

[dawgofdawgness]

Personally I think I would be a little disappointed, since I've already gone into the series thinking that the story would revolve around kids. But time-skipping them to teenagers is probably fine, since a lot of people tend to like stories about teens/young adults. On the other hand, if you aged them to be, say, 40 year olds, I can definitely see some people losing interesting or becoming disappointed because that's a pretty big gap. It sort of depends on the story, though. If it's mainly plot-driven, it should be fine (I know IT [movie] did this and worked)

[Darkstrong]

No, not that big of a time skip =) It would be ~6 years. And the passage of time is very important for the plot, since it is not the monster of the week kind of story (even though it might look like that now).
By the way, I never understood why they decided to do a timeskip in both IT adaptations, because the childhood part was presented as a series of flashbacks in original novel.

[phinality]

My honest opinion is that I dislike time skips. A lot. It's simply because I enjoy seeing the small and subtle changes throughout a character's life in "real time". It just doesn't feel the same to me if you need to infer how probable some characterization or character dynamics are after a time skip.

However, I want to stress that this is your story. You have it all planned out from the very beginning and I'm sure you put great thought into it. If this is what is needed to drive some plot point home, I truly don't think it should be changed just because some people dislike this type of thing. You know your own story best.

[Azifri]

In general, I like time skips. It seems cruel and shows that whatever you do and regardless of what you feel for the characters, you are just an observer and can't do anything but watch them suffer

Happy time skips are meh

[Darkstrong]

You mean "The battle is lost and the characters only get another chance in 2 years" unhappy time skip? Or "Guts left and the Hawks are in a perpetual torrent of misery for a year" unhappy time skip? =) I actually like these types of time skips better =) Mine will be a bit more neutral, but definitely not a happy one, at least not for all of the characters.

[Azifri]

Could be any of those! Or also the kind of time skip where the characters were left happy, but at the end of the skip that ends and the struggle begins again. The "don't take anything for granted and nothing lasts forever" type of time skip.

[Darkstrong]

Then you should probably like this one =)

[revisionstudios]

I hear a lot of readers dog on time skips, but tbh I love them. I like seeing the new designs, kids growing up, etc. and it feels way more realistic to me in cases where it moves the plot forward. Especially when there are a lot of moving cogs, things take time to develop, and staying stuck in a day to day pacing feels like a slog. There have been a few series I'm reading where I'm like, sitting there waiting for a time skip because I want to get to the interesting part.

Other than my own preferences, I think it's just a matter of what works for your story and what kind of story you're trying to tell. I would stick to what you think is best!

[skicoak]

One of the series I read did it a bit back, and I think it was so perfectly executed that it didn't bother me as much as it might have if handled differently.

The character designs were consistent with the younger versions. The situational set ups created proxy characters for explaining what had came to pass during the skip... without having to do awkward info dumps.

I think it all comes back to how well it's executed.

Hooky

[MK_Wizard]

Timeskips can be interesting if done right. I mean, look at Stephen King's It, but it is also very tricky and can break the story. When you skip too many years, you wind up missing important events and important details that explain why certain relationships, character developments and such happened the way they did. Your readers can get confused and may not appreciate this shift.

However, if nobody has changed beyond becoming older and wiser, it's ok, but even then, don't skip too many years. I would say nothing more than five years is good.

[Darkstrong]

Then again, King's It didn't have a time skip (I already wrote it above). Only adaptations did. The good examples with large timeskips would probably be: Berserk (three year time skip between Guts' 15 and 18 years), TTGL (7 years), and my personal most favorite book - LOTR (17 years between chapter 1 and 2)

[Jenny-Toons]

I don't mind skips that are a few years long, especially if it's after a big arc that dealt with a villain. I would like to assume there was a cool down period for the characters before the next arc comes up. It also can give room to showing development that happens without dragging the story.

I know I use the timeskips for my story. In Our Universe, there's two time-skips -- one after a year, and one after 5 years. Within the first year, I showed their development as sweet but still questioning. Brenda seems to be used to "Christina's" ways, but she still worries about her. But after 5 years have passed, she seems to have settled down and grows more comfortable.

I kinda prefer an implied method of things. Not to the point where you don't know what's going on. But definitely to the point where you see hints and you know something's there.

[vothnthorvaldson]

For me timeskips are good if they're necessary to the story. And "necessary" does not need to be plot-based. If you feel as the artist that you have nothing more to say at the current time, then timeskip is necessary. Unless you have an idea how to make the story end at that current time. Then you have the alternative between timeskip or wrapping up the story.

[gh0stcr33p]

well I personally kind of find them disappointing. there's characters you're gotten used to and maybe they even grew on you and in the blink of an eye they're completely changed. in all the things I've seen these timeskips in, they let me down just about every time. a suggestion I'd have is to maybe have multiple smaller skips that lead up to where you want it to end up, so they readers can gradually get used to that transition. but that's of course if it fits into the plot.

[Strontium]

I enjoyed the time skip in Tapastic comic Gwendy and Ghost. Especially since it time skipped to her getting a new friend and having more happiness in her life ;0;

But in general I'm not a huge fan of time skips. Like others have said, it's the way time skips affect reader expectations than if it's a good narrative decision. Certain genres and stories probably lead themselves more to time skips than others - family sagas for instance, you might anticipate the passage of time, but a romance skipping over the awkward and endearing build up of affections to when the couple is considering divorce would be frustrating to read.

[Rhonder]

I like time skips conceptually, but at the same time struggle to think of many that I thought were done very well (out of series that I've read/watched/played, which obviously excludes a ton xD). So like most others say, it's down to the execution and purpose for me. The purpose is usually straight forward: to bridge the end of one arc and the beginning of the next, that so happens to be in the future. That's all good and well, just make sure to think carefully about both when to start and end the skip for the best effect. Ending after a big resolution is pretty straight forward, but figuring out the right place to resume can be tricky.

Execution-wise, again just be careful about the types of things you "hide" within the time skip. It can be fun to have a character to make a return, more mature and experienced, and maybe with some new tricks up their sleeve, but having radical off screen characterization or major events can feel bad as a reader, who would rather witness those things. That can be tackled a number of ways though (again, picking a smart time to resume, or flash backs to important bits, dialogue about it, etc.) I guess just too much unexpected change is bad, unless you plan on addressing it later xD