What makes good pacing?

One of the easiest ways to control pacing in your story is through the length of your sentences, paragraphs and chapters. In a fight scene, for example, you want to keep things fast-paced and exciting. To achieve this, use short, choppy sentences and shorter paragraphs to keep readers’ eyes flying over the words.

How do you describe pacing?

Pacing is a stylistic device, which shows how fast a story unfolds. It is because when readers feel frustration in the length of the story, the writers use different techniques to control the pace of the story. In simple words, pacing is moving a story forward with a certain speed. …

What is an example of pacing?

Examples of Pacing in Literature: In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen uses dialogue and description to slow the pacing in certain scenes. Mrs. Bennett, Elizabeth’s mother, is often used as a tool to slow the pacing.

How does Pacing create suspense?

When you’re working with tension and suspense, you need to have a balance. That’s where pacing comes in. Pacing gives your characters (and your readers) time to breathe between intense scenes filled with tension.

How do you build tension between characters?

Create a conflict crucial to your characters. Create engaging characters with opposing goals. Keep raising the stakes. Allow tension to ebb and flow. Keep making the reader ask questions. Create internal and external conflict. Create secondary sources of tension. Make the story unfold in a shorter space of time.

Is suspense the same as tension?

Suspense uses two or more plotlines that eventually intersect to tell a story, while tension uses only a single plotline to explain what happens. Suspense is the feeling of wanting to know what happens next in a story, while tension is the feeling produced by a story’s unresolved conflict.

Can there be suspense without tension?

Suspense must have tension, but tension doesn’t necessarily imply suspense. A strained relationship will have tension (whether it’s sexual or not).

What does suspense mean?

noun. a state or condition of mental uncertainty or excitement, as in awaiting a decision or outcome, usually accompanied by a degree of apprehension or anxiety. a state of mental indecision. undecided or doubtful condition, as of affairs: For a few days matters hung in suspense.

What is literary tension?

TENSION in literature is important because it evokes emotion in the reader. Think of it in terms of real-life tension–that tight, stretched feeling in your belly that makes you all jittery. This is what you want your reader to feel in every single scene of your story.

How can I increase my tension?

10 Ways to Increase TensionRaise the stakes. The greater the risk of loss or danger, the higher the tension. Let your character fail. Escalate threats and obstacles. Let readers know something the character doesn’t. Play up emotional strain. Balance high dramatic tension with calmer scenes. Change up the source of tension. Keep characters active.

How does tension affect the reader?

Tension. It can spellbind your readers and leave them breathless, on the edge of their seats and biting their nails in anticipation for what will happen next. And, without it, your story will feel as lifeless and limp as a pricked balloon. Readers want to feel excited when reading your story.

How do you write quiet characters?

Here are ten tips on bringing your introverted characters to life:Make them quiet, not shy. Give them a retreat, not a cave. Let them create. Create them as an expert in their field. Pay attention to their learning style. Make them the underdog. Write them as sarcastic, cynical and argumentative.

Can you have 2 protagonists?

Two main characters (that is, two point-of-view characters) implies two stories within the one novel. However, you do not have to develop both stories fully. An alternative would be for each of them to be the protagonist when in their own point of view, and have them pursue the same goal, but for different reasons.

How do you introduce multiple characters?

Introduce them gradually. The first time they come into the scene, include their name and have them do or say something that distinguishes them from the others. Over the first few pages/chapters, readers will learn about them and remember who’s who.

What is second person point of view?

The second-person point of view belongs to the person (or people) being addressed. This is the “you” perspective. Once again, the biggest indicator of the second person is the use of second-person pronouns: you, your, yours, yourself, yourselves.