Writing with pace

[John Dean]

I have noted quite a few comments on blog sites recently, complaining about ‘slow’ stories. As a writer down the years, I have learned the hard way about the need to write with pace, through watching where my editors have deleted text. Each time they do it, it improves me as a writer.
As a creative writing tutor, I have been in the same position, 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 and ...wow!
If you really want to grasp how to write a narrative with the correct pace, I once read a piece in which an agent said to 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.