The Importance of Pace: 10 Powerful Ways to Hook Readers

If you’ve ever waited with bated breath while reading a novel — or struggled to concentrate on a particularly lengthy section — then you already know how the pace of writing affects readers. Pacing may be defined as the rate at which events unfold in a work of fiction. It’s a crucial element of your narrative, and getting it exactly right requires time and thought.

Why is Pacing Important?

Think all you need is a compelling character to hook readers? Well… you need a bit more than just that. Wonderfully drawn characters help the reader feel a sense of connection to the characters and the story’s happenings.

It’s tempting to believe that moving at a rapid speed is best, but that’s not always the case. In contrast to thrillers, which are usually fast-paced and action-packed, character-driven tales like romances and other stories that focus on the characters often function best when given time to develop ideas and themes, and helps the reader feel a sense of connection to the characters and the story’s happenings.

It’s tempting to believe that moving at a rapid speed is best, but that’s not always the case. In contrast to thrillers, which are usually fast-paced and action-packed, character-driven tales like romances and other stories that focus on the characters often function best when given time to develop.

That said, the most important thing to keep in mind when you’re outlining your novel and thinking about pacing, is balance. All quick or all slow can’t happen in a single narrative (and shouldn’t happen either). But the two things should be traded off. This adds intrigue, keeps readers engaged, and keeps the narrative fresh.

Consider it in terms of music: it’s the combination of the highs and lows that catches the ear. It’d be tedious if every note was a flat one, wouldn’t it?

With that in mind, let’s look at some strategies for keeping your narrative moving at a faster pace.

Techniques for Controlling Pacing in Writing (with Examples)

There are many methods to modify the pacing of your narrative, ranging from a simple change in phrasing to the inclusion or exclusion of whole subplots. If your narrative moves too quickly, readers will become tired, but if it moves too slowly, they will get bored. So, what are your options for resolving this?

The following are five methods for slowing down the speed.

1. Lengthen your sentences

More complex concepts are explained using lengthier phrases and paragraphs, which slow the reader down since they take longer to read. Now, this doesn’t mean you go all Purple Prose and start adding unnecessary words; rather, make an effort to be deliberate in your word choice, since this will enable you to completely develop your thoughts, show more reflection, and include more detail. To be continued, though.

Long sentences are often associated with more traditional authors, such as those active in the literary canon throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. Here’s an example from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol: Dickens explains his reasoning for the adage “Dead as a doornail” in this passage:

“Mind! I don’t mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a doornail. I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest pieces of ironmongery in the trade. But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Country’s done for. You will therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a door-nail.”

The paragraph is placed at the very beginning of the story in the exposition. By establishing the Narrator as someone who is prone to tangents, it creates the atmosphere of a storyteller sitting by the fire. Although the tale begins slowly due to the length of the words, it quickly picks up with his bizarre insights.

Similarly, you may change the pace by increasing or decreasing the length of your chapters. Want to know more? Read this post to learn how long a chapter should be.

2. Add descriptions

To put it another way, take a break and enjoy the scenery. Instead of showing what occurred right away, take your time to explain what transpired and how it happened. While being succinct has its advantages, if your goal is to allow your readers to take a break, adjectives are your best friends.

His ability to paint vivid pictures of the landscape and provide copious amounts of background information about his world is legendary. While there is a lot of excitement in the combat scenes, he often utilizes descriptive passages to give his characters a respite from the trials and tribulations they must endure. Try to picture the woodland that Merry and Pippin find themselves in after fleeing from the orcs in The Two Towers.

“The ground was rising steeply still, and it was becoming increasingly stony. The light grew broader as they went on, and soon they saw that there was a rock-wall before them: the side of a hill, or the abrupt end of some long root thrust out by the distant mountains. No trees grew on it, and the sun was falling full on its stony face. The twigs of the trees at its foot were stretched out stiff and still, as if reaching out to the warmth. Where all had looked so shabby and grey before, the wood now gleamed with rich brown, and with the smooth black-greys of bark like polished leather. The boles of the trees glowed with a soft green like young grass: early spring or a fleeting vision of it was about them.”

3. Include subplots

By refocusing your narrative on a secondary plot line, you will slow down the development of your primary plot. It will take longer to achieve a conclusion to the primary narrative if there are more changes and subplots.

Both Anna and Levin’s stories go through Anna Karenina. In these tales, many things are happening at the same time, yet the plots seldom intersect. As a result, the speed of each storyline’s resolution is slowed.

Remember not to go overboard with the side stories. Anna Karenina is effective because the plots are intertwined and the individuals’ destinies end up being diametrically opposed. [Warning: plot twist!] Levin, on the other hand, gets married, has a kid, and is content with his life after Anna takes her own life.

