Writing Excuses

19.04: LIVE Recording - Pacing with Guest Fonda Lee

Jan 28, 2024

Guest Fonda Lee, an author specializing in pacing in storytelling, joins the hosts to discuss the importance of pacing in writing. They explore the subjective nature of pacing, controlling pacing and balancing tension, creating tension and variation in pacing, and how pacing impacts the reader's experience.

19:03

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Episode guests

Fonda Lee

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Episode notes

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Quick takeaways

Pacing in storytelling should not only focus on the speed of the story, but also consider the sequence of events, prose style, rhythm, and level of tension.

Controlling pacing involves understanding the beats and rhythm of the story, and can be achieved through economical writing, layering ingredients within scenes, utilizing white space, crafting faster-reading sentences, and using dialogue and character reflection to control the pace.

Deep dives

Pacing is subjective and genre-dependent

Pacing is a subjective element in storytelling that depends on various factors such as genre, reader expectations, and author voice. Different readers may perceive the same book as either gripping or boring based on their individual preferences. Pacing should not be limited to the speed of the story, but also considers the sequence of events, prose style, rhythm, and level of tension. Each genre and category has specific pacing conventions, and understanding these expectations is crucial. It is important to strike a balance between keeping readers engaged and adhering to the appropriate pacing for the chosen genre.

Introduction

3min

Understanding Pacing in Writing and Meeting Reader Expectations

1min

Controlling Pacing and Balancing Tension

8min

Creating Tension and Variation in Pacing

4min

Exploring Pacing in Storytelling

3min

Pacing is one of the most subjective and difficult aspects of storytelling to get right. What is pacing? How do you know what the right pace is for a story, and what techniques can you use to speed up or slow down your narrative?

Homework Assignment from Fonda Lee:

Take a page of a work-in-progress project and experiment with the pacing. Ideally, this should be a page with some dialogue or tension between characters. First, try to speed it up: cut description, be tight with dialogue, move the scene quickly. Then do the opposite: rewrite the scene but this time slow it down. Include more context, character interiority, exposition, and scene building. Compare the two versions. Which serves your story better?

Thing of the Week:

The Book of Witches

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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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