- Feb 3, 2024
- LitCoin
- 0
New blog post by Claire G
More Haste, Less Speed?
What Do We Mean by ‘Pace’ And Why Is It Important?
We often hear that books are fast-paced, slow burn or ‘saggy in the middle’. In a nutshell, pace is the speed at which a story unfolds (note that this is not the same as the speed at which a story takes place, e.g. over a day, months, a year, decades). Pace relates to rhythm, tension, rising and falling action, positioning of plot points (like reveals and twists) and overall story/character arcs. Generally speaking, thrillers tend to be faster-paced than sweeping historical sagas, for example.
It matters because, regardless of genre, a well-paced story holds the reader’s interest throughout. By ‘well-paced’, I don’t mean it races ahead at break-neck speed from start to end, or conversely plods along like the fabled tortoise. It’s important to achieve balance and variety to avoid reader fatigue, i.e. to speed up the pace during high-octane scenes, then slow down the pace to allow the reader breathing space, or, in slower-paced novels, to reduce the risk of boredom and frustration by quickening the pace during action scenes and the climax. In other words, suit the pace to the mood at that point in the story. There will be times when you’ll want to inject a sense of urgency into a scene to drive the story forward, and others when you’ll want to provide respite by focusing on character development and descriptive passages (but be careful not to over-do the latter!).
Pacing at Sentence Level
It’s a generalisation, but shorter sentences tend to quicken the pace. Note that some variation is still required to avoid the prose becoming stilted though (you can have too much of a good thing!).
Longer, more complex sentences usually slow the pace, but this can depend on their cadence and rhythm (factors like the number of syllables in each word, whereby using only one and two syllable words may speed up the pace of longer sentences).
Avid readers often absorb the features of slow and fast-paced sentences by osmosis, and, as writers, will naturally incorporate these things instinctively, but it doesn’t hurt to be aware of the mechanics going on as the words spill onto the page.
Pacing at Scene Level
Start by asking yourself why this scene is in the book. It sounds obvious, but if it doesn’t move the story along in some way, it’s going to have to go (kill that darling!). You may love the scene, you may have spent hours or days crafting it into a beautiful piece of prose, but if it doesn’t add to the character arc or plot, then I’m afraid it’s time to say goodbye.
For each scene, think about what the character wants and what’s preventing them from getting it. This will give the scene focus and stop it from meandering and losing relevance and purpose. You can show goals and obstacles in different ways, e.g. through dialogue.
Pacing at Novel Level
When your novel is complete, put it away for a while so you can return to it with relatively fresh eyes. Perhaps alter the format by downloading it to an e-reader or printing it (some authors even change the font in attempt to get distance from the story). When you read through (ideally aloud or using text-to-voice software), note the places where your attention begins to wander – you could ask this of a trusted beta reader too. Then analyse these scenes and decide whether to sharpen or cut. You can also note (perhaps use a different colour if you’re a visual person) where the pacing feels rushed. How can you slow things down? Can you lengthen some of the sentences? Can you add interiority? What about adding relevant backstory? Do we need more sensory setting description to enrich the scene? Have you developed that sub-plot enough?
Add questions, intrigue and mystery to keep the reader engaged throughout (but remember to give some payoffs along the way, otherwise they may get frustrated). Use hooks and cliffhangers at the end of chapters to make the reader want to keep going. Agent Pete would call these ‘Curiosity Cookies’.
Are your main plot points too close together or too far apart? Does your character go on an interior journey – are they changed somehow by the end of the story? Can you add a ‘ticking clock’ – a deadline by which your protagonist must meet their story goal, e.g. to find the murderer, or save the world? You can achieve the ‘ticking clock’ by shortening the time-span over which your story takes place.
“Clare Mackintosh explains that she draws a graph of the three-act structure on a large sheet of paper and adds in her scenes on post-its. High-octane action scenes go high up on the sheet. If it’s what she calls a ‘recovery beat’, she’ll put it lower down. She can then stand back and consider the pacing of her novel. If all her story pacing notes are high up, it means everything is heart in mouth. As Clare points out: Rollercoasters are only exciting because of the transition from high to low. What scares you is the swoop down to the bottom.” (taken from thenovelry.com)
“I will sometimes draw an arc on a large piece of paper and mark along it the major plot points of the book. In another color, I note my character’s “identity” or the false persona they present to the world at the beginning of the novel and their “essence” or the real person underneath, at the end. Then I mark the incremental way the character changes in response to the plot points. Then I go through all of the scenes of my book, referring back to my chart, and any scene that does not agree with the character arc or seems to serve neither character arc nor plot will be either rewritten or cut. Equally, if a step in a character’s transformation is missing, I will add that scene in.” (Christine Wells, taken from writersdigest.com).
Research pulled together from:
Pacing a Novel: Practical Tips | The Blog | The Novelry
8 Tools for Pacing Your Novel – Writer’s Digest
Experience
You’ll notice that I’ve referenced the websites where I got many of these tips from. That’s because I needed to do this research to help with my own pacing issues. I often get early feedback that my scenes are well-written, but that they’re not necessarily purposeful. I read that this can be the result of meandering due to not having a clear sense of the scene’s relevance to the plot or character arc (this is where plotting beforehand can be helpful!).
I’m also a under-writer, meaning I struggle to reach conventional, expected word counts for published novels. I worry that this demonstrates that I’m whizzing through the story at breakneck speed, over-developing some unnecessary scenes along the way perhaps, but generally not giving enough space on the page to key events, or not developing characters enough to make the reader care.
Final Thoughts
What is your genre? How do you pace your scenes/novel effectively to achieve balance and variety? Any tips?
