Hola! My current WIP is in the outlining stage, and it focuses on my MC Seren trying to figure out how to save the world. To do this, she must destroy an object with magic. However, magic is very hard to use. So she must train for a long time to tap into it and use it like it's second nature. As of right now, I have her starting to train in Ch10. I'll cover two days worth of training with two experienced trainers. Then I'll have another training session in Ch12. But in that session, I wanted it to span about a week. I need her to learn quickly but still convey that it didn't happen overnight. So I figured, since I cover two solid days of it before, that it would be okay to not go into such strong detail for the remainder of her training. (There will be more training later in the novel too.) For example, I might start the chapter off by saying, "For the next week, Seren fell into a strong routine. Eat, train, sleep. But she was making progress. She could feel herself getting stronger, her magic growing, but she knew it wouldn't be enough." I'd obviously go into a little more detail than that, throwing in some minor successes or conversations in summary form. I just worry that it may throw readers off since there was only one chapter of training before. So would this be an okay way to go about it? Thanks!
But more seriously, yes, I think it does work as you have described it. I was imagining little cameos of wins / mistakes / comedic faux pas' sprinkled through the week being mentioned, and there in your last paragraph you say that exact thing. Chapter 10 seems late in the book? How many chapters are there? My only issue with the lack of (limited?) magical training would arise if she somehow mastered a really complex form or magical ability in what appears to be a short time or without much detail. If it's relatively simple and direct, then it sounds fine. HTH.
And a step to the right? I was planning about 40 chapters at about 2k words each. The first nine chapters only covers a period of three days. But! Since it's only still in outline form, there's a good chance it'll get condensed/expanded when I actually start writing it. And after her initial training sessions, she realizes she still won't be strong enough. So I have her going somewhere else to find an even better mentor to train her further. So even after that week time jump, her training won't be over.
Just alluding to time passing, as you suggested, will work just fine if you do it right. Personally, I don't like to do that, so when I need a time jump I will cut to a scene another POV that reboots the timeline (in my case, I use flashback chapters) and then return back to the main action at a later date. I call them commercial breaks. But that only works for me because I have an established pattern of jumping out of time, and executing flashbacks well is tough.
I'd not have other scenes during the first two days and then include them from the third day onward (where I'd include breaks, night scenes and so on).
I don't really like doing it either. It feels like a cop out if done incorrectly. But describing 14+ days of non-stop training would get boring and repetitive. lol And since I'm only telling the story from one POV, I can't really do it the way you do. So hopefully I'll be able to execute it properly this way. Thank you! That's very helpful.
