Seasons

An author can tell us in a single word that a year has elapsed or alternatively can evoke the passage of time by recounting the passage of the seasons:

"That summer blazed up into fall, winter came, spring, and summer again, while we made ready. Our last year on Harbor."

-"Gypsy," p. 269.

"The days turned to weeks and spring turned to summer...

"Autumn came suddenly and still he had not made a move. When it got colder he bought an electric heater..."

-Stieg Larsson, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets' Nest (London, 2010), p. 730.

We appreciate the passage of time more with a longer description. We realize how much preparation is necessary before leaving Harbor and it is restful to read about Larsson's fugitive character in hiding:

"...staring out of the window, day after day, week after week."

-Larsson, op. cit., p. 731 -

- while only seconds elapse for us as readers.