Personal Rant Book

Time Skips.

Let's talk about time skips in stories.

Alright, you ever see these?

'Ah yes john is now 4 years old and he's walking and talking like a god omg

time skip to when john is 16 years old

Omg he grew up so fast wowowo'

They're obviously not this bad, but you get the point. Some inexperienced writers tend to say 'time skip to end of blah blah or time skip to when he's 16', but  b o y  is that bad. Yes, I'm being honest and not sugarcoating it like usual, I know. These kinds of time skips take me out of the immersion of reading a story, and feels way to instantaneous for a god damn transition, man.

Do something like, i dunno, leave a space or put a line or even put dots like I do:
(e.g.

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.

.

.

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John stared out a window, hugging his books close to his chest. He'd reached the age of 16 not too long ago.)

And don't just rush the time before and after. Time skips are meant to happen after important events, not just for you to get to the important events. Seriously, yes the action is later on, but if you write the calm and peaceful times well it does give the reader a nice experience instead of feeling like we're being rushed all the time. Growing up is a process, not something to skip past. If you feel that your story's progressing too fast, it definitely is.

Seriously, don't just time skip every 4 lines, holy shit.