In a novel, especially an epic saga, time plays an important part in the formation and growth of characters. How time takes its toll on a character’s physical change must be skillfully demonstrated or the passing of time will be unnoticeable and unconvincing.

Example: The story of a war veteran begins in 1942. Private First Class Emilio Maravilla is a twenty-one-year-old farmer who abandoned the plow to take up arms to defend his country against the invading Japanese forces. Within only a month of fighting the enemies in the mountains of Mount Samat, his well-built physique has deteriorated. During the fall of Bataan, he survived the Death March and during the liberation, he has been reduced to a stick-like form and discovered that his fiancée had gone missing after being forced to serve as a comfort woman.

In this novel, the young Maravilla survived the cruelties of a concentration camp and he had to move on after failing to find his fiancée. We then open the novel into the second part wherein the setting is in the 1990s. If Maravilla, now in his 90s, is seen as a muscular, ageless fellow who survived and recovered from the ravages of World War II, whatever dramatic effect his legacy is supposed to bring is lost. His authenticity as a three-dimensional character becomes questionable. The passage of time from the 40s to the 90s should create an impactful change in his physical form. War veterans who survived chaotic realities are frail and are sometimes suffering from psychological trauma.

To indicate the passage of time in a novel, a character’s aging process must be written with care. Through a skillful combination of sensory details, the writer can illustrate aging by narration or demonstration.

Narration: Maravilla reached for his medicine bottle beside a tall glass of water where he soaked his dentures at night.  He popped a pill and swallowed it without drinking. Maravilla had become bent, streaked with liver spots, and a papilloma the size of a grape sprouted at the back of his left ear. He looked at his feet and wiggled his toes, affirming he could move his lower extremities, still thankful that he survived beriberi without complications.

The writer must show his character’s physical changes at certain periods when a significant change has taken place. These changes affirm the authenticity of a character that succumbs to his withering youth and vitality. As the writer demonstrates aging through narration, it can also be done by showing how the aging character interacts with others.

Demonstrated: Troy, his grandson, knocked on the door and invited him for breakfast. Maravilla didn’t respond for a while until the boy reminded him that everyone was waiting for him. With great effort, he rose and opened the door, and his twelve-year-old grandson greeted him. The boy reminded him of his own youth especially Troy’s quick, darting eyes and a shy mouth that concealed mirth.

            “Do you need help going downstairs?”

            “No,” Maravilla said in a low, gruff voice.

            “Okay, Grandpa, but please hurry.” He turned away with his footsteps thudding on the wooden stairs. 

            Maravilla felt something sticky at the bottom of his underpants, then cursed the high heavens as he made another stain.  Breakfast would have to wait for a few more minutes.