Pace

[ctg]

I have been trying to find a good source on pacing issue, and I would like to ask from my fellow writers on how do you guys define good pacing? How can you make sure that your story isn't too long, too short, too fast or too slow


To illustrate this issue better, my editor said that I should write more and expand my original ideas. Therefore I did as he said and expanded. For example, the same thing that I used 48 pages before, now I have used 70.

 

[flynx]

Pacing often comes with word usage. Long words, big descriptions, unusual names or long paragraphs can slow a story down.

For example, if you're writing a fight scene it probably would be best not to have a description of the hero's hair colour/length etc. On the other hand you can still get in the length (maybe not the colour) by mentioning that his opponent grabbed it.

A deep, serious conversation won't be best served by the characters using only two or three word sentences.


Punchy makes speed. Eloquence needs time.

 

[ctg]

Thank you. You are right about what you write. I did find the answers to my questions this evening, before I read your words. In a way, what I had written, wasn't too long, but I learned that it was something else, as I had lost the wind from the sails. The pace in the story is almost right, but the pace on the writing had slowed down telling that I had arrived on the stale waters.

I need to persevere.

 

[flynx]

Of course you should share. That's what we're here for. Talk. Discuss. I'd bet that not everyone will agree with the answers you've found, nor indeed with mine.

 

[ctg]

Lol, that was quick. Sorry about the mistake with the edit.

 

[ctg]

The story of the pace is truly on how much of information writer shares with their readers. It is a game of balance at best of the time, but at the end, writer can get it right by following the storyteller voice that keeps pushing the story forward. Writer knows how much to write and what is too much, as writer is the one that reads the story most. What to say, what to tell, are always the questions that suppress writers mind, when I my case the question was on how much should I tell and should I tell more ... explain more.

The biggest problem with me is that I assume too much of my audience. I assume them knowing the same things that I know. I assume them remembering too much and ... having the same knowledge that I have acquired on the subject.

 

[j d worthington]

It isn't just information about the story, but also the type of language used. As noted earlier, the type of words, sentence structure, tone, all help to set pace.

When reading, take time to note your reaction to what you're reading. When you notice a change in the pacing of the story, a desire to "move quicker" with your reading, pause and look at how the writer achieved that effect. Pace also has to vary according to the type of scene or incident. For some things, you want a leisurely sort of pace -- to ease a reader into a tale (or portion of a tale), to give precise information that may be needed later (but which has to be deftly inserted now without halting the forward movement of the narrative), to achieve a certain atmosphere or build tension, etc.; while for others, you do want a short, choppy style that conveys a strong kinetic sense.

Remember, good prose is like good music; it has varied types of movements to elicit varied responses. As Goldman had Henry put it in The Lion in Winter: "Use all your voices", don't restrain yourself to just one or two. You can achieve marvelous things with black and white, but you can convey much richer things when you have the entire palette....

 

[flynx]

The biggest problem with me is that I assume too much of my audience. I assume them knowing the same things that I know. I assume them remembering too much and ... having the same knowledge that I have acquired on the subject.

This is a question that comes up quite often on another site I visit and the phrase that regularly surfaces on those occasions is 'info dump'. The general consensus is that necessary information needs to be spread out through the piece as required from helping the reader imagine a specific person to imparting the fact of ginger hair making your character behave like a stereotype (quick tempered)

But this is the first time I've seen it linked to pace. (see, told you it was worth discussing) And that's a valid point and useful too.

There are two things to remember here. One is that in order for your reader to 'get into' the story they have to suspend their disbelief. They have to take everything written as gospel. If you're reading a book with an obvious glaring error, say Shakespeare looking at his wristwatch, then that pulls your reader out of the story and out of the mood.

The other thing to remember is the opposite, particularly in hard sci-fi, that the writer is certain of the science upon which she speculates and that even though it may be brand new information to the reader it is actually something which does pull you out of the story but only to say "Ahhh" and then delve straight back in.

If your story resonates with the reader, for example is set in the 70's which they remember vividly, then this pulls them further in (unless you have glaring errors obviously) but for those readers born after the 70's they are picking up new information and still being drawn in.

Let's take a two examples. One of todays tech. and one similar of future tech.

A film I saw many years ago was about a bank robbery where they had to cut through lots of concrete. The villains had estimated how long it would take to drill through this concrete using a thermal lance. Their deadline was extended by days because of the heat that a thermal lance creates in a tunnel. News to me. An interesting facet of the story.

Another film I saw (that everyone saw) was a Jedi cutting through armour plated doors using a light sabre. That metal wasn't just melting it was sublimating. Going from solid to gas. Can you imagine the energy required or the heat given off? But that didn't matter. They were Jedi.


Don't know how much help that was but it's what I thought of.

 

[ctg]

This is a question that comes up quite often on another site I visit and the phrase that regularly surfaces on those occasions is 'info dump'. The general consensus is that necessary information needs to be spread out through the piece as required from helping the reader imagine a specific person to imparting the fact of ginger hair making your character behave like a stereotype (quick tempered)

But this is the first time I've seen it linked to pace. (see, told you it was worth discussing) And that's a valid point and useful too.

The problem is that I assume the average reader knowing as much about cyberpunks as I do. I also assume them having an idea of how a classic cyberspace or Matrix has been constructed. I also assume that the reader understand the meaning of the gene-manipulation and can draw conclusion from suttle hints that I have distriputed across the manuscript. By assuming these sort of things I have been able to write a novel, based on belief that the readers understand how certain things affects another ones. However, it is also the world building problem, as I do have to explain bit more about before I can settle on pure story telling and assume that the reader has enough of information to understand the actions, and therefore the story telling can evolve into quicker pacing.

Interesting point is that I have been recently reading Ms Rowlings books and I noticed that she writes in same way as I do, but she also dwell reader in longer descriptions of 'things and matters on the hand' and therefore those things extend the pace of how the story evolves.

When it comes to pace in the action, I have found that the reader can imagine more with less you write. Writer doesn't need to explain every move, or even whole action sequence, just important parts of it and the reader can imagine rest.

I use that sort of descriptive action with my 3rd person POWs through out the whole manuscript. The action is fast paced (short chapters, switching point-of-views), and the dialogue slower paced (centralised on the point-of -view character and the main story.)

The biggest problem on that sort of writing, is that one has be very strict on how to tell the story, and what the characters really know about the matters in the hand.

One editor who I talked about the matter suggested that instead of writing one book, I write five and then cut in all the best parts of those stories. I refused to do so, as a storyteller, I have to have an ability to keep the story in my mind and just tell what I want to the audience. Like many writing manuals say, is that one should only tell what is necessary, and rest can be taken as granted.

However that causes a problem on how much writer can assume on readers knowledge on the matter. Can one say that an average reader understand s on how cybernetics work? Can one assume that an average reader understand how cyberspace works?

The answer is no, not really, as one can never assume that an average reader has researched on the subject as much as you have done. Therefore the writer still have every single time write in enough of information to explain the unexplainable matters in the hand.