DOs and DON'Ts of a Fallout fanfiction

*200 years later*

This topic was brought to you by flipnoteriversong! (I don't know why that sounded like an advertisement.)

Let's begin. Ever since I could remember, media was feeding me timeskips. Usually in movies, but it happened a lot in video games too. "5 years later" or "16 months later"... That was fine. I was used to that. But there was one case in which a timeskip really ticked me off. You know what it was? The Last of Us and its "20 years later". Twenty years?! That one seemed to be completely absurd. Twenty. Years.

But, here's where it gets interesting. It was actually alright. Because it didn't matter whether it was two months or twenty years - because the creators of all those media knew one very basic rule of timeskips like that: they're at the beginning of the story.

They're at the beginning of the story, and they're a part of the world setting (more on that in the next chapter). That timeskip is important for some reason. Maybe it's aging up the characters, maybe it's letting the zombie apocalypse fully spin up... There's always a reason.

Here's about handling timeskips which aren't at the beginning of the story: don't.

Okay, that sounded harsh. I don't mean to say that you should never use timeskips, but don't phrase them in any way that resembles:
*two months later*
After two months, they were ready to leave the town.
They stayed there for about two months.
It's been two months since they arrived in the town.

What I'm saying is that a timeskip is okay only if you know how to write a timeskip. How to write a timeskip, you ask? Well, that's what I'm here for!

There's just one simple rule: paradoxically, the longer the description, the better. You don't want to end up with a *two months later*. It has to be more than that. Two months later, they were leaving the town. A bit longer, but still desperately short. What you're aiming for is at least something like They stayed in the town for two months. During that time, they finally managed to settle their financial and tactical problems. They spent some time to feed their horses and finally let them rest, as well as take a break from the constant travelling. All of them were happy to be staying in one place and they finally managed to relax. Two months of well-earned rest, at last. When they were leaving the town, they felt ready to take on any challenge the world would throw at them.

Note that the above is an example I've just created in thirty seconds, so it should not be taken as a paragon of a good timeskip. You can treat it more like a caricature of one, actually.

The only timeskip in my works I can think of is chapter 19 of my Fallout 4 book (that chapter has not been published yet, so if you want to avoid spoilers, don't read below), when I'm passing the winter - which is, accidentally, two months.

Now, be warned, this is a very extensive example of a timeskip. I just couldn't find any other. I mean, I'm pretty sure there was a swell timeskip in my Iron Man fanfic, but to find that fanfic would be like looking for a hay in a needlestack.

The next two months were very hard for, it's safe to say, everyone. Winter rolled around somewhere halfway through December, and I got my first sneak peek of how different seasons were in the Wasteland. The weather went pretty much wild, there was no telling what the next day would bring. Radiation storms were much rarer now, but no one could find a way to revel in that, because the air had grown so cold it was hard to concentrate on anything else. Winters in the Commonwealth were much harsher than winters in Massachusetts - the air temperature often dropped below -15 degrees Celsius, making it very hard to go outside, even with the proper clothing. One point - the Brotherhood provided its soldiers with parka uniforms. Second point - only one of my friends could benefit from that.

The freezing cold was taking its toll on us all. We couldn't use power armor - the hydraulic pumps were getting frozen, unable to move properly. It was impossible to grow any food in the frozen ground. But I think the lowest point was when the air grew so cold that we had to actually land the Prydwen for two days. I vividly remember that time - Danse and I were pulled back to the airport, just like all other soldiers, in order to guard it there. It was amazing to see Elder Maxson standing on firm ground for once, among the rest of us. But he acted aggressively enough for me to guess he wasn't very comfortable with that assessment.

And it wasn't just Maxson, actually. The winter seemed to take its toll on everyone.

Piper was nothing like her usual self now - she was quiet and barely said anything at all. But I could see her looking out the window and scribbling something in her notebook from time to time, so something was going on at least. Still, she refused to talk to anyone.

Danse grew gradually more and more irritable, to the extent that he responded almost aggressively to most people trying to socialize with him. I was one of the select few he didn't attack outwardly so I knew he was mostly frustrated with our lack of progress. In my eyes, that was no excuse for how he was acting. But I wasn't any better than either of them, to be honest.

I grew almost indifferent to the war that was going on. And what kind of war was it? Nothing was happening at all! I actually got so frustrated that I spent a whole week in Goodneighbor doing nothing but running errands for Mayor Hancock. The only good that made me was that I got so used to seeing ghouls that I didn't even flinch when I met one.

I wasn't proud of myself for bailing on my friends like that, sure, but I had to get away before I would start murdering. The winter was driving me insane. The only consolation was the fact that I wasn't the only one - we were all slightly beat up in one way or another.

Cait was taking drugs again, even if I never could catch her while she was high. She was just as irritable as Danse, except she didn't have a reason, so I worked it out quite easily.

Only MacCready didn't seem as downbeat about this change of climate as the rest of us. He actually tried cheering the rest of us up from time to time, but that usually didn't work out very well. Still, I was kind of impressed with his attempts. It was amazing that at least one of us could stay positive. I was just a bit bitter that it wasn't me. Except the only reason why he could be that joyful was that he didn't realize how serious things were. It wasn't his son who was being kept in the Institute. His son was alive and safe in Washington!

"Gosh, I'm seriously bitter." I let myself smile at that thought as I warmed my hands on the cup of tea McCready had given me.

So basically, instead of describing the amount of time that has passed or any particular events in that time, I'm describing:
- the main atmosphere in which that time passed
- the way the characters acted during that time
- the most important changes that happened during that time

It's the safest way to go, actually. If you're doing a timeskip, you're assuming that there weren't any important events in that time, anyway.

That's about all I can say on the subject. I've shared my advice, I've shared my experience... All I can do now is hope it'll be put to good use.

Next chapter: How To Built A Setting (Atmosphere) And Why Capital Letters Look Professional In Chapter Titles