time jump
Narrative time shift
A time jump is a narrative device that skips over a period of time, moving the story forward without depicting intervening events: After a time jump of ten years, we find the characters in very different circumstances.
Common in fiction, film, and television, time jumps compress lengthy periods—childhood to adulthood, war to aftermath—into a single transition.
The technique differs from a flashback, which moves backward rather than forward.
Temporal narrative jump ahead
- flashbackInvoluntary past memory
- montageAssembled sequence of images
- ellipsisMark indicating omitted words
- cutSeverance or reduction
transition · scene break · leap forward · years later · meanwhile · intercut · nonlinear · chronology
Seemingly absurd truth
- causality loopSelf-perpetuating temporal cycle
- alternate timelineDivergent version of history
- continuumUninterrupted, gradual sequence
- flux capacitorFictional temporal displacement device
quantum leap · temporal anomaly · wormhole · multiverse · bootstrap paradox · grandfather paradox · closed loop · temporal rift
flashforward
Temporal narrative jump ahead
- flashbackInvoluntary past memory
- montageAssembled sequence of images
- ellipsisMark indicating omitted words
cut · transition · scene break · leap forward · years later · meanwhile · intercut · nonlinear · chronology · pacing
paradox
Seemingly absurd truth
- causality loopSelf-perpetuating temporal cycle
- alternate timelineDivergent version of history
- continuumUninterrupted, gradual sequence
flux capacitor · quantum leap · temporal anomaly · wormhole · multiverse · bootstrap paradox · grandfather paradox · closed loop · temporal rift · flashforward
- Flashback Tropesflashback, flashbacks, amnesia, memory loss, backstory
- storytelling termsstory, plot, narrative, storytelling, chapter
- goalkeepingsave, saves, goalkeeper, goalie, goaltender
- narrative elementssetting, scene, location, backdrop, flashback
- narrative techniquesflashback, nonlinear plot, fragmented narrative, flash-forward, point of view
- Storytelling Devicesflashback, foreshadowing, cliffhanger, plot twist, narrator