Pacing

[Ghost]

How do you learn to fix pacing on your own? I know beta readers are good for this kind of thing, but what are signs and symptoms I can recognize in my own drafts?

What do you do to speed up slow passages? How do you slow down sections that are too fast?

I'm also looking for general thoughts on pacing, so any insights would be great.

[T.Allen.Smith]

The first thing I look at is sentence length. When trying to write something fast paced (suspenseful or tense moments) shorter sentences help. You can establish a certain cadence with your sentences that can make things seem to be moving faster as you read.

Conversely, if I want to slow things down, longer, more elaborate sentences & complex sentences aid with pacing.

Pacing is important. It is one of the advantages that writing has over visual media. We, as authors, can leap through periods of time or slow them to a crawl more effectively.

[T.Allen.Smith]

One other thing on sentence length and cadence... Don't become repetitive with the cadence. Repetition will lull your reader to sleep.

[Jess A]

If you want to learn to be to the point and cut slow passages down, learn the art of journalism writing.

I find I target useless dialogue, over-the-top description and 'fluff'. If you want to slow down the pace, certainly add description where it may be lacking, and perhaps some more dialogue.

[Telcontar]

Here's a little guide I worked out for someone else, and he told me it's been working pretty well. Please note that this isn't something I do myself (I seem to have a decent knack for pacing, so haven't needed to think about it as much as other things).

Basically it works by expressing the excitement level of your book in a number. Warning, this may involve making a graph.

1) Go through your book or your outline chapter by chapter (for shorter works use smaller chunks, obviously). for any decent length story you want at least ten 'chunks' to rate.

2) Give each chunk an excitement level between 1-10, with 1 being "characters have a conversation about tofu" to 10: "character fights the archvillain in a giant robot battle, while making love to the main love interest. In space. And there are ninjas." (I jest, but hopefully you get the picture).

3) Graph those numbers. It's just a little graph, you sissy. You'll be fine.

4) Make sure there are lots of ups and downs, and that the excitement tends to rise throughout the book. Make sure any plateaus (areas of basically same excitement) are short and surrounded by heavy changes in excitement. if there are more than three chunks with the same level of excitement in a row, change something.

I went into further detail with him (he was a pretty new writer), but that's the heart of it. Visualize the book and use that picture to help you make changes.

Another small detail I will add is that your writing should reflect the pace of story as well. Shorter sentences and smaller words often accompany moments of high action, whereas longer more descriptive sentences are more natural for slower scenes.

[Jess A]

Well said, Telcontar. A good idea. I am a very visual person (and all too used to graphing; I have a science degree) so a graph is a fantastic idea. I've also seen graphs for the structure of narrative.

On short sentences: Some authors use this throughout their books. James Patterson (and his ghost writers), a crime writer, characteristically uses short chapters to build excitement and make people keep reading. Lee Child, also a thriller author, uses short sentences. I call them 'staccato' sentences: "I looked at the officer. He glared at me. He sat. I sat. He wrote some notes."

Other authors add too much detail: Jean Auel, for example. If you want to learn how to write lengthy passages, pick up a Jean Auel - 'Plains of Passage'. You will understand a slow (frustrating) read but it can help with fleshing out a slower passage and description.

These are two extremes. I like more detail and depth than the crime writers but I don't like too much detail either because it drowns the reader. If I feel as though I am being far too indulgent in my setting (I know I can be), then I go back and I cut it down as much as I can. If I feel like my action and dialogue scenes lack any depth, then I will go back and try to add a bit whilst keeping it short and to the point. Whatever serves the scene. Whatever serves the story.

[Benjamin Clayborne]

Keep in mind that an excitement level of 10 doesn't have to be grand physical action: It could be a tense conversation between two characters, the outcome of which determines someone's fate.

[The Dark One]

Make sure that there is always some kind of movement towards an ultimate goal and the pacing will take care of itself.

If, at the end of each scene, the reader is always learning something new and important towards the resolution/climax of the plot then there will be a natural sense of pace.

[Roc]

I find that interesting and believable dialogue can make a slow scene more fun to read about. Humor in dialogue is always classic, but hard to pull off. Good luck.

[Devor]

Sometimes it helps to think about the "zoom" of your POV. If a scene is slow, for instance, "zoom out" and cover it more broadly. Instead of going into detail, it's okay to cut it down to the important things:

When Devor went to her home and tried to talk to her about it, all she could say "So what?" And she slammed the door in his face before he could answer, leaving him feeling baffled. Why wouldn't she be concerned?

To me, that's what pacing is about. Managing the zoom of your POV, zooming in to look at the characters at the more important areas, zooming out to cover the bare essentials.

By the way, that's part of the reason this is so hard: You often want to have a detailed scene when you shouldn't.