Storytelling Decisions: What���s the Right Pace for Your Story?

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As we learn to write, we often hear about the need to create a strong pace in our story. Many seem to think that a strong pace requires a fast pace.

However, that���s not what���s meant by strong. So what is a story’s pace and why is it important?

Pacing is not the same as the speed
that a story takes place, whether the plot covers days or years. (That said, a drawn-out
time frame for a story can affect a reader���s sense of a story���s pace, especially
if it feels like characters are waffling on taking action.)

Instead, the pace of a story is determined
by how fast or slow events unfold in the storytelling. Stories are about
change, and pacing is a measure of how quickly things seem to change from a reader���s
perspective.

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A too-slow pace can feel boring���no one
wants to read 100 pages of nothing happening, nothing changing. But at the same
time, a too-fast pace can feel hectic, be difficult for readers to follow, and prevent
readers from connecting to characters or the story. So we need to find the
right balance.

What���s the Right
Pace for Our Story?

The ���right��� balance will be different
for each story. There���s no formula we can rely on
for creating the ���perfect��� mix for our story���s pace, such as writing 50% action,
40% dialogue, and 10% narrative.

The right pace for our story depends on
several factors, including:

our genre (thriller
readers expect a faster pace than women���s fiction readers)our story���s voice (some
voices are more chatty or terse than others)our story���s length
(shorter stories often need a faster pace than novels, just to fit in the whole
plot)our goals for reader connection
to characters (more emotional connection requires delving more into a
character���s introspection and emotional experience)our goals for reader experience
(a fast thrill ride or deeper thoughts/emotional responses)



What Creates a
Story���s Pace?



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When we talk about pacing, we could be
referring to several different writing or craft elements that affect pacing,
including:

Story Structure: Beat sheets can reveal whether plot
turning points are happening at the right point to satisfy readers.Tension: Emotion, contrast, strong goals, conflict, foreshadowing, and
even paragraph breaks can all increase tension, which affects pacing.Narrative Drive: The sense of forward movement in the story, working toward a
satisfying ending.Obstacles: A sense of conflict���if meaningful and not random���creates
tension, which increases a story���s pace.Goals and Stakes: Pacing drags if the stakes aren���t
rising throughout the story, and stakes can���t exist without goals at
risk.Infodumps: Dumping information from backstory, worldbuilding,
or descriptions pulls down the pace of a scene.Narrative Elements: Too much of anything���action, dialogue, description,
introspection, etc.���in a row can hurt pacing, so limit any one element to two
or three paragraphs and then add something else to the mix.Sentence Structure: Long, complex sentences slow down a paragraph���s pace, and
short, choppy sentences speed up a paragraph���s pace. There���s a time and place
for both.



How to Create a Strong
Pace?

Most pacing advice out there focuses on how to speed up or slow down our story���s pace, such as varying sentence and paragraph length, changing the mix of dialogue/action and descriptive paragraphs, using an appropriate level of detail, etc. All that is good to know, but doesn���t answer the question of how to create a stronger pace.

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For a strong pace, ensure every aspect
of our story has a purpose. We need to���

focus on good story structure, so
the narrative drive of our
story���s beats all lead to a strong climaxskip pointless scenes that
don���t progress the storycreate characters with strong
goals, to develop stakes and motivations for their actionsavoid irrelevant information
dumps or backstory use
the plot to reveal our characterscreate appropriate conflict to drive
the plot, establish tension, and push characters to confront their weaknessesdevelop a strong voice to earn
reader���s trust that everything has a purposeavoid unnecessary repetition or
giving redundant
informationuse smooth transitions to carry
readers along the story���s flowadd hooks/story questions to
maintain tension before switching to lower-stake subplot scenes

And finally, we need to���

speed up and slow down the pace
when appropriate for story events���any speed can become monotonous if it lacks
variety

Storytelling is an emotional journey for
readers, and good storytellers pay attention to the journey from their readers���
perspective. A strong pace carries readers along on that emotional journey,
like an expert tour guide ensuring no one gets lost or bored along the way.
*smile*

Do you have any questions or insights about bridging conflict or how to use it?



Jami GoldResident Writing Coach

After muttering writing advice in tongues, Jami decided to put her talent for making up stuff to good use. Fueled by chocolate, she creates writing resources and writes award-winning paranormal romance stories where normal need not apply. Just ask her family���and zombie cat. Find out more about Jami here, hang out with her on social media, or visit her website and Goodreads profile.
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