To all of you who are writing madly for NaNoWriMo, this post will keep! No need to interrupt your headlong rush. But if you do pause, I hope it\u2019s helpful. May you fulfill your ambitions. May the wind be at your back.<\/p>\n
Writing Cat Lover\u2019s question below called forth a lot of discussion. I\u2019m including all the comments, because, basically, they\u2019re so good and useful. As you\u2019ll see, Writing Ballerina asked for this post, and I have a little to add but not a whole lot.<\/p>\n
On July 22, 2019, Writing Cat Lover wrote: I need help with my pace of my WIP. It\u2019s always either too slow or too fast, and I never can seem to get it just right.<\/em><\/p>\n Here\u2019s the discussion:<\/p>\n Future Famous Author: I have left this same comment (the one I am about to write) many times, and every time I sigh and think, \u201cThat\u2019s not very helpful!\u201d But it is, because some things just can\u2019t be perfect–actually nothing can be–in the first draft.<\/em><\/p>\n So, my advice is to save things like pace for the second, third, or even fifteenth draft (does anyone ever get to the fifteenth draft? ) and fix it then. Are you the one who had the trouble with writing things that had no importance to the plot whatsoever? If not, I told her that it\u2019s okay to write things that don\u2019t need to be written, because they may end up important. And it\u2019s okay to leave out description, because you can add and\/or take anything away in later drafts!<\/em><\/p>\n Song4myKing: I agree with Future Famous Author that you shouldn\u2019t worry too much in the first draft. But if you\u2019re revising, there might be a few things you can do.<\/em><\/p>\n If a section feels too fast, like you\u2019re clipping along, touching only the points of action without a breath, you might want to slow down to increase tension, or to savor the action. Sit back and imagine the whole scene, like a movie. Who all is around? Is it just the ones you\u2019re concerned with at the moment, or are there others in the room? Where is the scene taking place? Indoors, outdoors? Can you see it in your mind\u2019s eye? Will your readers see it? Can you feel it, smell it, hear it? Not just the words people are saying but the other sounds around them. Don\u2019t include everything, of course, but picture it in your mind, so you can show a little of the richness of the scene to your readers. Choose details that will add to the feeling or action of the scene.<\/em><\/p>\n If a piece feels too slow, you\u2019ll have to do the opposite. Cut out what isn\u2019t necessary. If it\u2019s a paragraph that\u2019s necessary but slow, check every sentence to see if it\u2019s needed or if it could be shortened. If it\u2019s a chapter that\u2019s slow, check every paragraph. If it\u2019s a bigger section of the story, see if each scene is necessary. If each scene has something important, see if you can take what\u2019s important from several and put all that punch into one scene.<\/em><\/p>\n Writing Ballerina: I think all these pacing comments in this and the last post\u2019s comments warrant a post, Mrs. Levine.<\/em><\/p>\n Writing Ballerina: BTW, sorry if that sounded rude.<\/em><\/p>\n Not rude; helpful.<\/p>\n Erica: Does anyone else have problems changing the \u201cmagnification\u201d of a story, so to speak? I tend to either try to show everything or tell everything, but I have trouble switching between the two. Any advice?<\/em><\/p>\n I just get tired of writing the story when nothing much is happening, but when I pick it back up, I feel compelled to keep writing about nothing. Neither I nor my readers particularly care about the plot of the (completely made-up) movie my character is watching, and yet I describe it. Time in my stories tends to pass slowly when nothing is happening, and way too fast when things are.<\/em><\/p>\n Writing Cat Lover: My story is waaayyy too slow, as in I focus too much on the details and no matter how hard I try I can\u2019t seem to get the plot going. Well, with the last paragraph I actually tried to speed things up a bit but now it looks waaayyy too choppy and fast paced so that you can\u2019t really catch whats happening.<\/em><\/p>\n Katie W.: Basically, I have the big, important stuff written, but I don\u2019t have anything building up and down from them. It\u2019s boring life, boring life, EXCITING PART, boring life, boring life, EXCITING PART, etc. They don\u2019t lurch from disaster to disaster, but there\u2019s really nothing to hold the tension between the major plot points.” Not exactly pacing, but similar. You know those tension graphs teachers use to show the five parts of a plot, with the smooth rise and fall? If I drew one of those for my story, it would look like a comb. Up and down and up and down and up and down instead of that smooth, gradual curve.