Slow. No. Fast. Wait, Don’t Crash
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I’m getting a little better at pacing. What is pacing? Pacing is the act or process of regulating or changing the timing or intensity.
In the first few chapters of a novel, whether you write suspense or not, you should try to build a sense of foreboding, something to pique the reader’s curiosity. Essentially, you WANT them to keep turning the page to find out what’s going to happen.
So, it’s important in the beginning to not include a slow scene or you could lose the reader. It doesn’t have to include cars crashing and guns spattering like an action movie, but you want to make the reader salivate for more. Okay, maybe drooling isn’t necessary, but you know what I mean.
There are times when you need to slow down the pacing. I’m finding there are chapters in my current WIP where it feels right to let the reader know a little more about my protagonist, Eugeena. It wouldn’t have been a great idea to place this information in the first chapter. If I did, it would have been called “backstory” which I have learned is a big no-no!
My goal for the first chapter was for readers to become engrossed in Eugeena’s predicament and to possibly fall in love with her personality. In order to do this, I started with a sassy introduction of Eugeena, showing her flaws and bit of her background. Then, I followed up her intro with her stumbling into a crime scene. Eugeena was doing something very ordinary that soon turned into a big disaster.
With the shock of this big disaster, I headed into the second chapter giving both Eugeena and the reader time to process. So in the second chapter and in several other chapters, the reader slowly begins to get to know Eugeena. As the manuscript progresses hopefully the reader receives some understanding and can relate to why Eugeena reacts the way she does as she interacts with various people.
I’m no expert on this pacing business, but after “getting to know” my character and this story, my challenge is to perceive when a reader may get bored or when I’m pushing too hard. Now for a real expert, Gail Gaymer Martin has posted a great two-part series on pacing. Check out the first part of this series at Writing Fiction Right.
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