Dreaming on the Job: Pace Yourself, Agnes (Thank You Jenny & Bob)

Have you ever picked up a book and found yourself setting it down immediately? (NOTE: This won't happen when you read Agnes and the Hitman - the picture means something, I'm getting there). You put down the book because there’s something better on TV. You could check your email. The cat needs some attention. All these things intrude on your favorite reading hour when, most times, once you begin a book, it’s really hard to set it down. Why do you suppose that happens? In most cases, I think it has to do with pacing. When you pick up a book, it needs to hook you immediately. The

action has to start RIGHT NOW, not on page 13. Or, god forbid, 35.

In every writing reference book or article you’ll read, the first thing people say is start the action on the first page. This is so important in catching the reader’s attention. AFTER THAT though, you need to keep the reader’s attention. So keep the action going. I know, I know,it’s so hard to resist the temptation to fill in the background gaps (info dumping = bad) but ask yourself: would you rather read two pages of AND THEN, AND THEN, AND THEN or do you want pages of dialogue/action with the most necessary information woven into the scene? Woven so skillfully that half the time, as the reader, you don’t even know you are picking up the information until it becomes necessary to know it? I vote for dialogue. I vote for action. I vote for a book that moves FAST in which every scene somehow propels the book forward. Something happens in EVERY SCENE that is important to the story and moves the character forward.

That is good pacing. The protagonist never stops moving forward (either through action or growth).

The death of a good book? A scene that stalls. A scene that (eek!) loses the reader’s attention and she wanders away to watch Gray’s Anatomy (which also has excellent pacing, btw … but then, they only have to keep your attention for an hour long show, not a 100,000 word novel … TV writers have it so easy (KIDDING TV WRITERS)).

Here are some examples of books with excellent pacing:

Agnes and the Hitman – Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer (actually JC is the Queen of good pacing, hence the title of this blog post… and it sounded cute)
The Lost Duke of Wyndham – Julia Quinn (soon to be followed with Mr. Cavendish, I Presume)
Size 12 Is Not Fat – Meg Cabot (1st in the Heather Wells series)

Now, in the case of Agnes and the Duke, I believe the pacing works really well because the whole of the story takes place over just a few days. Admittedly this plot device could get tiring after awhile but in these books, it works like a charm. So when you are plotting or editing, take a look at the timeline of your book. Does your WIP stretch over months or years? And if so, could it reasonably be reduced to a shorter time-span? In most cases, I would assume not. It’s probably part of the story that events take place over a long period of time. But take a look at the necessary gap between events. Would shortening these gaps speed up the pace?

Other Ways To Increase Pace:

The dreaded SHOW NOT TELL. Really, do we much more explanation here? Yes? OK, check out this website: http://www.hodrw.com/tell.htm
Ask yourself if dialogue would work better in the scene than narrative
Intersperse internal thought throughout dialogue or action. Don’t let your heroine sit on the couch and “think” for three pages when she could be talking to her mom on the phone or mucking out an icky horse stall (and venting her emotions through hard labor – see? You are SHOWING her anger).
Make sure each scene is important to the story

ALL THAT SAID … There are still books and movies where a slow pace absolutely works and defines the story. These are usually epic novels/movies. However, they don’t sell well these days (which is a shame). Here are a few examples:

Dr. Zhivago - Boris Pasternak (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Zhivago)
Gone With the Wind - Margaret Mitchell (http://www.franklymydear.com/)
Cold Mountain - Charles Frazier (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0159365/)

Notice how all 3 of these have been turned into movies? If you’re REALLY interested and have A LOT of time, go back and compare the books to the movies. Which scenes were cut? Where they necessary scenes? Or where they merely interesting? Because you can bet the movies move a lot faster than the books. (Which is not always a good thing … books are 10 to 1 better than their movies … hello Harry Potter).