Pacing is a tricky, tricky thing. Hopefully, by breaking it down into two schools of thought, we can better our understanding of maintaining effective pacing.Â
as requested by @whisperinghallwaysofmirrors
According to Writerâs Digest, narrative pacing is âa tool that controls the speed and rhythm at which a story is told⊠[H]ow fast or slow events in a piece unfold and how much time elapses in a scene or story.â
Pacing can be a lot of things. Slow, fast, suspenseful, meandering, boring, exciting, et cetera et cetera. While we donât want meandering or boring, getting it to be the other things can be a feat.Â
As I go through all of this, I would like to say that the number one thing you should be keeping in mind with the pacing of your story is the purpose.
What is the purpose of this story, scene, dialogue, action, arc, plot point, chapter, et al? This and only this will keep you on track the whole way through.Â
Without further ado, here are the two types of pacingâŠ
This, to me, is the harder of the two. Macro pacing usually comes naturally with our understanding of overall story structure that we see in books and movies. Micro is much more subjective and labor-intensive.
The first step of every scene you write is to identify what kind of pacing it needs to be effective. Is a slower pace going to nail in the emotional tone? Is a faster pace going to convey how urgent the scene is? Is choppy going to show how chaotic it is? How much attention to detail is needed? Et cetera. And even with the sceneâs tone, there are also tones within with action, dialogue, and narrator perception.
There is no one-size-fits-all trick to mastering pacing. All you can do is try to keep it in mind as you draft. Donât let it consume you, though. Just get it down. After drafting, look at the pacing with a critical eye. Do important scenes go too fast? Are unnecessary things being dragged out? Is this scene too detailed to be suspenseful?
A lot of errors in pacing are quick fixes. The adding or removal of details, shortening or lengthening of sentences, changing descriptions. However, these quick fixes do take a while when you have to look at every single scene in a story.
Rather than the contents of a scene, this deals with everything larger. Scenes, chapters, plot points, storylines, subplots, and arcs. This is taking a look at how they all work for each other when pieced together.
One of the biggest resources when it comes to analyzing macro pacing is story structure philosophy. The common examples are Freytagâs Pyramid, the 3-Act Structure, Heroâs Journey, and Blake Snyderâs 15 Beats. They follow the traditional story structure. Exposition, catalyst, rising action, climax, and resolution (albeit each in different terms and specificity). Though some see it as âcookie-cutterâ, 99% of effective stories follow these formats at a considerable capacity. Itâs not always about how the story is told, but rather who tells it. But I digress.
Looking at these structures, we can begin to see how the tried-and-true set-up is centered around effective pacing.
The beginning, where everything is set up, is slower but short and sweet. The catalyst happens early and our MC is sent out on a journey or quest whether they like it or not. The trek to a climax is a tricky stage for maintaining effective pacing. Good stories fluctuate between fast and slow. There is enough to keep it exciting, but weâre given breaks to stop and examine the finer details like theme, characterization, and arcs.
The edge before the climax is typically when the action keeps coming and weâre no longer given breaks. The suspense grabs us and doesnât let go. This is the suspense that effectively amounts to the crescendo and leads to the emotional payoff and release that follows in the resolution. The resolution is nothing BUT a break, or a breather if you will. Though it is slower like the exposition, it is longer than that because this is where we wrap everything up for total closure. This is what the reader needs, rather than what they want. So you can take your time.
Not every story has to follow this recipe step-by-step. Critically acclaimed movies such as Pulp Fiction, Frances Ha, and Inside Llewyn Davis* break the traditional structure. However, they still keep certain ingredients in it. Whether it be the concept of a climax, the idea of a journey, or the overall balance of tension and release.
If youâre struggling with the macro side of your storyâs pacing, I would try to identify what the weakest areas are and see if applying these story structure concepts and methodology strengthens it at all. If not, it may be that your story idea doesnât fit the âsubstanceâ requirement of an 80k+ word novel. It may need more or fewer subplots or an increase of conflict or more things getting in the MCâs way. You could also see if adapting it to a shorter medium (novella, et al) or a longer medium (series, episodics, et al) would alleviate the pacing issues.
*sorry all my references are movies and not books, but Iâve seen more movies than Iâve read books
Pacing, both macro and micro, are incredibly subjective concepts. The only way to really find out how effective your storyâs pacing is, is to look at it through the lens of traditional structures and ask for feedback from beta readers. How a reader,who doesnât know the whole story like you do feels about pacing is the best resource you could have.
