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Pacing Best Practices
- Thread starter Connor364
- Start date
Acolyte
pmmg
Myth Weaver
Best...I don't know.
My English Teacher would say things like...Outline, Thesis statement, Opening/3 supporting ideas/conclusion....
For myself...
I pretty much know the tale in my head before I start, which is to say, I know the end, and some of the scenes in the middle, but maybe not all the scenes.
I spend most of my time not writing, thinking on the next upcoming scene (and going on a long drive helps me with this).
I write at least one sentence every night (often more)
I do all the scenes in order (I don't skip around)
I dont edit
I dont look things up
I make up stuff (like names) and let them fill in till I come up with a more permanent one.
I keep my own personal rules in mind (such as dont start with the word 'The', and keep it about the characters....)
And I move steadily towards the end till its finished.
And I follow the three rules below.
Pacing for me pretty much takes care of itself. But...if I feel its getting too slow, I might leap ahead (such as skipping the travel scene), or if its to fast, I might slow it down, by adding scenes I might skip to quicken the pace.
I have two ways of looking at stories.
For Pacing, I tend to look at it as: The stuff that is the important stuff of the story, and The scenes that connect them together.
Generally, they split the story 50/50. Big scenes, connecting scene, big scene, connecting scene... but not always.
My English Teacher would say things like...Outline, Thesis statement, Opening/3 supporting ideas/conclusion....
For myself...
I pretty much know the tale in my head before I start, which is to say, I know the end, and some of the scenes in the middle, but maybe not all the scenes.
I spend most of my time not writing, thinking on the next upcoming scene (and going on a long drive helps me with this).
I write at least one sentence every night (often more)
I do all the scenes in order (I don't skip around)
I dont edit
I dont look things up
I make up stuff (like names) and let them fill in till I come up with a more permanent one.
I keep my own personal rules in mind (such as dont start with the word 'The', and keep it about the characters....)
And I move steadily towards the end till its finished.
And I follow the three rules below.
Pacing for me pretty much takes care of itself. But...if I feel its getting too slow, I might leap ahead (such as skipping the travel scene), or if its to fast, I might slow it down, by adding scenes I might skip to quicken the pace.
I have two ways of looking at stories.
For Pacing, I tend to look at it as: The stuff that is the important stuff of the story, and The scenes that connect them together.
Generally, they split the story 50/50. Big scenes, connecting scene, big scene, connecting scene... but not always.
Last edited:
Fyri
Inkling
Pay attention to your sentences!
If you want the scene to be a faster pace, you'll want to give less info and generally keep sentences shorter. Spend less time describing things and more time making things happen.
If you need the text to slow down, maybe you need to lengthen your sentences. Show more. Stay with a character's actions or thoughts longer (say more about them).
For the overall story, if you are trying to figure out the best amount and timing for slow or fast pacing, I might recommend this article! One of my favorites.
Could you elaborate on your question? If a story isn't "going anywhere", what make you feel that way? Have you written the story all the way to the end? Is it that you're getting bored with the story, or is it that you like the story but are having trouble telling it well, making it exciting? Does every story that doesn't go anywhere all seem to have the same problem?
At the other end, I'm not sure what "going crazy fast" means here. Too many characters? Power characters scaling up too quickly? Here again, are we talking about you judging your completed stories, or are you saying these are reasons why you have yet to finish a story?
I offer the above only as a starter. There are myriad ways for stories to go awry, so it helps for posters here to be as specific as possible.
At the other end, I'm not sure what "going crazy fast" means here. Too many characters? Power characters scaling up too quickly? Here again, are we talking about you judging your completed stories, or are you saying these are reasons why you have yet to finish a story?
I offer the above only as a starter. There are myriad ways for stories to go awry, so it helps for posters here to be as specific as possible.
Read up on writing Scene and Sequel. Google will give you the basics. It should be enough for you to get started, but if you want to learn more and get into the minutia of it, check out the Elements of Fiction series of writing books, specifically the book called Scene and Structure.
- Thread starter
- #6
Thank you! Very helpful resources.
- Thread starter
- #7
Sometimes I just feel like I have to write a slow travel or dialogue scene because the book has been really fast paced for a while. I struggle making those scense feel meaningful and like they are driving the plot forward, while also staying true to the characters.
Because I feel like I am weaker at writing slower scenes I spend a lot of time just jumping straight to all the cool events I've thought up, without any breaks in between.
- Thread starter
- #8
This is very helpful! Do you have any general tips on making the slower scenes, espescially dialouge scenes, engaging?
Fyri
Inkling
Hm. It's hard to give specific tips on this without seeing an example of what you already have.
In general, I'd say to make sure every dialogue counts. Focus on either plot or character growth. Ask yourself, "Is this a conversation that is meaningful to the plot or helps the reader see how one of the characters are changing or something that touches on their personal arch in the story? If not, is there a conversation that could do this?"
Side quests, fluff, or "anime filler episodes" are usually not something to include in a novel (though I stand by the idea that no rule is carved in stone). It's better to make sure your fast scenes AND your slow scenes are working together to further the plot or character development.
