i’m not so great at this, but i have a few ideas, if you don’t mind me suggesting :) but all in all, it comes down to knowing your writing and practicing, since it’s different for everyone.
to slow down the pace of your story:
sometimes, you’re just so in the moment that you forget to take in your surroundings, and that’s normal. but if your character is all action, and not even noticing they’re fighting above a volcano’s crater that’s about to erupt, there’s a small problem. add descriptors here and there, even between fighting—it can even be one sentence or one clause. for example:
He slashed upward, just barely missing the man’s shoulder and instead slicing through his baggy clothing.
okay, maybe that wasn’t the best example, but i’m trying!! of course, you can’t add them wherever you want. this leads into:
include breaks from the action
in my opinion, fight / action scenes are some of the hardest to write. there needs to be a perfect blend of description and action, and that can be really difficult to pull off.
taking breaks from the action not only helps with that, but it also gives the characters a chance to analyze the situation better. i like to use the skeleton outline (20% inciting incident, 50% point of no return, etc) for literally every scene, and it especially helps with fights.
insert dialogue here and there
now, i’m kind of a hypocrite here because most of my action scenes lack dialogue, because my characters are never fighting beside each other, they’re always split up. but i’ve been adding conversations recently, and i have to say they’re incredible in so many ways.
not only do they help with pacing, but it also gives you the chance to add humour, tension, and even relay important information. so yeah, talking is great! just don’t add too much dialogue, or else the scene will become static. remember, there always needs to be a balance!
to keep your scenes from being static:
a problem that many people face with dialogue is it being unnecessary. when the characters have a conversation just to fill up space, it’s obvious. small talk isn’t fun, and it adds nothing to the story. so try to avoid that. of course, there can be little comments and jokes here and there, but small talk is probably something you can skip over.
cut unimportant paragraphs
now, this one is similar to the previous, but this has to do more with giant blocks of texts. you don’t need to describe every single object in every single house—only the important stuff. anything that isn’t important or adds nothing to the story; cut it out. and trust me, you’ll know it, deep in your heart, when something isn’t important.
as always, this is just my opinion. feel free to take this as you wish, and please reblog if you have any more ideas!
