Story Time v. Real Time

I don't think I've spoken about this before, but there is story time and real time, and I'm writing this most particularly from a romance slant. Story time is the entire book, which can take months, but can also just take hours.

So a person/persons can change in a rapid amount of hours. Events will do that, realizations of flaws, determination on a new path, discovery of self, (character arcs) will do that. This can, of course, happen in real life, but unlike Fiction may not stick.

People in short story time romances often fall in love over a couple of days, and, naturally it sticks. But this is Fiction.

And there's a difference in story time v. real time. When I was writing Heart Thief, my writing buddy said, "It's time for a love scene."

I protested. "It's only been two days."

She replied. "It's been half the book." And that's story time.

There is a rhythm,a beat to a book, as well as pacing, and the time had come for the main characters to express their growning attraction. They had grown enough for it, the set up was there, and to miss the beat would throw the book off.

Since I'm still suffering from the cold her (and another very tender event I can't bear to talk about right now), I don't know that I've made sense. As always, if you want more clarity, just comment.

May you make all your plot beats today.
Robin