Thank you Matt! It took me a while to master the art of time manipulation, to be able to stretch a moment to its exact scale that would best serve the story. Your post It reminds of a line from the movie A.I Artificial Intelligence (2001) "Maybe the one day will be like that one day inside the amphibicopter. Maybe it will last forever."
What a helpful article: thank you! This concept, in particular, resonated for me: "So, we have the inverse of real life. The “boring”, non-important minute rushes past, but the exciting or dramatic minute is stretched outwards to its limits."
Really glad it's helpful, Miranda. Time is such a tricky thing to get right in our writing but I think that concept is at its heart, giving space to those biggest, most important moments and letting time stretch out.
Loved this Matt, particularly relevant to me at the moment, not just for my Novella-in-flash, but for the short story I'm currently working on, an anti-fairytale where the protagonist lives thousands of years and feeds on the 'life essence' of men to keep her young. If she doesn't 'feed' within a particular period, her age will catchup to her within 48 hours, and she'll disintegrate into dust.
I'm working on the details of the man she meets that will lead to her inciting incident and it's a tough decision working out where to focus in the journey. This has really answered some of the question for me, so huge thanks as always!
Really liked your diagrams of how to visualise time
Glad they're useful - I felt like this needed a visual to help it make sense!
Thank you Matt! It took me a while to master the art of time manipulation, to be able to stretch a moment to its exact scale that would best serve the story. Your post It reminds of a line from the movie A.I Artificial Intelligence (2001) "Maybe the one day will be like that one day inside the amphibicopter. Maybe it will last forever."
Love that quote - thanks for sharing.
What a helpful article: thank you! This concept, in particular, resonated for me: "So, we have the inverse of real life. The “boring”, non-important minute rushes past, but the exciting or dramatic minute is stretched outwards to its limits."
Really glad it's helpful, Miranda. Time is such a tricky thing to get right in our writing but I think that concept is at its heart, giving space to those biggest, most important moments and letting time stretch out.
Yes! I'm going to try and put this concept to good use with the climax of my novel manuscript!
Loved this Matt, particularly relevant to me at the moment, not just for my Novella-in-flash, but for the short story I'm currently working on, an anti-fairytale where the protagonist lives thousands of years and feeds on the 'life essence' of men to keep her young. If she doesn't 'feed' within a particular period, her age will catchup to her within 48 hours, and she'll disintegrate into dust.
I'm working on the details of the man she meets that will lead to her inciting incident and it's a tough decision working out where to focus in the journey. This has really answered some of the question for me, so huge thanks as always!
Really glad it's helpful, Erica. Your anti-fairytale sounds fab! Glad this has answered some questions for you!