What is your Achilles’ Heel when it comes to pacing your story well?
---
More Haste, Less Speed?
What Do We Mean by ‘Pace’ And Why Is It Important?
We often hear that books are fast-paced, slow burn or ‘saggy in the middle’. In a nutshell, pace is the speed at which a story unfolds (note that this is not the same as the speed at which a story takes place, e.g. over a day, months, a year, decades). Pace relates to rhythm, tension, rising and falling action, positioning of plot points (like reveals and twists) and overall story/character arcs. Generally speaking, thrillers tend to be faster-paced than sweeping historical sagas, for example.
It matters because, regardless of genre, a well-paced story holds the reader’s interest throughout. By ‘well-paced’, I don’t mean it races ahead at break-neck speed from start to end, or conversely plods along like the fabled tortoise. It’s important to achieve balance and variety to avoid reader fatigue, i.e. to speed up the pace during high-octane scenes, then slow down the pace to allow the reader breathing space, or, in slower-paced novels, to reduce the risk of boredom and frustration by quickening the pace during action scenes and the climax. In other words, suit the pace to the mood at that point in the story. There will be times when you’ll want to inject a sense of urgency into a scene to drive the story forward, and others when you’ll want to provide respite by focusing on character development and descriptive passages (but be careful not to over-do the latter!).
Pacing at Sentence Level
It’s a generalisation, but shorter sentences tend to quicken the pace. Note that some variation is still required to avoid the prose becoming stilted though (you can have too much of a good thing!).
Longer, more complex sentences usually slow the pace, but this can depend on their cadence and rhythm (factors like the number of syllables in each word, whereby using only one and two syllable words may speed up the pace of longer sentences).
Avid readers often absorb the features of slow and fast-paced sentences by osmosis, and, as writers, will naturally incorporate these things instinctively, but it doesn’t hurt to be aware of the mechanics going on as the words spill onto the page.
Pacing at Scene Level
Start by asking yourself why this scene is in the book. It sounds obvious, but if it doesn’t move the story along in some way, it’s going to have to go (kill that darling!). You may love the scene, you may have spent hours or days crafting it into a beautiful piece of prose, but if it doesn’t add to the character arc or plot, then I’m afraid it’s time to say goodbye.
For each scene, think about what the character wants and what’s preventing them from getting it. This will give the scene focus and stop it from meandering and losing relevance and purpose. You can show goals and obstacles in different ways, e.g. through dialogue.
Pacing at Novel Level
When your novel is complete, put it away for a while so you can return to it with relatively fresh eyes. Perhaps alter the format by downloading it to an e-reader or printing it (some authors even change the font in attempt to get distance from the story). When you read through (ideally aloud or using text-to-voice software), note the places where your attention begins to wander – you could ask this of a trusted beta reader too. Then analyse these scenes and decide whether to sharpen or cut. You can also note (perhaps use a different colour if you’re a visual person) where the pacing feels rushed. How can you slow things down? Can you lengthen some of the sentences? Can you add interiority? What about adding relevant backstory? Do we need more sensory setting description to enrich the scene? Have you developed that sub-plot enough?
Add questions, intrigue and mystery to keep the reader engaged throughout (but remember to give some payoffs along the way, otherwise they may get frustrated). Use hooks and cliffhangers at the end of chapters to make the reader want to keep going. Agent Pete would call these ‘Curiosity Cookies’.
Are your main plot points too close together or too far apart? Does your character go on an interior journey – are they changed somehow by the end of the story? Can you add a ‘ticking clock’ – a deadline by which your protagonist must meet their story goal, e.g. to find the murderer, or save the world? You can achieve the ‘ticking clock’ by shortening the time-span over which your story takes place.
“Clare Mackintosh explains that she draws a graph of the three-act structure on a large sheet of paper and adds in her scenes on post-its. High-octane action scenes go high up on the sheet. If it’s what she calls a ‘recovery beat’, she’ll put it lower down. She can then stand back and consider the pacing of her novel. If all her story pacing notes are high up, it means everything is heart in mouth. As Clare points out: Rollercoasters are only exciting because of the transition from high to low. What scares you is the swoop down to the bottom.” (taken from thenovelry.com)
“I will sometimes draw an arc on a large piece of paper and mark along it the major plot points of the book. In another color, I note my character’s “identity” or the false persona they present to the world at the beginning of the novel and their “essence” or the real person underneath, at the end. Then I mark the incremental way the character changes in response to the plot points. Then I go through all of the scenes of my book, referring back to my chart, and any scene that does not agree with the character arc or seems to serve neither character arc nor plot will be either rewritten or cut. Equally, if a step in a character’s transformation is missing, I will add that scene in.” (Christine Wells, taken from writersdigest.com).
Research pulled together from:
Pacing a Novel: Practical Tips | The Blog | The Novelry
8 Tools for Pacing Your Novel – Writer’s Digest
Experience
You’ll notice that I’ve referenced the websites where I got many of these tips from. That’s because I needed to do this research to help with my own pacing issues. I often get early feedback that my scenes are well-written, but that they’re not necessarily purposeful. I read that this can be the result of meandering due to not having a clear sense of the scene’s relevance to the plot or character arc (this is where plotting beforehand can be helpful!).
I’m also a under-writer, meaning I struggle to reach conventional, expected word counts for published novels. I worry that this demonstrates that I’m whizzing through the story at breakneck speed, over-developing some unnecessary scenes along the way perhaps, but generally not giving enough space on the page to key events, or not developing characters enough to make the reader care.
Final Thoughts
What is your genre? How do you pace your scenes/novel effectively to achieve balance and variety? Any tips?
What is your Achilles’ Heel when it comes to pacing your story well?
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