Dear Authors... Pacing

[Music] okay so today we're doing a dear authors on pacing so if you're new to dear authors basically what it is is readers chatting with readers about what we like and don't like to see in books so i post a community tab about a particular topic and then this is a reading community a bunch of readers come together and just chat about what works and doesn't work for them then i gather the most upvoted or responded to or repeated um comments and we come together and we chat in a video it's kind of just a fun way for a community of readers to hang out and talk books in a different sort of way i really enjoy it so today we're talking about pacing and i also will have some books to go along with some of these things i know a lot of people don't love slow burns whether that be with romance relationships or the plot but i personally love them for me those small growths in relationship or intrigue are great as they provide some sense of progress while making the story feel more realistic as it takes a while for big revelations or deeper relationships to form this also makes the eventual conclusion all the more satisfying as you know it all built up over time and all the little moments the author put into making the plot point or relationship fully realized so i actually think that a lot of people really enjoy slow burn things i think the difference is that a lot of people will use fast pace and slow pace as sort of this blanket thing if something is moving along uh really well at a good pace then people will call it fast pacing and if something's lags and is boring then they'll call it slow pacing i don't i don't think that always paints an accurate picture of what we really mean with these terms the thing is whether a book should be fast paced or slow paced really depends on what the story needs in my opinion so there are a lot of stories that are really action-packed paced and fast moving but still give you time to breathe books that have a lot of tension a lot of action and a lot of a lot of forward movement but there's still emotional beats there's still time for the reader to reflect on what just happened and for and for characters to grieve or mourn or or have spiraling thoughts fast-paced stories done well just means that there's a lot of action there's a lot of movement there's constant things happening but there's still time to breathe it's not action on action on action this is an example of a story that does have battle after battle after battle but we still have moments for tau to spiral and self-reflect and and and become extremely fixated we're really in his head a lot as well as getting camaraderie with his sword brothers spencer is constantly in battle constantly in training constantly moving but she also has a ton of time for self-reflection and for uh kind of having to face a lot of the beliefs and a lot of the internal a lot of things that she's internalized create friendships mourn losses and absolutely remarkable thing isn't always extremely action-packed but there's constantly movement in the plot and in what's happening things are constantly changing whether in small ways or in huge ways but then you have stories like the secret history which i just finished reading which is extremely slow paced and at times borderline boring yet there's constantly little bitty things that are happening that make you go wait that seems off hold on is richard completely a reliable narrator that person is starting to act a little bit i'm uncomfortable with them them now watch your back richard you know like there's constantly small little movements small little details that make you go wait a second what's happening here books like the outsiders that's extremely character focused but there's constantly forward movement in what the characters are thinking and doing how they're evolving how they're changing like a man called ova which is so incredibly character focused that it's kind of hard to even describe the plot but the way that character moves and changes through the story i love that book so much it makes you so attached to him and falls so in love with him and as you see his his his personality and his beliefs and his thought patterns change and grow and as you see him just it's just such a wonderful story but it's very very slow paced but you're constantly seeing changes and move and movement in ovaid the person even the bone shard daughter isn't a fast-paced story at all but we're constantly changing perspectives and having little movement across the different perspectives in every chapter and it's so it's so fun for those more slowly paced books which are oftentimes my favorite ones because it's where i feel i get so much depth not to say you can't get depth from fast-paced books absolutely not but the books that focus more on the introspection on the little movements on the on on the little clues those are the ones that i oftentimes find myself pulling at little threads and when they all come together at the end is when i feel like this story was written so masterfully it's a preference thing a lot of pacing stuff is a preference thing i'm trying to focus more uh less on i like fast pacing i like slow pacing and more on the technical things that make these things better or worse for readers but having those those little nuanced moments that that provide clues that provide little bits of information that come together at the end can oftentimes be the most satisfying books for me and i know for a lot of people in the comments i think the primary killing of pacing is over explaining of setting authors often new authors feel the need to explain so much that they're setting of their setting up front and for me this really drags down the first act pacing i will always prefer slowly easing into a setting through contextual information given when it's relevant to diving and sprinting through the setup so that the plot can happen people complain that sanderson has slow starts but imagine if mistborn started with a detailed explanation of the lord ruler and alamancy for the sake of being able to jump in faster no thanks yeah so this is this is oftentimes a detriment for fantasy a lot of times uh in order so it's kind of it's kind of a hard thing because because you want the story to not take forever to get to the point what are we doing here what's our main goal when at what point do we establish what we're trying to accomplish or what this book is about i'm the type of reader that likes to go into a book not knowing a ton about it i don't heavily research my books before i read them i usually just