The Write Place Journal

#GetInspired(Monday, September 19)

Pacing is critical to any story—romance or tragedy, fantasy or thriller.

Outside of our book world, it's also vital to television shows and movies. For example, the best horror movies have taken pacing to its advantage, adding little and little eerie coincidences or foreshadowing in order to enhance our horrors.

In a similar fashion, every writer needs to master—or, well, not fail at—pacing!

Tip #1: The Need for Speed

As cute as you are Aaron Paul, you need to step out of here for just a moment.

Now, as I was saying, what I mean by speed is that you must have a joyride of action, drama, or conflict in your stories. These kind of monumental scenes—for instance, Harry's first encounter with creepy ghost-man-blob Voldemort in the Sorcerer's Stone or Mark Watney's loss of his beloved potatoes that were needed for his survival.

A book filled with non-stop action may work out some of the times—Yes, I'm looking at you, Mad Max—but, 9 times out of 10, it becomes overwhelming, is often over-the-top, and the characters lose their depth if they ever had any.

So there is a need for speed—conflict, climax, action—but, you also need to slow down frequently.

Tip #2: Slow Down

As much as action pulls us to the edge of our seats, the readers wouldn't care for the characters involved unless we slowdown from time-to-time and pause for character development.

The reason Game of Thrones is such a hit because Martin has us caring about his characters: Tyrion Lannister, Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen. He spent time—some argue too much, but hey, his show just won the most Emmys' ever so you tell me—developing characters into believable, arguably relatable humans beings that we, as an audience, have connected with.

So, make sure you slow-down between your action sequences to express character's emotions, resolve conflicts, add multiple layers of drama, foreshadow, etc. This is just as important as any action scene.

Now that we're done with the basics, let's take a closer look at specific scenes in every story.

Tip #3: Action Scenes

Action scenes don't have to be an explosive shoot-out, but any sort of conflict that finally arises in a story, such as a huge fight between central characters, a character attempting to harm himself or herself, a heist gone wrong, or multiple other scenarios!

So, how do you write a well-paced action sequence?

Well, first off, it must move along at a natural pace: not so fast that it ends within the blink of an eye, but not so slowly that we are bored of it after twenty pages of a single one-on-one fight. Finding this middle-ground takes time and writing, but it clicks with you when you do so.

However, some general tips about action sequences are: 1) don't include many distractions; 2) little details; 3) limited transitions.

By distractions, what I mean is focus on what the main character is dealing with. Obviously, as they are in the midst of a devastating battle, they aren't reflecting on their entire life. They are simply trying to survive or kill. So, stopping an action sequence to have a paragraph-long thought block about how much he misses his wife shouldn't be included.

As for the little details, don't get caught up describing every single object, character, or setting. As I mentioned before, go inside of your character's mind and imagine what he/she would be noticing in the midst of an argument or battle. I know most people won't be commenting on how beautiful the flowers are when fellow soldiers are being blown up. Unless they have the memory of a goldfish. Or Dory.

Lastly, don't transition from multiple perspectives during a battle scene. If you jump into multiple heads, the readers will be less invested into the action as well as the characters themselves.

Tip #4: Dialogue

You don't need a detail with every dialogue line, or even a tag to accompany every character's line. Extraneous information, such as those, can often detract from the argument or conflict. The words are what matter when it comes to a verbal fight, so when you do include little details, have it enhance on the dialogue itself. The way to do this is by showing small body movements of the characters, such as wagging an accusatory finger, crossing arms, or tapping a foot.

Tip #5: Word Choice

When it comes to pacing, you never want to sound redundant or dull. If you continue to use the same key words over and over, it'll sound like the same scene is being repeated, resulting in a dragged-along scene.

So, the key to this is to vary sentence structure and word choice. I'd suggest using a thesaurus, which can improve your vocabulary and assist you in not sounding repetitive. Also, by varying your sentence structure, your passages will be smoother, and will keep your reader content as they aren't constantly given run-on sentences, fragments, etc.

If you wish to quick your pace, then I suggest using short sentences with rich verbs, build up on the action, and milk the suspense. Try to say more with less, as the saying goes. Trim unnecessary words, eliminate the passive voice, and quick details.

That's about it! I hope these tips were helpful. What helps you when you're trying to pace out your scenes? Have you ever come across a terribly-paced scene?

- Lexie (@miss-gatsby)