The Writin Blog of DG Wiggins

I’d wager to say that probably over half of the DNF reviews I see on Goodreads for various books are at least partially due to pacing issues not clicking into place. What the “right” pace is can very much depend on the particular reader, but the wrong pace—especially if it’s too slow—can often mean putting a book down and not picking it back up again.

It was no surprise to me, then, that pacing is something I often see commented on as problematic in submissions I see for my editorial work as well as reasons readers did or did not enjoy a book in reviews.

When you’re writing, however, pacing can sometimes be a little tricky to get right, which is a bummer because hearing that your pacing is off can be a scary critique, as it often means a lot of manuscript surgery. If you do, however, find that you need to adjust the pacing of your manuscript, here are a few adjustments you may want to consider.

Note: As a general rule, if your pace is lagging, you’ll want to think about cuts, and if your pace is moving too quickly, you’ll want to think about additions. Remember, the more white space there is on a page, the faster the reading will feel.

Add/remove scenes. If you’re getting large-scale feedback (or just suspect) that your beginning/middle/end/whatever needs pace adjustment, think about where you can add or remove scenes. If you’re cutting, what can you remove without losing vital information? What scenes can you merge together? If you’re adding, where can you add meaningful breaks or buff up existing scenes to add in some breathing room?

Think about chapter length. Similarly, adjusting chapter length can help manipulate how quick or slow the reading feels. Short chapters tend to translate to feeling as if you’re reading quickly and the reverse happens with long chapters (though that’s not to say long chapters can’t be equally excellent or interesting). If you want to speed up the pacing in a certain area of your manuscript, you may want to think about splitting some chapters here and there—or merging them where you need to slow down some.

Take a look at paragraph and sentence length. Maybe your pace problem isn’t widespread, but it’s not quite right for a particular scene. This is where you’ll really want to hone in on paragraph and sentence-level changes. If you need to speed your scene up—say, in a fight scene—think about shortening up those sentences and paragraphs, and maybe even playing around with a sprinkle of one-word sentences or one-sentence paragraphs. If you have the opposite problem, think about merging some short paragraphs together and stringing short sentences together.

Pacing isn’t always easy to get right, but with enough practice and thoughtful manipulation, it’ll be another skill you can add to your writer toolbox.

This vlog isn’t as mean as it sounds, I promise.

Writing is hard, and dealing with self-doubt about our writing is even harder. It’s not at all uncommon for writers to think their work isn’t really that great—so what do you do then?

RELATED LINKS:

Why Writers Must Read (vlog)

You Don’t Have to Get it Right the First Time

Four Writing Fears, Debunked

Why Writing Through Resistance is Essential

Why First Draft Writing Sucks

THE FIRE IN FICTION by Donald Maas

REVISION & SELF-EDITING and PLOT & STRUCTURE by James Scott Bell

YOUR FIRST NOVEL by Ann Rittenburg & Laura Whitcomb (a little outdated about publishing, but still has good tips)

You’re going to have to let this control-obsession go. 

Like you, I enjoy being in control. But when you let others read your book, you are relinquishing control. It’s their story now, and they get to interpret it however they want. If you’re doing your job as a writer, a majority of readers will interpret it the way you intended. But inevitably, some won’t. Some will see your Asian character as a blond haired, blue eyed caucasian for absolutely no logical reason. Others will see the biggest jerk in your story and swoon over him. And even more will see the nicest girl in the book and think she is, “ugh, just the worst.” Why? Because our opinions are largely influenced by the lives we’ve lived, the biases we’ve developed, the experiences we’ve gone through. These biases will affect the way we read a story, and you can’t change that. Sometimes, your audience is just going to see what they want to see, because they want to see it that way. And you have to accept that. 

I’ve not been a huge fan of social media in the past because it’s always seemed like a huge distraction. The balance between being truly productive in your creative en devours and spending all your time on social media can be a precarious one.

However the more I write the more I want to be able to share it with lots of people. It does seem like the majority of people are on social media so... I’ve been trying to give it a try. Dipping my toes in the water so to speak.