Today I have a question about writing a long period of elapsed time.
I have three main characters who each get their own chapters from their POV. Two of those three characters do not need much attention in my book for some time. I'm talking about 4-6 months here. The two characters have settled into a routine, and it is only important for me to show only a couple of their scenes during the 4-6 month period for update purposes only.
The obvious thing to do would be to say "20 days later this and this happened," at the beginning of each update, but I want readers to remember that while the two characters are out of the spotlight - they are still contributing to the story.
For example, one of my characters is healing from wounds. By saying "20 days later", I fear the readers will assume that the healing has made no progress. I want to remind the readers that the characters are still alive and doing stuff even if they are not in a particular chapter.
It would also get redundant just to say, "Character 1 has healed some more," every time we pop back into Character 1's life for an update.
So I guess my question is: How to write a long period of elapsed time while also reminding the reader that while characters are out of the spotlight - they are still contributing to the story?
Just in case someone says that this question and this question are similar to mine, I already have my case:
The first link is to a question that is asking about a much smaller time period where the character does nothing significant, with irreverent to my question answers. Also, my question will appeal to a much larger group of people. The second link is about showing characters aging throughout a time period.