Writing with pace

[John Dean]

As a writer, I have learned the hard way about the need to write with pace, through watching where my editors over the years have deleted text. Each time they do it, the experience improves me as a writer.

This comes to mind because I have just cut 1,300 words from the final draft of my latest novel. Only small cuts but they do so much to keep the story moving.

As a teacher, I have been in the same position as my editors, working with several writers over the years who create pace, who keep the story moving, draw the reader in, then damage it by putting in unnecessary detail, descriptions, back story etc. The result is passages when the story starts to gather pace then slows down again, which interrupts the narrative flow so that when we return to the story it’s like going from a standing start.

Do it too many times and the reader loses interest. Such descriptions have their place but not when you are trying to keep things moving.
Learning how to write a narrative with the right pace is one of the most crucial writing skills. Get it wrong and you are seriously jeopardising your chances of success. Get it right….
If you really want to grasp how to write a narrative with the correct pace, think of writing a story like taking a trip down a river in a boat. You need plenty of white water for excitement but you also need calmer stretches in between for the readers to draw breath and take in the scenery.