Training arc?

[WhaleSprite]

So I was thinking for the next mini arc in my story, the main character is going to train himself to become stronger and more adaptive. In the previous arc, he nearly died and only survived because someone he knew saved him at the last minute.

He has a system that offers him things like skills and other things, but after that incident, he realizes that even though he has earned things from the system, he doesn’t really know how to use them effectively when it truly matters.

The thing is, I’ve never written a training arc before in any of my stories. How do you write one without it being totally boring? I’m worried I’ll lose engagement for those reading it if it just becomes repetitive or slow. Maybe that’s kind of a broad question, but if anyone has tips, I’d really appreciate
it!

 

[Zagaroth]

I'm actually in the middle of writing the one full training arc for my story, so I can tell you what I am doing. In my case, this is being done via a combat training environment, i.e. visiting a type of Dungeon.

For each section, I start with some details showing what every one is doing, just enough to ensure the reader has a visual and the vibes. Then I blur time forward to a specifically interesting fight, and then blur again until the next interesting bit. By 'blur' I mean I summarize in very broad strokes.

As we get further into the arc, more and more time will be summarized/skipped. Only the most interesting (which includes funny) moments will be shown. Because repetition is boring. Grind is boring. Learning what someone is doing to grind is not necessarily boring, so long as you don't linger past "and this is what he is doing until this other thing happens".

Describe the pattern, briefly demonstrate the pattern, move to something else. Skipping more and more time between scenes can also add to the sense of how much they are pushing themselves, *if* you do it right and do not drop unlimited time in there. They should be working against a time limit of some sort.

They also need to manage their rest periods, because constant pushing leads to breaking, and that is far more costly than taking rest and relaxation at a measured pace.

 

[WhaleSprite]

I'm actually in the middle of writing the one full training arc for my story, so I can tell you what I am doing. In my case, this is being done via a combat training environment, i.e. visiting a type of Dungeon.

For each section, I start with some details showing what every one is doing, just enough to ensure the reader has a visual and the vibes. Then I blur time forward to a specifically interesting fight, and then blur again until the next interesting bit. By 'blur' I mean I summarize in very broad strokes.

As we get further into the arc, more and more time will be summarized/skipped. Only the most interesting (which includes funny) moments will be shown. Because repetition is boring. Grind is boring. Learning what someone is doing to grind is not necessarily boring, so long as you don't linger past "and this is what he is doing until this other thing happens".

Describe the pattern, briefly demonstrate the pattern, move to something else. Skipping more and more time between scenes can also add to the sense of how much they are pushing themselves, *if* you do it right and do not drop unlimited time in there. They should be working against a time limit of some sort.

They also need to manage their rest periods, because constant pushing leads to breaking, and that is far more costly than taking rest and relaxation at a measured pace.

Thank you, that's actually pretty solid advice. ?

 

[Safira]

So I was thinking for the next mini arc in my story, the main character is going to train himself to become stronger and more adaptive. In the previous arc, he nearly died and only survived because someone he knew saved him at the last minute.

He has a system that offers him things like skills and other things, but after that incident, he realizes that even though he has earned things from the system, he doesn’t really know how to use them effectively when it truly matters.

The thing is, I’ve never written a training arc before in any of my stories. How do you write one without it being totally boring? I’m worried I’ll lose engagement for those reading it if it just becomes repetitive or slow. Maybe that’s kind of a broad question, but if anyone has tips, I’d really appreciate
it!

I started to write a training arc today. The idea I use is that there is a romance sub plot happening in the back while the MC is also learning about how the world and his powers work. There may be some skips or blurs like the other person said, but it will also move the characters forward in other aspects since there is not only fighting happening

 

[WhaleSprite]

I started to write a training arc today. The idea I use is that there is a romance sub plot happening in the back while the MC is also learning about how the world and his powers work. There may be some skips or blurs like the other person said, but it will also move the characters forward in other aspects since there is not only fighting happening

Hmm, I might not be able to use a romance subplot. Although my story will have some romance eventually, none of my main character's potential love interests have been introduced yet and they won't be for awhile? but perhaps something else could do the trick. Maybe some stuff with my side characters?

