How to Write Stories People Will Love

Question 82: Pacing

SVTSwrites asks: How do we know if our story is going too fast? What's a good way to pace my story?

Before we begin, it's important to remember that story pacing is a highly personal preference. Some people like the meandering details of classic literature. Others prefer the breakneck speed of James Patterson novels. "Correct" pacing is only what feels right for your story.

Event Flow

Pacing refers to how quickly the story goes from one plot point to another. It might feel too fast if the reader doesn't get a chance to know the characters or get a feel for the environment. It might be too slow if the reader gets bored reading about all the details. (See Chapter 13: Tailor Your Descriptions for information on how much detail to write.)

Ideally, we want to give the reader enough information to know what the character is thinking, what the scene looks like, and then move forward. For dramas, romances, or introspective stories, more time will be spent sharing what the character is thinking. For adventures, thrillers, and comedies, there will be less thinking and more doing.

Type of Scene

The kind of scene we're dealing with will also determine what kind of pace it has. Stories have a natural ebb and flow of pacing. When it's all one speed, it feels more one-dimensional, in my opinion. Fight scenes will naturally have fast action (see Question 25: Fight Scenes), while two characters talking about their parents might call for a slower pace.

Think about the last time you saw a boring movie. Was it boring because it was all slowly paced? Perhaps if they sped up some of the scenes it would have been more interesting. I find some movies like to spend a strangely large amount of time with characters staring or having mundane conversations.

Now think about an action movie that never let up. Never had any time for the character to slow down and breathe or think. Yes it was exciting, but at the end of the movie, you might realize you'd been tense the entire time, and that the movie didn't have much substance to it. It's good to mix it up.

How To Tell

Unfortunately there's no fast way to tell if your pacing is on point or not. This is because it requires objectivity, which is something we don't have while we're writing. We know the characters. We know what's supposed to happen and where it's happening. We won't notice pacing problems because the story is fresh in our heads and probably playing like a movie.

What you need to do is distance yourself from the story for at least two weeks. What I've discovered is, if I keep writing my novel and don't go back to reread what I've written, I'll have regained objectivity for my earlier chapters. This is because I've forgotten exactly what I wrote. The more we edit and reread things, the more we memorize them and lose objectivity.

Get Beta Readers

Beta readers are also a valuable resource for determining your story's pace. If you get comments that include words like "already" or "too soon", they are finding the pace too fast. If you get comments like "okay I get it" or "why are they still talking about it" then the pace might be too slow.

I highly recommend getting more than one beta reader. One person's opinion doesn't represent everyone's opinions. That person may like faster or slower stories than the next person. By getting the viewpoints of multiple readers, you can get a better overview of how others feel about your pacing. In the end it needs to feel right to you.