Pace

Building the Roller Coaster

 

By Mary Rosenblum

 

            Many books on writing avoid the subject of pacing or simply refer to it in passing.  They don’t deal with it the same way they might deal with a craft issue such as dialogue or characterization.  The reason for this is that pacing is a complex topic involving a number of techniques.   And why does it matter?  Why should a writer be concerned about pacing at all? 

            The answer is that pacing plays an important role in holding reader attention.  It is a critical part of ‘compelling prose’.  Compare a drive along an interstate highway at 65 miles per hour with a roller coaster ride at the amusement park.  That coaster might not actually reach 65 miles per hour when it zooms down the big drop, but which ride is more exciting?  Why is that? 

            The answer is pacing.  On that roller coaster, anticipation builds as the car creeps up that long incline and the ‘rush’ of the drop is wildly exciting by comparison.  On the highway, the vehicle’s speed may actually be greater, but there is no variation, no contrast to that slow climb to the peak of the roller coaster’s drop. 

            In a compelling story or personal narrative, the author creates those same slow builds to a peak, and the rush of a drop.  Anticipation builds as tensions mount between characters or the caravan enters a dangerous cave.  If the story simply moves along at an even tempo without ‘drops’ or ‘slow climbs’ it will have the effect of that highway.  Yes, the speed may be breakneck, but because it does not vary, eventually readers begin to yawn or simply desensitize to the continuous tension. 

            Pacing is a revision technique.  Although, with practice, you will develop a stronger sense of pace as you write a first draft, don’t consciously deal with it during your first draft.  Allow your creative brain free rein here and save pacing issues for your revisions, when your editorial brain is doing the work.

 

Starting Big

 

            So how do you vary the pace?   There is no one-sentence answer, which is why the subject tends to get vague treatment in the how-to-write books.  ‘Pace’ is created on many levels.  Let’s begin with the ‘top’ level…plot.  Here, pacing is created by the actions of the characters.  If nothing much is going on, nobody is getting excited, little tension is created and the pace is leisurely.  Your characters might be hiking to a campsite at the top of a mountain.  Pacing is increased as tension increases.  Something happens.   A storm threatens.  Two of the hikers begin an argument that builds towards violence.  Someone or something scary is following the group.  These changes to the plot…adding that sense of threat or increasing emotion…increase the pace of the story.  It reads faster, the tension in the scene keeps the reader riveted.  

 

            These changes to the plot itself are the first steps in altering the pace of your story or narrative.  If nothing happens for a long time, make something happen. 

 

One Step Closer

 

            The next ‘level’ of pacing has to do with the scene.  The plot is structured so that the pace should increase to a peak of tension then relax, increase to a new peak of tension, then relax.  But the story seems too slow and that change in pace doesn’t seem to happen.   This is the point at which scene dynamics matter.  Think about how you notice the world around you.  First thing in the morning with a fine day ahead of you, you might stroll to your car and notice the birds at the feeder, the shapes of the clouds, the lovely dogwood blossoms nodding in the warm breeze.  But if you are on the way to the hospital where your son has just been taken after a terrible auto accident, will you notice these details?  Probably not, or at least not all of them.  You might rush to your car, fumble with the keys, and nearly run over the neighbor’s dog as you back out of the driveway.  Dogwood blossoms?  Birds in the feeder?  Pretty clouds?  Who cares?

 

            Too often, novice writers try to cram as many bits of backstory and descriptive detail into a dramatic scene as they use in a leisurely scene.  The effect is to homogenize the pacing, so that the dramatic scene seems slow and ‘flat’.  Look at each scene as you revise your first draft.  Think about that Point of View character in this scene.  What would he or she notice or think about?  If nothing much is going on,  yes, she might think about how unfair her mother was yesterday.  But if she has just heard a scary noise outside in the dark, does she care about her mother’s behavior yesterday?  The more dramatic your scene, the less backstory you should include and the fewer descriptive details that character will notice.  Save the backstory and lush description for those ‘valleys’ after a peak of tension. 

 

Nose to the Page

 

            Now that each scene has been tweaked so that it contains only the types of description and action that suit the pace of the story in that scene, it’s time to step closer.  Does your language suit that level of tension?  If you are bringing the reader to the peak of that roller coaster drop, cranking up the tension, then your word choices need to reflect it.  Choose strong description and vivid verbs that contribute to the sense of rising tension.  The house was at the end of the road in a grove of trees certainly conveys the location of the house, but Dark firs loomed over the rotting cottage at the end of the road lends a strong sense of threat.  This is a scary house, not just any house, and you have increased the tension in the scene, thus increasing the pace.

 

Building the Roller Coaster

 

            So remember – pacing is like building a roller coaster.  The thrill comes from the slow climb and the fast drop.  A ride on the interstate can’t beat that roller coaster for excitement, even if the vehicle is actually moving faster than the coaster’s car.   Use actions, details, and language to bring a scene to a peak of tension and then relax that tension.  Build to a new peak and relax it.  No, every peak does not need to be a life-and-death cliffhanger.  An argument over which movie to watch or doubts about a friend’s truthfulness can be a sufficient peak of tension in a story.  But try to avoid that long, flat, straight Highway of Boredom. 

            Your readers will happily exit the ride when they finish your story and line up for another turn on your roller coaster.