<\/em><\/p>\n Writing Ballerina: I think I\u2019ve mentioned this book before (and maybe this particular section) but STORY TRUMPS STRUCTURE by Steven James has a great take on building tension:<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cA story isn\u2019t about something ELSE going wrong, it\u2019s about something WORSE going wrong\u2026. We intensify the struggles rather than just compounding them. [There are] three struggles \u2014 internal, external, and interpersonal [conflict with other people.] \u2014 [they] will all continue to deepen as the story progresses. Typically, they\u2019ll reach their darkest moments right before the climactic encounter with the\u2026 forces that are hindering the protagonist from getting what he desires most.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n I like this point: \u201cSince things must continually get worse for the protagonist, characters actually descend through difficulties and pain into transformation. They don\u2019t slowly ascend into change.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Back to the graph (paraphrasing here), all that stuff about rising action is baloney. At least most of it. Rather than rising ACTION, you need rising TENSION. \u201cAction does not equal tension\u2026. Simply making more things happen doesn\u2019t ensure the readers will be interested, but tightening the tension from unmet desire does\u2026.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThink of the climax of a suspense novel. Flashlight in hand, the detective slowly descends the stairs into the serial killer\u2019s basement lair. Readers know what the detective does not \u2014 the killer is lying in wait for him deep in the recessed shadows of the next room. The author milks the scene: Step by step the detective slowly and cautiously makes his way down the stairs as readers\u2019 hearts pound in anticipation of the climactic encounter that\u2019s about to ensue. He angles the narrow flashlight beam into the darkness. Reaches the last step. And begins to search for the killer.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cIs this rising action? Hardly. In fact, a man walking slowly down a set of stairs might be the least amount of action for the last fifty pages \u2014 but it can be part of the climactic scene of a book because of escalating tension.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Before I write the whole book down in this comment (it\u2019s that good \u2014 go borrow it from your library!!) I would like to mention another very important and (I think) profound observation he made:<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cRepetition undermines escalation.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cEvery murder you include decreases the impact that each subsequent murder will have on readers. Every explosion, shootout, [and] argument\u2026 means less and less to readers because repetition short-circuits that crucial escalation that moves stories forward. The value something has is directly proportional to the amount of pain it causes when it\u2019s lost.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n I agree with Future Famous Author and Song4MyKing that a lot of our pacing problems can be cleaned up in revision. Throughout, though, whether in revision or in writing our first draft, our guiding principal should be our MC. Everything\u2013everything!\u2013should impact her. Fundamentally, our pacing hangs on this, and, in my opinion, if we keep it in mind, our pacing problems will ease up. Something\u2013major or minor–should always be at stake for her.<\/p>\n She doesn\u2019t have to suffer every second. We can give her breaks, for which our readers will thank us, but the main problem still has to loom.<\/p>\n We may have skipped our MC\u2019s experience in the rush of events. To take the example of the detective descending the stairs to the villain\u2019s lair while she\u2019s blissfully unaware that he\u2019s there. What\u2019s going through her head? She\u2019s relaxed because she thinks she\u2019s safe. Maybe we show her thinking that she needs to buy milk on her way home. Maybe she clunks down the stairs because she believes she can. Maybe she whistles or sings a song her daughter loves. The reader is twisting in agony, mentally screaming, Wake up! Be alert, you fool! We can even throw in a clue about the villain\u2019s presence and have her fail to notice it. These are all extra words, but–Aaa!