on Live Write Thrive:

Time sometimes seems choppy, erratic, confusing. It may feel as if it’s going backwards or in circles. It all depends on perception. Making time feel wonky is a skill, but there are ways to create “skewed time” that can be effective.

Skewed time can be caused by internal or external influences, or both. A character who is drugged is going to perceive time as skewed. A character who is in horrible pain or who’s ill will have trouble keeping track of time.

Outside forces can affect that internal perception. A burning-hot sun in a desert or a freezing night exposed on a snowy mountaintop can cause time to be skewed—but that’s because those elements are affecting the person’s physiology. You might be “fading in and out” because you’re dying of heatstroke or hypothermia. And as a result, time is skewed.

Then again …