Question 10

I'm wondering about MG conventions regarding a novel's timeframe. Can books only take place over the course of a certain timeline--the shorter, the more engaging? Can a book about a school year take place throughout an entire year? Are you allowed to skip around, or should it be following day to day? Is a book involving a summer camp allowed to spill into a school year?

You can find this mentor, Barb Hopkins, here!

Hi! That’s a fantastic question, and I think there can be multiple answers to it. The broadest answer is: your book should span the timeline it takes to tell its story. The shortest timeline may or may not be the most engaging, it really depends on the story.

THE LIGHTNING THIEF by Rick Riordan actually starts near the end of the school year and then spans through the summer. The book wouldn’t work with a short timeline because it’s all about a quest & Percy has to have time to learn about his new world, fail, and fail again, before the quest can be complete.

Maybe your story is about the first day of Middle School. Your timeline might be as short as that single day or maybe it spans the month or the week before, leading up to the big day. There are no hard and fast rules that I’ve come across.

A book about a school year can definitely take place throughout the entire year, but you’ll need to decide which parts of the year are most important for your plot. Some stories, especially those that span a week, may be paced day by day, but others, spanning a year, will not.

A book involving a summer camp may certainly spill into the school if that’s where the story is headed. Maybe your MC has something transformative happen during summer camp and that propels the story as the new school year starts.

My best advice if you’re struggling with your story’s timeline, is to plot it out. There are several good craft books on the subject, like Save the Cat! Writes a Novel. https://savethecat.com/novel-writing Check out new MG releases and get a feel for how the different authors tackle timelines for their characters and plot.

I hope this helps!