If such a thing is the problem, I'd also recommend studying Avatar: TLA's "Beach Episode." It plays on the anime tactic of having a "beach episode" that's all fan service and fluff, but it is very much not itself. In the episode, it actually works toward plot and character development for plot, making every interaction and conversation useful and interesting, even though there is nothing going on action/plot-wise for the characters at the time.
Beyond that, there's the age old advice on eavesdropping on everyday conversations in public and take notes on what you notice. *shrug*
In general, I'd say to make sure every dialogue counts. Focus on either plot or character growth. Ask yourself, "Is this a conversation that is meaningful to the plot or helps the reader see how one of the characters are changing or something that touches on their personal arch in the story? If not, is there a conversation that could do this?"
Side quests, fluff, or "anime filler episodes" are usually not something to include in a novel (though I stand by the idea that no rule is carved in stone). It's better to make sure your fast scenes AND your slow scenes are working together to further the plot or character development.
If such a thing is the problem, I'd also recommend studying Avatar: TLA's "Beach Episode." It plays on the anime tactic of having a "beach episode" that's all fan service and fluff, but it is very much not itself. In the episode, it actually works toward plot and character development for plot, making every interaction and conversation useful and interesting, even though there is nothing going on action/plot-wise for the characters at the time.
Beyond that, there's the age old advice on eavesdropping on everyday conversations in public and take notes on what you notice. *shrug*
OK, but there are other ways to slow down the action. You might consider a philosophical discussion, a bit of comedic fooling around, charging off turns into a slog and then a dead end, a little romance (which of course can also be face paced), or just stopping to pet the dog. Lots of ways to slow down without necessarily having to write travel.
Jumping forward is fine, it really is. I do it often. It can lead to a very messy first draft, but I have been able to find at least one benefit; namely, that now that I have Action Scene 4 and Action Scene 5, I am able to see better what needs to be done in between. Typically, things have happened in Scene 4 that call for some sort of reaction from my characters. At the very least, they can review what was done, debate next actions, and make a decision. That whole process works better when I know what Scene 5 looks like. I can foreshadow. I can present what sounds like good arguments, only to show their weaknesses. And so on. The only real mistake would be to leave the jumps without providing any connecting material.
Transition sentences are important and they're never limp. The same goes for transitional scenes. I suspect that the reasing why you are weaker at the slower scenes is because you aren't clear about the consequences of Scene 4 and how those consequences drive Scene 5. In such a case, for myself, I have come to understand that both Scene 4 and Scene 5 need more work. That, in turn, usually means I need to look more carefully at my plot and at my characters within the plot at these particular junctures.
To put all this a different way, it's not that I'm no good at writing slow scenes, but that the scene itself is weak and either needs work or else isn't needed at all.
Prince of Spires
Auror
The main way to solve this is to practice and to get a lot of feedback from people. No magic bullet unfortunately.
A few other remarks. It's also a style factor. Will Wight writes what he calls epic fantasy with the boring bits taken out (in a respectful way by the way...). He drags you through the story, giving you very little time to breathe so to speak. The same goes for many thrillers. Romance stories on the other hand tend to have more slower, character focussed moments. So it's only a bad thing if it's not what you want to achieve with your writing.
Another thing is to think about your story in terms of promisses, progress, and payoff (which I've borrowed from Brandon Sanderson, check out his lectures on Youtube). Promisses are about letting your reader know what type of story they're getting, but also about telling the reader what kind of story act they can expect or for a sub-plot about where it's going or why it's there.
Progress then is showing the reader that your characters are moving towards the goal you set up in your promisses. If your pacing feels wrong, then this is usually where the problem lies. Either you have no progress towards your goal (making your pacing seem to slow), or your steps towards it are too big (making the story feel rushed). Examine your story for the progress towards your stated story goals.
Pay-off is the climax of your story or story arc.
A few other remarks. It's also a style factor. Will Wight writes what he calls epic fantasy with the boring bits taken out (in a respectful way by the way...). He drags you through the story, giving you very little time to breathe so to speak. The same goes for many thrillers. Romance stories on the other hand tend to have more slower, character focussed moments. So it's only a bad thing if it's not what you want to achieve with your writing.
Another thing is to think about your story in terms of promisses, progress, and payoff (which I've borrowed from Brandon Sanderson, check out his lectures on Youtube). Promisses are about letting your reader know what type of story they're getting, but also about telling the reader what kind of story act they can expect or for a sub-plot about where it's going or why it's there.
Progress then is showing the reader that your characters are moving towards the goal you set up in your promisses. If your pacing feels wrong, then this is usually where the problem lies. Either you have no progress towards your goal (making your pacing seem to slow), or your steps towards it are too big (making the story feel rushed). Examine your story for the progress towards your stated story goals.
Pay-off is the climax of your story or story arc.
Karlin
Troubadour
I'm in the "write the first draft, then sort it all out" group.. If your pace was too fast, you can fix it afterwards. If your story "isn't going anywhere", then maybe 'pacing' per se isn't the problem.