know like very little and so i'm going into the book a lot of times not even knowing what the main point what the main thread of the book is and then i'm just sitting around reading thinking what are we doing here what's our purpose here if the story doesn't get to oh this is where we're going quickly enough but especially for fantasy a lot of times stories feel like i need to establish the magic system i need to establish the setting i need to establish the world class system and you know whatever is going to come into play for our characters at the beginning and then we can get into the plot so that then we can just run at a break neck pace and i do very much agree with this and it seems like there have been a lot of comments that have talked about that beginning pacing and the info dumps that it can really mess up the the beginning because if i'm reading loads and loads of history and and and politics in the world and uh the the complexities of the magic system i'm reading all that before i even care about the characters before i even care about what's happening in the plot then all this information is gonna be in one ear out the other i'll retain some of it but not nearly as well as if i got to know the characters first and i got a more immersive experiential kind of setting kind of experience with the world and then i'm i'm hooked and i want to know more and i'm looking for more information i think the name of the wind does that extremely well as we go through cobb's journey to get to the inn before he starts talking to both or quoth i think i say his name wrong and really throughout the entire book rothfuss divvies out information about the magic and about the world and about the class systems very slowly as it's needed malazan as well throws you into the thick of things to the point that it offsets a lot of people or off puts a lot of people throws you into the thick of things while still giving you little pieces of the world and little bits of information that make you go what exactly is happening here and kind of makes you wait an extraordinary amount of time before you can start piecing things together there's a tremendous amount of intrigue that doesn't get pay off for a while but at least for me it kept me reading because i needed some of these answers i think the important thing here is giving us something to latch on to like some sort of character dynamic or some sort of mystery or something that is very intriguing that's very fascinating that's very exciting i know for me with um foundry side just learning that our main character anything she touches she learns the history and the the information of that thing uh so so if she touches something then she knows what hands it's passed through she knows where it started and the history of it or in her case she is a thief and she uses this ability to touch the floor and then know the entire floor plan of the building but then it also has the detriment of she is overloaded with information unless she's wearing gloves so that to me was such a fascinating way to use this type of magic and it had me from the very beginning needing to read more attached to her and needing to know how she's going to use that little things whether it be magic or setting or world or character things that draw us in and make us want to keep reading but then dipping out that information slowly so that we're not bogged down with information before we care i know a lot of people don't like down time especially in genres that invoke high stake conflicts but i adore it to me this is where you really get to know your characters what's important to them what little quirks they have and people they're close to and why etc you can learn so much about someone just by observing how they eat dinner i wish we saw more of that the thing is i actually saw a lot of comments like this so i'm not sure how much people don't like down time i think maybe it's more of a matter of when it's used exhaustively then readers are like oh my gosh can we get to the point can we move the story along please but this downtime is so important especially after we've had big high action scenes when stories have action on action on action on action a lot of times i end up feeling like the story feels very shallow a lot of times i end up coming out of it feeling like i barely know these characters i barely know this world boom crash that was fun where's the depth and and it's it's in stories stories that are really fast-paced when they can have a big action scene or a big emotional beat or a big conflict and then take a step back and reflect on it it's kind of like in real life when you have a spike of adrenaline whether because of action or because of fear or whatever it is and then after after you've accomplished the thing or after you've you've survived the thing then it's like your whole body comes down and you need a second to just stare at a wall i love when authors put that in their books i love when there's been a really scary moment or a really um action life-threatening thing and then the the characters are coming down from that adrenaline spike and taking a moment to reflect or to talk or just to make dinner and stare at a wall to me i feel like i'm coming down from adrenaline too but when something like a death happens or something like a battle happens or something like somebody nearly nearly was you know fatally injured or whatever and then we just move on to the next thing unless it's used intentionally like we're being dragged along with the characters and we're not having a second to breathe with the characters but if it's just like i want to make my story interesting next next next next then i feel like a lot of the a lot of the emotion that should come from really intense things don't doesn't i don't get anything from it because the characters aren't taking a second to reflect either i felt this way a lot with um yeah i don't remember the name of the book now that's probably good for me because it's a well-loved book so i probably shouldn't be saying negative things about it oh well i'll put it on the screen it was a great story it was a great it was a very interesting plot but i didn't continue on with the series because so many things kept happening that were really intense and emotional and horrifying and the characters a lot of times not every time weren't taking a second to reflect and it wasn't sticking with them like i felt like it should have and so i was left feeling so much less impact from the from the intense emotional things that were happening because the characters didn't seem to be