It was recently pointed out to me that I had some pacing issues in the first few chapters of TOPAZ. I had some scenes where little happened to move the story forward, or where my heroine was acting passively instead of taking charge, or which had repetitive actions.
As all authors know, it's often difficult to evaluate your writing objectively, but for fixing pacing issues, it's essential. Here is the plan of attack I used. As always, your mileage may vary.
- I started by reading through the problem chapters and jotting down a list of events, minor and major.
- With the list complete, I highlighted the essential events, the ones that were absolutely necessary to the development of the story.
- Next, I reviewed the list to identify patterns of repetitive actions, or areas where there were few actions. For example, I had two phone conversations in a row. Definite pace killer.
- Then I asked myself some questions. Did the heroine need to meet up with the hero three times, or would one meeting suffice? What would happen if I moved this essential event up half a chapter? What if I changed this four-page-long in-person meeting to a half-page phone conversation?
- And...the rewriting commenced.
Happy writing!
4 comments:
Ditto.
Good luck, Jenn. And good luck to me too. :)
Good post. :)
You give many good points. I blogged about this issue myself a few months ago. Being a planner, I always plan my scenes with a view to a goal. My character has to want something in the scene and try to achieve it. I find that works great in maintaining the right pace.
Jai
Thanks, guys.
@Jai: No doubt about it, planning out your scenes in advance can be a good thing. I'm sure it saves you some time in revisions! :)
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