<\/p>\n As we revise and as we write our first draft, we should be aware of the inner life of our MC. Whether we\u2019re writing in first person or third, even omniscient third, the reader needs to know what our MC is thinking and feeling as events occur\u2013and almost nothing should happen in our story that she doesn\u2019t care about, that doesn\u2019t affect her in some way. If it doesn\u2019t and we\u2019re revising, we have to consider the dustbin.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t mean things can\u2019t happen to secondary characters or that we can\u2019t have subplots, but everything needs to fold back in. The secondary characters have to be important to our MC. Their success or failure will be significant for her.<\/p>\n In the subplot, if she\u2019s absent from the scene, the main secondary will stand in for her, and everything has to affect him\u2013a miniature version of the approach we take to the overarching plot.<\/p>\n If, as we\u2019re revising, we think, Huh, how did she get there? or, Why or how did that happen?, we can assume that we skipped some steps, and we can consider what\u2019s needed to fill in. A critique group or beta readers can help identify these gaps.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever written a novel that I haven\u2019t cut at least a hundred pages from, more for most. In fact, chopping is what I do most in revision.<\/p>\n We can tighten with tiny changes that have a cumulative effect as we keep going. Need that clause, really? Cut! I\u2019m saying this twice in different ways? One has to go. Cut! Very<\/em> is a very (hah!) suspect word. If unnecessary, cut! Our adjectives and adverbs should always be scrutinized, especially ones that minimize, like slightly<\/em> and a little<\/em>. And we want to use the most powerful verbs we can find. Race<\/em> is generally better than walk fast<\/em>. When we snip and snip, our pace will pick up, and, as an added benefit, our prose will become more elegant. We\u2019ll be worshiped by our copy editors. Strunk & White (you should all know Strunk & White<\/em>!)\u00a0will smile in their graves.<\/p>\n We ask ourselves if the reader already knows this about this character. If yes, cut! Is this entire plot twist necessary? If no, cut!<\/p>\n I do most of the trimming myself and cut much more than my editor asks me to, but she\u2019s ruthless, too. Fairest<\/em> in particular would have been a much longer, slower, more meandering book if she hadn\u2019t come in brandishing her butcher\u2019s knife. I don\u2019t mean she did the carving herself, but she wasn\u2019t shy about saying that this chapter and that should go.<\/p>\n Sometimes it hurts to excise bits I love, and in the process I eliminate what took months to write, but the result is a better book, and I have to do it. And I save everything I cut.<\/p>\n Here are three prompts:<\/p>\n \u2219 I may have used a prompt like this before. You may ardently disagree with me on this, but I\u2019m not a fan of Alice in Wonderland<\/em> or Through the Looking Glass<\/em>, because I don\u2019t think Alice is invested enough in what happens to her. She grows. Oh, she thinks, that\u2019s interesting. She shrinks. Interesting, too. She may not like the changes or the things she witnesses, but she never suffers deeply. Nothing threatens her at her core. Let\u2019s change that. Let\u2019s say her beloved older brother disappears. Last seen, he was tying a note to the White Rabbit\u2019s left back leg. Alice is convinced that finding him depends on the contents of that note. She has to reach the White Rabbit. Use events in Alice in Wonderland<\/em> as plot points in her effort to save her brother. Write a scene or the whole story.<\/p>\n \u2219 As an experiment, put a movie in your story, as Erica does. If there are no movies in your world, make it a book or a saga in an oral tradition. Describe the plot. Link it very subtly to your plot, a discovery for readers to make or not make. When you finish your current draft, you\u2019ll know whether to toss it, keep it, expand or condense it.<\/p>\n \u2219 The eensy-weensy spider has it tough, climbing the waterspout. Give him a reason to need to get up there. Make him a thinking and feeling being, and write his story. Introduce other characters, spider or otherwise, including a villain. Make it a cliff\u2013or waterspout\u2013hanger.<\/p>\n Have fun, and save what you write!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" To all of you who are writing madly for NaNoWriMo, this post will keep! No need to interrupt your headlong rush. But if you do pause, I hope it\u2019s helpful. May you fulfill your ambitions. May the wind be at your back. Writing Cat Lover\u2019s question below called forth a lot of discussion. 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