I’m referring to books where an entire trilogy takes place in 6 months and the protagonist goes from a regular high schooler unaware of the supernatural to one of the strongest magic users out there and beats the main villain along with all the love interest drama and bonding with characters packed in before returning to her regular life once the world is saved. All within half a year.
That’s just one idea but I have also seen for example some people be mad that the ACOTAR series took place in a relatively short timeframe.
What are your thoughts on it? Does it bother you, is it too fast or does it just depend on the story?
by kjm6351
6 Comments
I can’t say I have a single opinion. If it makes sense then it’s fine, like anything else.
Writers can vary the pacing. You can write 50 pages where only a second passes or 5 pages where decades pass. The absolute passage of time doesn’t matter as long as the story pacing is solid.
Meh, I’ve learned to mostly ignore timelines and ages in books, same as distance and travel times, because most authors just pick all of those out of a hat.
To answer the question in the heading: Ulysses takes place over one day and is probably the greatest novel ever written.
To answer the question in the text: I certainly wouldn’t like that, but I don’t really read those kinds of books.
If the story itself is well-written, I try not to let it bother me. If the story is sloppy AND the timeline is unrealistic, I usually stop reading.
I think short timeframes can work well if the pacing is tight and the character development feels earned.