I get a lot of inspiration from music. Sometimes I’ll listen while writing, though I do get distracted when a Latin mix dances into my ears. Over time, and hearing much praise and critique, I realized there’s a major similarity between music and novels. Just as a song has a tempo that gets you moving, novels need good pacing to keep readers engaged and connected to the scene.
Lately, my praise has been “you have great pacing,” but that got me wondering about what that meant. I never learned about pacing, never considered the tempo of a scene. I just wrote what I saw in my mind’s eye. This idea filtered into what I read and watched, explaining why a scene felt off or a moment lacked energy. Writers learn tempo through continuous practice, but here’s a crash course for those lost on the subject.
Emotion Determines Pacing
If you’ve watched as many movies as I have, you know when a fight scene or romantic moment is on the horizon. The music shifts, the characters reframe. The landscape comes in or out of focus, the overall lighting darkens or brightens. Every element shifts to facilitate a tempo change.
Writers get a few words and maybe some illustrations. No cameras, no lights, no actors. But we can create a tempo change by thinking about the emotion we want to create in the moment. Every scene is meaningful, and becomes so when you utilize pacing to bring the reader in.
I’ll get into the nitty-gritty in a minute, but I want to fully establish this point. You might not touch pacing into your second draft, and that’s fine. While writing, consider what the reader should feel. Happy, angry, frightened, anxious. What experience do you want them to have? Once that is solidified, it’s all about how you tell the scene.
Sentence Structure
Paragraphs, sentence length, word choice. These are your cameras and musical score, the notes that determine your rhythm. Don’t underestimate good word choice.
But how? Thanks for asking.
People read at different speeds, but there are some consistencies. For example, a large paragraph slows you down while a grouping of short paragraphs moves quicker. You relax in long sentences while short sentences throw punches. Complicated words take time to understand while slang rolls off the tongue. The words you use, the sentences you craft, the paragraphs you divide all manipulate the tempo of the reader’s understanding of your story. And so create the pacing of your novel.
As an example, I write my high energy scenes with short sentences and paragraphs. If things cool off but are still strenuous, I’ll mix some longer sentences into the pot, but keep the paragraphs rather short. If everything’s dandy, long paragraphs and more internal thought. It’s not an exact science, so feel free to play with how sentences and paragraphs relate to each other and the tempo you wish to create.
Character Interactions
The world is ending. Time is of the essence.
And the main characters kiss for five minutes. Or they yell about how they were discriminated against unlike the other individual. Or they make jokes.
The world is ENDING. People are DYING. Save the world, then smooch, complain, joke around, or whatever.
Literally every movie today has this major pitfall. Some books too. And I get it, you want that star-studded moment. But how a character reacts in a situation adds energy to the scene. We care about what they care about. Time doesn’t stop for a kiss. Aliens aren’t therapists. The actions of the characters have to match the tempo of the scene. A hero fights while in combat, blinded by adrenaline. A woman mourns in silence, drained from the conflict. If you want that stellar kiss in combat or dissertation on personal woes, bring it in the appropriate moment, when a character needs growth or realization.
You might be thinking then that high intensity should always be high intensity. Not necessarily. A hero in combat can shift to grief or anxiety. If you have a long fight scene like a war, this allows your reader a chance to catch their breath and the action to rev up again. A quiet scene can have a jump scare that reengages a drowsy reader. Nevertheless, your characters have to act according to the scene. If the world is at stake, they need to believe that all is lost unless they focus.
Description
Y’all know I love description. I write about it a lot. But I’ve got a tricky relationship with it. You can mainly see it in my Wattpad writings; depending on when I wrote a story, there’s either shaky description, loads of detail, or little to speak of. Fact is, the level of description says a lot about the moment.
I could mention sentence structure again here; longer sentences lull you into comfort. Extensive description usually has long, flowing sentences. So the opposite, less description, works to pick up the pace. In quiet scenes, I go through the lush green forests, the smell of daisies, chattering of squirrels, and bright afternoon sun. In a fight scene, I tend to ignore the horizon, focusing on raw knees slamming into paved stone and water cascading when an opponent is tossed into a fountain.
What you describe plays a big part in the tempo as well. You can spur curiosity in a relaxed moment by pointing out red splotches on a white rose bush. Something like this doesn’t work in a fast-paced scene. Considering the human mind, our eye gravitates to big, noticeable things when we’re anxious or angry. Hence spontaneous weapons will be brooms, lamps, and baseball bats. They have presence and instinctively link to actual weapons like clubs. The scene itself depends more on the character than what’s in the room.
Final Thoughts: Write the Movie
Another comment I always get is that my book reads like a movie (which if someone wants to make the movie, I hope to be on set ensuring everything is accurate and elevates the story). I fully believe that both remarks relate to each other. The goal of every writer should be to create a movie in the mind of the reader. Visuals and story beats.
Visualize your story in the form of a movie. How’s the scene set up? What are the characters doing? What’s happening in the background? What emotion or impression is fueling the scene? Within a few moments, you have the pacing for the moment and the descriptions to help the reader see what’s in your head.