In a new post, C.S. Lakin offers advice for ramping up the pace and tension in your novel. “Strong pacing and tension are critical in a fictional story, but they’re some of the hardest elements to understand and master,” Lakin says. “That’s because there isn’t one ‘right’ way to pace a story, nor is there one definable factor that creates tension.”
What slows your pacing? Backstory and info dumps, overwriting, and telling too much are the big offenders, Lakin says. But there are more! Lakin points out three elements to watch to increase the pace and tension in your novel:
- Step by Step Action. Resist the urge to describe every action your character takes. “If nothing (apropos to the story) happens over a character’s weekend, you don’t write a scene that makes readers live through it,” Lakin says. This goes for scenes, too. “If, in every chapter’s opening, your character hears the alarm clock, puts on fuzzy slippers, and goes downstairs for coffee, you are going to put your reader to sleep,” she writes.
- Rhythm. “Rhythm can be hard to define, but at its simplest level, it’s created by sentence length,” Lakin explains. “Short sentences or phrases are flashes of insight, hammering action, stark realization. They feel like a caught breath, or, in rapid succession, a pounding heart. On the other hand, long, complex sentences can create a feeling that everything is happening at once. They’re helpful to overwhelm or to create a sense of things spinning out of control.” Alter your sentence structure to mirror the flow of action. Play with alliteration, assonance, and other poetic devices.
- Conflict and Emotion. “If a character’s inner thoughts and motivations aren’t shown, he seems more like a puppet just going through the motions,” Lakin says.
One of the things that greatly influences whether readers bond with a character is their ability to identify with what the character is experiencing.”
