Do you find yourself 90% of the way through writing your novel, but with a lot of action left to cram in? Or have you galloped through your main ideas, only to find there's another 40,000 words left to write?Pace is one of the trickiest things to get right, and one of the most important things to plan. At school, children are taught that a story should work like a mountain. The introduction to the characters and the story starts on a gentle slope, gradually leading up to the peak (climax of the story), which then falls away to the other side (conclusion).
This is a simplistic way of looking at it, but even as adults we can learn from it. If you sketch out your plot, you can see from your mountain shape where it may need work.
If your novel is all high-pitched action - you are looking at a steep, table-topped picture. If you have no conclusion after your climax - the mountain won't come down again. If your story is lacking in events, you'll see a gentle undulating slope. A novel with three or four main events will look like a mountain range, and can work well, if the introduction and conclusion are well balanced.
Experiment by moving around the story's main events, and see how the shape looks. You could start with a dramatic event, then drop down into introduction before leading gradually back up again.
Think about how you are leaving your reader. A dramatic ending can leave them feeling unsatisfied or startled, but too much conclusion can be boring.
The hardest writing to pace is the short story, as you have so little time to develop your plot. Decide what element you really want the reader to focus on and make sure you give that enough space.
What problems have you had with pacing? And what has helped?
Cressida
(editorial consultant)
Tea Maljkovic on February 3, 2010
I completely agree, pacing in important, but in my writing, I try to get out as much as its possible and after, during editing and proof reading, decide if there is something which isn't necessary in that place or at all or if something is missing.
Furthermore, it's important to have measure. Writing the whole plot in first six chapters isn't advisable and leaving things which might hint to what could happen further in the story isn't the best thing either.
Tony Lester on February 3, 2010
I started off writing a novel but put it on hold to get some practice writing short stories I have had big problems with pace at first in these stories (2000 - 3500 words), as I had a tendancy to finish them off abruptly. Ths was because I didn't want to give the twist away too early. I had readers in two camps. My more literary reader wasn't bothered by the abrupt ending, more focused on the expression and character development, but found my less abrupt finishers "predictable. The more "commercial" readers in my little group, were happy to have a more predictable ending, for the sake of a less abrupt finish and better explained plot. I guess this shows that different styles suit different audiences and maybe you have to compromise on some elements of a story to achieve others.
Well, anyway that's my expert opinion based on a writing careeer of about a month!
Cressida Downing on February 12, 2010
Jessica - that's an interesting way to work, letting the pace be one of the things you fine-tune at an editing stage.
tonyl - yes, pace will vary depending on the genre - good point!
Cressida
David McDougall on February 16, 2010
I was given some extremely valuable advice by Marion Urch, from Adventures in Fiction, after I submitted a previous manuscript for some editorial scrutiny. And that is to write out a chapter listing with a simple paragraph describing the essential events in each chapter and the impact they have.
This means you can plan the entire storyline, the characters and how they'll interact with each other in a way that ensures you'll keep your head above the writing waterline. It basically stops you from drowning in information and makes for easy referencing throughout the entire novel, but more importantly it provides you with a sneak peak of the forthcoming pace, giving you ample time to make any necessary adjustments before you hit that inevitable mountain range.
I'm now using this method to great effect with my current manuscript, which I hope to complete by the end of June.
Harry Dunn on February 16, 2010
That is such a helpful idea. I am at 50k in my first attempt at a crime novel and had been writing into the wee small hours. I must have been more tired than I thought as I had someone taking a taxi to the west end of London when in fact he had been killed off in chapter nine.
Thank you for that great tip.
Regards
Harry Dunn