Here at Honeycomb Author Services, we have a story we're creating throughout our blog posts. So if you're new here or just want a refresher, here is our story's synopsis!
Now onto the episode!
Gabrielle here!
Pacing is the bane of my existence. I’m constantly worried about whether my story is moving too fast or too slow, but there’s no speedometer to follow. When I beta read or workshop stories, writers constantly ask about the pacing. So this seems to be a prominent problem. But what exactly is “pacing?” It’s not like my other nemesis, character description, where it’s a concrete thing that exists on the page. It’s abstract, it’s complex, and it’s inescapable. So enough of this! Let’s get some concrete definitions for terms and some strategies for figuring out how to appropriately pace our stories.
Two Levels:
When writers say “pacing” there are two different things we could be talking about. There’s pacing on the scene level and pacing on the story level. The scene level is focused on the speed of sentences and actions within a single scene while the story level is focused on the speed of different plot points. They’re related but “how quickly are things moving on the page” and “how quickly are events in the story occurring” are technically two different questions. So moving forward with the rest of the post, I’m going to talk about how to do each technique with both levels. Got it? Sweet, let’s do this.
When to Speed Up:
When should a scene move faster? In general, the faster the scene feels, the more tension there will be. So if you want the characters and/or the audience to feel stressed, speed the scene up. This tension can manifest itself either externally—like a character getting chased by a werewolf—or internally—like a character’s thoughts racing because they’re being chased by a werewolf. Both internal and external tension are appropriate times to speed up a scene.
Now, when is it appropriate for the story to speed up? Keep in mind your plot structure when asking this question. Typically, when using a three-act structure, the story will slowly pick up steam in act I, and events will continue to gain speed throughout act II with the faster or most tension-filled moment taking place at the climax, followed by things slowing down post falling action. So keeping that structure in mind, your story should gain speed as it approaches the climax Now, with that said, things should not stay the same speed in each of these acts. Some stories build tension slowly, others have a quicker speed, but the moment of highest tension should always be the climax. These parameters (which, by the way, are very generalized) are like the resting heart rate of the story. Things will, and should, spike the heart rate or calm it down a bit throughout that section to keep the audience engaged but keep the default speed in mind.
When to Slow Down:
Conversely, when should a scene slow down? In general, the slower a scene feels, the more the reader will be able to focus on the details. So if you want your audience to pay attention to something, slow the scene down. You can’t easily or adequately give a description in a scene that’s racing by. So if you want to deliver an in-depth description or show a character’s specific emotions, slow the scene down.
So, then when is it appropriate for the story to slow down? Looking back to the rough structure I talked about, there are a few times when you’ll want to slow down. The beginning of the story is probably going to be the slowest part of the story. After your initial hook, you’ll want time to immerse the audience in the character and world. These things take time, so it’s appropriate to slow down. Also, it’s important to slow down after the climax and head towards the resolution to bring the audience closure. Besides these two locations, remember to slow things down after a fast-paced scene. If things stay fast all the time, the audience will never be able to catch their breath and they’ll get worn out. Position slow-down moments after your high-tension scenes so your audience doesn’t get desensitized to the tension.
Ways to Speed Up:
Great, but how do we do any of that? On the scene level, there are a couple of ways to easily pick up the pace. First, it’s important to understand that the pacing of a scene is the speed at which the audience can read it. So if you want to move the scene quicker, you need to make the text easier to read. You can do that by employing short, punch sentences to portray speed. Sharp, clear language also helps create speed. Ditch the modifiers and rely heavily on your verbs to emphasize the action. You can also use sentence structure; setting sentences up as “action, reaction” will make things feel faster because of the instant switch. The goal of this is to mimic the experience of the character. If the character is thinking very rapidly, have sentences that can be read very rapidly.
Then how does the plot speed up? What do you do if it feels like it’s taking forever for anything interesting to happen? One thing to check if the story feels slow is the stakes and the tension those stakes provide. Maybe things feel too slow because the audience doesn’t feel the threat, and therefore the characters are just meandering about. So a way to speed up the story is to add more tension to the stakes. Maybe there’s a sudden time crunch, or there’s an additional threat. Also, there might be too much content. Examine the amount and kind of scenes you have. If you have a lot of scenes of characters just talking back-to-back, consider consolidating or cutting to make things move quicker. Check your draft for clutter, and once it’s removed the story may move a lot quicker.
Compare:
To
Ways to Slow Down:
Now to slow things down. A lot of these things are the inverse of what we talked about earlier. If you want the scene to slow down, add longer sentences. Throw those modifiers back into the text. Use repetition and poeticism to portray things. If you want to show off the prose, this is the time to do it because now the audience has an opportunity to appreciate it. You can also use introspection to slow things down. A character taking time to figure out how they feel about something is 1) something the audience should focus on and, 2) something that takes time.
So how do we slow a plot that’s racing out of control? What if the story feels like it’s getting to the important stuff way too quickly or like it’s ending way too soon? If there are a lot of action or high-tension scenes, consider adding some cool-down scenes. These can be character conversations or characters doing more mundane activities. These slower sections are good opportunities to reveal more about the characters and the world. And slow scenes aren’t synonyms for boring, low stakes, or even necessarily low tension either. Tension can be developed by dragging out events. By refusing to give your audience pay off, your audience will constantly be under pressure. So don’t worry about losing your audience if you slow down; slow scenes merely give your audience a chance to breathe and focus on fewer things at once.
Compare:
To
Conclusion:
Pacing can feel like a very nebulous concept, but there are some simple, concrete techniques to improve the speed of your scenes and story. Hopefully, these exercises have demystified pacing and made it less intimidating. As we build to the end of our series on plotting, join us in two weeks for our episode on writing climaxes.
Until then, bee brilliant!
Comments