ADDICT WITH A PEN | A WRITER'S GUIDE

• Pacing •

This chapter may be important. As a writer, I can say that it is hard to create some sort of pace when it comes to writing. Like you don't want your book to seem like it's dragging for eternity, nor do you want your book to finish off too quickly like of how Sonic the Hedgehog runs a mile.

Pacing has been a huge struggle for me, mainly because I am never a 100% sure about how many chapters my book will end up having. I'll never know if I end up having a ten chapter book or a twenty chapter book as the final product. However, pacing is very important when it comes to story telling. So, imma give you tips that may be helpful when it comes to pacing. Maybe they're steps, I don't know.

But before we get into this, I'm just going to say that my tips for this is kinda weird and they might make zero sense, but I'll try my best to explain throughly and help you understand what I'm trying to say. So if you are not understanding my tips, then I am sorry. I just suck at explaining things.

Well, firstly, you have to at least have a plan for the amount of chapters you want in your book. You don't want to blindly work on a book because if you do, then you may end up with eleven chapters. I'm looking at you, The Trinity Chronicles!! Sure you don't have to have the exact number of chapters you have planned, but at least have a good idea of how long you want your book to be. For example, when I was writing Youngblood Lovers, I had a plan that I will write at least twenty chapters for it, and I ended up reaching that goal by having that book have about twenty-three chapters. Basically, planning the amount of chapters pretty much sets the foundation of the length of your book, and even the pacing of it as well.

Secondly, add a bit of structure to your book aka plan on which events of your book will happen in which chapter. As a writer who writes fanfiction, it is tempting to put one whole, gigantic event in one chapter. But if you do that, then there is a chance that you may have made things feel a little rushed. I suggest that if you are going to write down an event that is crucial to the story, split it up in two or three chapters. But make sure that that your big event doesn't drag onto seven to eight chapters, otherwise, it may look like that you are just dragging the story on. You need to find the middle of rushing and dragging.

Thirdly, you need to give your characters time. Like I said before, if you want to create good characters for your book, make sure that you develop them very well. Create a couple of chapters where it's just more character development and just a little break from all of the drama that is happening. Even "filler" chapters are fine as well. Just give your characters the spotlight for a little while. Otherwise, your characters would end up not being very developed.

So yeah! Those are my tips on pacing. Pacing is a real struggle for me when it comes to writing, and those three tips are usually the key things I use to help me with writing. Just follow your outline/plan, add a little structure to your story, and use "filler" chapters for developing your characters!!