why the time skip?

[+Wax]

I think OB should have had a time skip longer than it did.  The quick return meant that a lot of things took up screen time.

As a result BS had less screen time for things in the remaining two books.  Hence the long jump.

The longer the jump between OB and RoW, the smaller is the time skip between RoW and book 5.

It's just a mechanical calculation of how it would work.

As book 5 was outlined at the same time as book 4, I am guessing a pretty small jump there to maintain continuity.

Edited August 8, 2020 by Wax

[StormlightFan23]

Hi - New to the forums here.  I followed along some of the Oathbringer discussion, but couldn't avoid joining now!  I think the time skip is so there are mysteries that we get to uncover... like the airship, but also personal mysteries, what characters have been up to, that will be "reveals" as we go along.  I have some theories of my own!  I will get oriented and then summon the courage to post my own thread LOL.

[Elena]

I really love time skips in general, because they're a great way to look at characters we know and love in a different context, and I'm very happy RoW went in this direction

They're also great to avoid plot dragging, especially when there's so much going on that explaining everything would take half a book by itself. This way you get to start the story after the big changes have already happened, and avoiding all the small minutiae like "yep, this and that happened" creating intrigue in the reader. And if there was anything really important it can be explored later on in flashbacks.

As someone who loves epic fantasy series, I think many mid-series slumps could have been avoided through time skips as a way to cut on the too-many-too-dense plotlines that often come with big casts of characters and large scope of storytelling. WoT has shades of this for me, and I've been mourning the ASOIAF 5-years time skip since about 2005, so I'm overjoyed Stormlight went in this direction, and I've been happy about the planned 'break' mid-Stormlight since it was announced.

[Potus]

If there was no time skip then the story would just drag on too long. New information would not be revealed fast enough and I personally would find it boring if we had to read every fight and conversation. 

[I Am A Fish]

8 minutes ago, Potus said:

If there was no time skip then the story would just drag on too long. New information would not be revealed fast enough and I personally would find it boring if we had to read every fight and conversation. 

Plus the time skip gives us dawnshard! 

[Subvisual Haze]

I think the timeskip was especially important for Kaladin's character.  Being low-grade barely functioning depressed for several months is pretty accurate for how his type of depression goes, but it would have been miserable for readers to read Kaladin depressed POVs for that whole timeframe.

Storywise it's nice to have a "new normal" establish itself before you proceed to shake things up.

[+Bliev]

I won't retread too much that others have already covered in their opinions, but I'll also say this--Brandon does an amazing job making you feel that there is a whole WORLD out there (if not universe!) of other stories that are going on simultaneously to the ones he's chosen to write--I almost feel like he's this "meta Hoid" showing up to at specific times tell us the stories that are important to tell, but things like his time skips and his interludes always make me feel so very immersed in the world itself. I like to speculate and just imagine the mundanity (and adventures) that "Brandon/Hoid" didn't feel were the "real" story.

I feel the OP though. I get it! With history, for instance, I often want to know what the people were doing--what did they eat? did they get as annoyed with their kids as I do? did they get bored? what did they do when they were bored?--and not necessarily "what they did" (which are usually the "important" things that the historians write down). I feel that's similar here. 

Edited September 6, 2020 by Bliev

[Karger]

14 minutes ago, Bliev said:

did they get as annoyed with their kids as I do?

Yes

[+Bliev]

Just now, Karger said:

Yes

I legit watch those monkey videos of annoyed mothers sometimes and go "YES I FEEL SO SEEN WE ARE INDEED PRIMATES" cause 6 months of quarantine has me wanting to go full Shallan and lightweave myself out of the house.