4. Use flashbacks and backstory

Going back and showing the readers what occurred in the past is an excellent method to divert the emphasis from the present storyline. You may both stop the narrative and provide your readers with more background and information at the same time. However, bear in mind that you shouldn’t utilize these gadgets just for the purpose of variety. As a substitute, they must always serve a function inside the narrative.

5. Add more introspection

Show what your character is thinking and experiencing instead than simply recounting their actions. Show the reader how a character comes to a certain choice.

Consider the case of The Book Thief. Following the death of a Nazi bomber pilot engaged in the bombing of Munich, this chapter gives us Death’s view on humanity and World War II:

“It’s probably fair to say that in all the years of Hitler’s reign, no person was able to serve the Führer as loyally as me. A human doesn’t have a heart like mine. The human heart is a line, whereas my own is a circle, and I have the endless ability to be in the right place at the right time. The consequence of this is that I’m always finding humans at their best and worst. I see their ugly and their beauty, and I wonder how the same thing can be both. Still, they have one thing I envy. Humans, if nothing else, have the good sense to die.”

You’re sick of slowing things down, aren’t you?

Now, let’s look at 5 ways to make things go faster:

6. Shorten your sentences

Shorter sentences, as you would imagine, move the story forward more quickly. Because they are shorter to read, they tend to convey a feeling of urgency. As a result, you may pass through a lot of explanation and procedures that aren’t required. As an example, consider the following passage from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy:

“Kettle, plug, fridge, milk, coffee. Yawn.”

Douglas Adams selected just the words connected with the activity, leaving readers to fill in the gaps as to how a cup of coffee was made.

7. Use more dialogue

Fast-paced conversation will help your narrative go forward at a faster speed. Instead of using lengthy descriptions, have your characters have engrossing conversations confronting each other and show their personalities and quirks through it.

Dialogue is a great tool for revealing your character’s past without using flashbacks or long explanations that disrupt the story’s flow. Consider the following conversation between Robin and Strike, two of the book’s major protagonists.

“It’s a death threat,” she said. “Oh yea,” said Strike. “Nothing to worry about. They come in about once a week.” “But—” “It’s a disgruntled ex-client. Bit unhinged. He thinks he’s throwing me off the scent by using that paper.” “Surely, though — shouldn’t the police see it?” “Give them a laugh, you mean?” “It isn’t funny, it’s a death threat!” she said, and Strike realized why she had placed it, with its envelope, in the plastic pocket. He was mildly touched. “Just file it with the others,” he said, pointing towards the filing cabinets in the corner.

8. Remove (or limit) secondary subplots

To go from point A to point B quickly, it’s essential to eliminate any plot elements that divert the reader’s attention away from the primary story.

Instead of 800+ pages of Russian culture, politics, religion, and philosophy, we’d have a far shorter love story if Tolstoy had restricted Anna Karenina to her relationship with Vronsky.

9. Use cliffhangers

Cliffhangers are popular because nothing keeps a reader more engrossed than the anticipation of what will happen next. If you finish each chapter on a high note while leaving the action unresolved, the reader will have no choice but to keep reading the rest of the book.

Check out Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban for example:

“What?” Ron said again, holding Scabbers close to him, looking scared. “What’s my rat got to do with anything?” “That’s not a rat,” croaked Sirius Black suddenly. “What d’you mean — of course he’s a rat —” “No, he’s not,” said Lupin quietly. “He’s a wizard.” “An Animagus,’ said Black, ‘by the name of Peter Pettigrew.”

Chapter Seventeen ended with a bomb that altered everything. We all knew who Peter was and how he’d been “murdered” by Sirius Black twelve years before, but now everything’s changed.

10. Increase the action

A chase. A fight scene. We’re in a race against the clock. A feeling of urgency and danger is one of the best ways to make a narrative go faster. To keep your readers interested, even in a slower-paced tale, you must have interesting plot elements. So, whether it’s a duel of wits or a fistfight, add some action in your story. (And use some excellent verbs to make it pop.)

As an example, consider this passage from the novel Miss Perrin’s House of Mystery and Magical Creatures.

“Chaos broke out. Panicked animals ricocheted off one another, throwing us against the wall so many times I got dizzy. The hollow let out an ear-splitting screech and began to lift sheep to its slavering jaws one after another, taking a blood-spurting bite from each and then tossing it aside like a gluttonous king gorging at a medieval feast.”

As a result, the children have no choice but to flee. It takes them the last two chapters of the book and their ultimate escape from Cairnholm Island to accomplish this.

A fantastic tale doesn’t have a formula; it may be quick or slow, depending on the narrator’s style. So, don’t be scared to experiment with the pace of your narrative and discover the perfect balance between slowing down and speeding up a scene. The most important thing to remember is that keeping up with the speed is all about finding the right balance.