Reading time, writing time

[WillHue]

When I complete a day of writing, I think the pacing is too slow. It takes me 4 to 8 hours to write a modest scene, say 1000 to 2000 words.

Then I read it out loud in 5 minutes. I realize there's barely any meat on those bones. What felt like an 8 hour meal was in fact a 5 minute snack.

I go back and add more dimensions to the environment, depth to the characters, drive home the tension, in short, fatten up my thanksgiving turkey.

I repeated this many times before the bulb went on. Last month I told my wife and you would have thought I discovered electricity. Reading time, writing time... What say you pros?

 

[Amber]

I'm not entirely sure what you're asking. You have a gentle way about you which makes me suspect I'm missing something. But I'll give it a go.

Pacing and reading time aren't the same to me because something which takes five minutes to read can have a slow or a fast pace--five minutes is five minutes regardless of whether a reader experiences a scene as fast paced or slow paced.

For me pacing is the combination of language choices and the action in the scene. There is usually a long and a short way to say something. If, in the situation you've created, your character would only barely get a glimpse of what's happening, then you could write it that way. You could use short sentences, short words, cut out adjectives, and short paragraphs help too. Of course, an entire book might be written this way. Most authors want their books to be described as 'fast paced'.

If, in the situation you've created, your character would be immersed in what is around him/her/it, then one way to decrease the pace is to write longer sentences, longer paragraphs, and use some pretty literary devices which create lingering sounds in your reader's mind. Although I believe slower paced writing is often considered something to be avoided, I believe there's something to be said for writing which is engrossing and immersive.

I used to have a better link to a literary device page but I can't seem to find it. Here's a link to one: Literary Devices -- If you don't already have any such list. I like reading these lists sometimes.

The other thing you mentioned is how long it takes to write something that takes five minutes to read. I write fast but -- I wouldn't necessarily say that the only time I'm spending writing is the time I spend typing new words into my word document or Scrivener file. The time spent writing something seems almost incalculable in relation to how long it takes to read it. I confess I've lived in quiet denial about it up until now. So -- thanks!

It sounds a little to me like your 'barely meat on the bones' scenes were fast paced .... only you can say whether they were supposed to be or not.

 

[WillHue]

Thanks for the input and link. Helpful.

 

[Paul Whybrow]

As writers, we agonise over things that readers don't even notice. This is especially true of punctuation, which, I think has to be spectacularly bad to upset the average reader.

As you suggest, adding elements to a passage can bulk it out and it helps to make it more real. I've just written a scene in my latest Cornish Detective novel, where the detective protagonist searches the living quarters of a murdered seaman, who lived aboard a shabby trawler. It read OK, but lacked something, so I thought of what my hunter copper would be noticing with all of his senses alert, adding some smells, sounds and textures that made the seediness of the dead man's life more authentic.

On the other hand, it's vital to not over-egg the pudding, by making the writing burdened with too many details. I'm currently reading a highly praised novel featuring a young and shallow city girl who's fled to the Scottish Highlands, fearful that she caused harm to a stranger by getting him to take drugs.Swansong, by Kerry Andrew is engrossing, though replete with details that slow the story. If the protagonist approaches a remote cabin, practically every tree, rock and puddle are described as she walks along. I find myself thinking, "Get on with it!"

That readers gallop through a story that took you months to write, is not as bad as things can get with creative art. Just consider how an oil painting is dismissed with a swift glance!

 

[WillHue]

Thanks for the clarity. Helpful.

 

[Katie-Ellen]

It's like what they say about timing in comedy. There are stretches where you want to slow the thing down, paint a picture, add texture. Raise a question, then make em wait. There are other stretches where you want to gallop through a necessary bit of exposition, and it's different again for a short story.

It is long, hard, lonely work, a novel. Well, I've found it so, but it ain't exactly coal mining, or farming or road building. It has brought me things of immeasurable personal value. Because I'm being what I am so I'm in a true zone doing this thing. And I still haven't placed one. Published so far on the fiction side; a few short stories and pieces of verse. How many years might a magician spend perfecting an illusion that takes 5 minutes or less to deliver to an audience?

Telescopic time.

It has to feel necessary to you.