Narrative ellipsis
Narratology & storytellingA time jump that skips a portion of the story: "three years later…" — the art of cutting time.
Example
One chapter ends on an engagement; the next opens on a divorce.
Narrative ellipsis removes a portion of story time: the narrative jumps hours, years, sometimes decades, either flagging it ("two years passed") or letting the reader measure the jump themselves. It's the novelist's most powerful compression tool — and one of the most expressive: what a story omits speaks volumes.
Ellipsis isn't mere space-saving. Skipping the war to rejoin the character afterwards says something the battle scene wouldn't; omitting a decisive night makes it more present than describing it. Masters of the short story, Alice Munro first among them, build entire lives on a few scenes separated by gaping ellipses.
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