Tipsy Tuesday

Most readers today expect a story that is fast-paced, keeping them on the edge of the seat, making them keep turning the page to see what happens next. How do you do that?

Well, here's an exercise to help you with your pacing:

First, take a published novel that you enjoyed reading, one that's similar to your current WIP. Using colored pencils or highlighters, mark narrative summary in one color, another color for action, another for dialogue, and another for factual exposition. (Obviously you're going to do this with a book you own, not one you've borrowed from a friend or checked out of the library! LOL) Then look at the mix of colors to see how the author controlled pacing. Now, do the same on a few pages of your WIP and check the mix of colors on your page. Do you have them pretty much evenly spread out, or are you relying more heavily on one or two? All are necessary, but too much of any of them can slow down your pace.

On the flip side, you don't want to have your pacing so fast that you cheat readers. You still need to make sure you're building their anticipation. After all, you want them to keep turning the pages, right?