Pacing

Over the summer, in addition to revising Cleodora Books 1 & 2, I read back through a couple of older novels from the 1990s. Mostly ones by Barbara Hambly, who was one of my must-by authors in those days. I also read a couple of Martha Wells’ early novels. I’m struck by how different the pacing is from books written in the 2010s and ’20s.

Mostly, it’s that the plots extended farther than we write them now. I get to the 3/4 mark or so and think the story will start to wrap up. But then another complication is introduced and I find myself thinking, “this is taking too long.” It’s not that I think the authors were padding the stories to be paid per word. More like, readers had to get more story for our dollar?

Another thing we do differently now, at least in some cases, is the approach to love scenes. In these novels from the ’90s, the curtain is drawn between the reader and the lovers. We come back to them afterward. The effect, at least to me, is that their emotions are blunted. The lovers’ passion is more of a plot point than a dynamic part of the story.

This might sound like a complaint, and it isn’t, really. At the time these books came out, this was how a proper fantasy novel was written. And I think it connects to the intermittent grievance in SFF circles about “too much romance” in genre fiction. If you expect the romance to be just a plot point, then emphasizing it might be jarring.

But at the same time, I can see why so many readers went for urban fantasy toward the end of the ’90s. The sexy nature and the faster pacing would definitely attract (LoL) fans who wanted a more emotional reading experience.

Just an odd thought for your Saturday morning.

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