How young is too young?

[NotaNuffian]

So I decided to write again, this time by having the MC starting as seven at body and fifties at heart.

Like Rudeus and Lith really.

Time skips will be involved, such as jumping from seven to 12 yo and maybe another leap.

What I am worried is the next time skip. How many time skips can ordinary readers tolerate?

For me, I have no concept of time in CN because they are either cultivators aka long lifespans or geniuses that time barely skip a month and they already have mastered some IMBA skill.

 

[AlwaysWanted]

Personally, it's more the frequency of the time skips rather than the time skips themselves.

Some writers rush the time skips, and it's very disorienting when every other chapter MC gains a flashy new power or gains more expose.

https://www.webnovel.com/book/my-elf-system_29939131700512605

*NOT A PLUG* The above novel is a good example of what I think is a good writing with time skips.

The author assigns quests to the Orion (MC) and whenever the MC is done with his quests, he fast forwards a couple of years.

This way, the readers have something to look forward to in the present (Orion completing the quests) and the future (Orion reaping the fruition of his rewards and eventually going to the academy at 18.)

TLDR: As long as you don't bombard the reader with time skips, and make it feel like the MC earns something or is heading towards an end goal, time skips will work wonders for you.

 

[Tempokai]

Depends on the context, really. Any time skip will work, like with CN writers you've described, but for that to work you need to justify hard and have enough, but not too much content for that age. You could write about "big stuff" happening to MC, finishing that mini arc and then time skip, as it is justified to push the story further. Basically treat the time skip as the ultimate "push the story further" button that consumes rhetorical resources (consistency, emotional connection, internal logic). Have none of that, you fail. Have enough, audience will read further without questioning about it.

 

[John_Owl]

as was said, it's entirely contextual. In Lay the Dragon (my story in my sig) the MC starts at 5. then jumps to 11, then again to adulthood.

 

[Tsuru]

So I decided to write again, this time by having the MC starting as seven at body and fifties at heart.

Like Rudeus and Lith really.

Time skips will be involved, such as jumping from seven to 12 yo and maybe another leap.

What I am worried is the next time skip. How many time skips can ordinary readers tolerate?

For me, I have no concept of time in CN because they are either cultivators aka long lifespans or geniuses that time barely skip a month and they already have mastered some IMBA skill.

Solve it all : No timeskip
haha

 

[NotaNuffian]

Solve it all : No timeskip
haha

Then it will be boring as hell or watching a seven yo perform amazing tricks like pulling an adult male's head off.

 

[Hoshino]

Just do a time skip when the training arc comes and just skip two or three months.

 

[beast_regards]

It needs to be 21 year old genderless robot or Moderator John starts projecting....

 

[istryj]

Then it will be boring as hell or watching a seven yo perform amazing tricks like pulling an adult male's head off.

John Doe grew up as a genius child in a troubled family. Possessing an exceptional intellect and memory, he faced injustice every day—in his home, in kindergarten, and at school. He soon realized that a child is essentially just a talking animal. He was humiliated and beaten; they treated him like a fool and tried to con him with bullshit that even a baby wouldn’t buy. He was endlessly betrayed, deceived, and shamelessly manipulated, making it clear that an adult’s word to a child meant nothing. At the age of twenty, he was hit by a drunk driver, and John Doe was reborn. When, at the age of seven, the memory of his past life returned to him, Johnny realized—it was time for revenge.

 

[wordsmith12008]

I honestly suggest you do not use the concept of reincarnation itself because you'll end up it trouble sooner or later on moral grounds.
Like let's say you want to introduce a romantic interest, but then you can't because it'll be weird for someone his age (50s) to date someone young. That's just one example.
And also, most reincarnation stories just use the reincarnation trope to land their protagonists in a fantasy world, so why not just ditch that part and directly start in the fantasy world itself?
Anyways, that's my two cents, don't take it too seriously.

 

[NotaNuffian]

I honestly suggest you do not use the concept of reincarnation itself because you'll end up it trouble sooner or later on moral grounds.
Like let's say you want to introduce a romantic interest, but then you can't because it'll be weird for someone his age (50s) to date someone young. That's just one example.
And also, most reincarnation stories just use the reincarnation trope to land their protagonists in a fantasy world, so why not just ditch that part and directly start in the fantasy world itself?
Anyways, that's my two cents, don't take it too seriously.

Most CN I know fixed this issue by having MC (aged 20 plus or slightly more) get soulshoved into a body at minimum 16.

I am however, going for the dumb method of scattered past memories.

MC is still a child, just that he has memories of being an adult and knows (probably) how to adult.

 

[soupsabaw]

It really depends on the type of novel, I think. Like in Qi Ye, the main character is reincarnated and is mentally centuries years old, but he's put into the body of himself when he was ten or something like that. Priest skipped a majority of it and moved ahead to the relevant parts of his life when he was older. As long as something is happening that is interesting and valuable to the plot, then I don't see any issue to be honest.

 

[Ai-chan]

Nothing is too young. You can even write as young as not yet born. The challenge is to make it believable enough that you have coherent conscious thoughts while enveloped in amniotic fluid. Ai-chan read one with it, though. It was a story about how a girl was attacked by her twin in the womb and she retaliated, eating her twin as a result. Yes, it was a strange horror story. Unfortunately, this was over 20 years ago and Ai-chan can't remember where exactly that story was hosted.

Much like how Ai-chan can't recall a particular game that Ai-chan once played but can't remember the title of now.