 

[ACertainPassingUser]

So I was thinking for the next mini arc in my story, the main character is going to train himself to become stronger and more adaptive. In the previous arc, he nearly died and only survived because someone he knew saved him at the last minute.

He has a system that offers him things like skills and other things, but after that incident, he realizes that even though he has earned things from the system, he doesn’t really know how to use them effectively when it truly matters.

The thing is, I’ve never written a training arc before in any of my stories. How do you write one without it being totally boring? I’m worried I’ll lose engagement for those reading it if it just becomes repetitive or slow. Maybe that’s kind of a broad question, but if anyone has tips, I’d really appreciate
it!

Training is practically a boring grind. Keep trying to do things for thousands of times until you get used to it.

They usually just show the :
-> intro training
-> skip the boring early training after the first 19th time
-> show some part of middle when MC locks in
-> skip even more part
-> some part when almost do breaktrhough but fail
-> show a bit when they get close but dont show 99% majority of them
-> show when close to breaktrhough
-> skip more
-> show when they do finally breakthrough and the result
-> show a bit of "after-breakthrough"
-> done

This is applied for short term training, med term training, and long term training.

Many story simply skip the training unless it's the event above mentioned, and just insert the social events when the character take break from traning.

If you can adjust your perspective,
Harry potter is basically a 7 book training arc.

 

[PancakesWitch]

Don't make one, never make training arcs, create an arc full of story and characters that also happens to help the main character grow

 

[ACertainPassingUser]

So I was thinking for the next mini arc in my story, the main character is going to train himself to become stronger and more adaptive. In the previous arc, he nearly died and only survived because someone he knew saved him at the last minute.

He has a system that offers him things like skills and other things, but after that incident, he realizes that even though he has earned things from the system, he doesn’t really know how to use them effectively when it truly matters.

The thing is, I’ve never written a training arc before in any of my stories. How do you write one without it being totally boring? I’m worried I’ll lose engagement for those reading it if it just becomes repetitive or slow. Maybe that’s kind of a broad question, but if anyone has tips, I’d really appreciate
it!

BTW, Here’s a Training Montage from Dirty Pair Flash from 1994 :

It's a good example of classic training montage. It's been the staple even 30 years ago.

 

[WhaleSprite]

I feel like I should be more specific. I don’t plan to make the training arc last for a long time. It will be just one to three chapters at most, and even then, it will be mixed with other plot points.

Also, when I say “training,” I don’t mean he’s going to bulk up or do intense workouts. He’s going to focus on learning how to use his abilities more effectively and flexibly, so he doesn’t repeat the costly mistakes he made in the last mini arc. Last time, he only survived because of luck and because he used his abilities haphazardly.

For example, he has a skill that lets him increase his speed by about five times for thirty seconds, but it was basically wasted because he kept crashing into walls and corners. He wasn’t used to moving that fast, so not only did he keep hurting himself from crashing multiple times, but it majorly slowed him down from escaping.

Also, he is currently keeping his abilities a secret, since they come from a system that originated from a magical artifact. The people trying to capture or kill him are searching for that same artifact. So he can't really train with other people. He doesn't currently have the connections to do so either.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

From the ones my wife has listened to, that sounds like standard Cultivation Fantasy.

 

[ACertainPassingUser]

Training Arc ?
Training Arc, yes

We love training arc

We're excited to see how far our MC power-up would become after the training has been finished.

 

[meza]

They are generally fun if they are meaningful

 

[Elmir_Arch-Ham_of_Omega]

BTW, Here’s a Training Montage from Dirty Pair Flash from 1994 :

It's a good example of classic training montage. It's been the staple even 30 years ago.

Ironically this is the NEW Dirty Pair i.e. remake series.

 

[yeul_e]

IMO, make it funny and concise.