feeling it at all for me that's a really important factor for getting me to be very invested i think facing problems are more often a symptom than a disease if the characters are interesting the world is compelling and the pros solid it almost doesn't matter to me how fast things are happening bad pacing usually comes from not being properly invested in a part of the story that the author is spending a lot of time on even if the actual sequencing of events is fine this is a great comment and i think this is really really true for stories the slower paced stories like over like the secret history things like that or daphne du maurier as well has very very slow paced where did i point she's over here has very very slow paced stories but her environment is so immersive and unsettling i feel like i'm there more than any other author puts me there anyway it's the immersion in the story it's the little clues the little moments that make me stop and say wait what does that mean was that did that connect to that or even just the moments of comedy that don't necessarily progress the plot every time but sometimes just pred pre just move the story in some way the little moments of progression are oftentimes more impactful for me as far as getting me invested than some big action sequence could be the preferences in pacing varies from person to person true personally i believe that the story needs to be like a wave with ups and downs one after another slow paced parts have to be broken up by something like a reveal or some action and as we continue progressing in the story it should feel like we have gotten somewhere all i'm saying is that actions should have visible consequence we shouldn't have action just for the sake of action yes yes yes i want to highlight this comment so strongly as i said earlier in the video a story has to have ups and downs the waves of really intense moments not necessarily has to be action it could be a really intense emotional moment but really intense moments that are that have the reader on the edge of the seat that use those shorter clipped sentences that really have you scared or or or i don't know anxious whatever and then the breathing moments whether that be a day-to-day life thing or a reflection thing or whatever and then the waves the up and down the times to reflect and to get more depth out of characters and setting and then the really intense moments that make our hearts race what i want to highlight the most here is that last bit we shouldn't have action just for the sake of action because i think that's so important and i see that a lot in books where we have false action or false tension and it's not you know there are plenty of stories that aren't action-packed that still have this false tension to it whether it be two characters that have this big blow-up moment this big conflict this big something that feels like it's there just because the story's been going well for a while and we need something now to get the readers on the edge of their seat but if it feels manufactured or it feels completely unnecessary then it's frustrating for for me at least but it seems like by the comments for you guys too or if the story has been slow for a little bit we've had a lot of introspection we've had a lot of world building we have whatever and then somebody comes out of nowhere and just starts attacking you but it doesn't really tie into the plot very well then it's like this feels false i can see the framework around this it doesn't feel like i'm reading someone's story it feels like i'm reading a book someone wrote do you know what i mean there's a very big distinction between those two and i think part of the issue is that a lot of times authors feel like they have to they have to have those waves of up and down but the waves have to be really really intense where sometimes just some small conflict just some small tension some small fear um is enough you know like sometimes i feel like authors don't trust us enough to enjoy the nuances of story two it has to be like boom crash pow here's a big explosive something because i haven't had a big explosive something for a while i think a lot of books struggle with pacing for endings some books rush through endings so quickly that as a reader i don't feel satisfied i need the emotional resolution not just at the end of the plot i think this comes from the fact that writers naturally speed up the climax of the story the climax is not an ending and often there is need to at least slightly slow down afterward this is a great point and i definitely feel this a lot of times with the ending where there's so much build up i'm gonna talk about vicious for this one there's so much build up and sometimes vicious the whole plot is build up and promising something and then you get to the thing and it's over so fast and it's like that's what i waited for now don't get me wrong i really enjoyed vicious i hated the sequel but i really enjoyed vicious despite that flaw in it but this is something that comes up with a lot of books where there's so much build up and you get so excited for it and then and then it happens and it's over so fast and then you're just sitting there like that was so unsatisfying and then that can often happen as well with the falling action after the big thing ends and now we need a moment to reflect and to breathe but instead we get a 16 years later or whatever it was jk rowling that's not satisfying this one from our iconic jacob potato i sometimes see writers mix up fast pace with let's just get to the good part a relentlessly fast pace can start to feel artificial and i'd much rather have a book's pace be too slow than too fast you can actually see in the screenshot that this has been thumbs up that was my husband he likes your comment jake on my account but anyway i completely agree with this i think i kind of touched on this before but i think a lot of times when a story is too fast paced where there's no moments to breathe and it's just action on action on action conflict on conflict and conflict a lot of times i leave those books feeling like yeah it was a really good story but it felt very shallow and what i mean by that is there's no moments to breathe and reflect and so i didn't feel like i was getting out of the characters and out of the intense moments what i was supposed to whereas with something that's too slow i might come out of it saying yeah there were parts where it really dragged but the story was incredible neither one of these com complaints are ideal for us obviously but i would definitely rather have an incredible nuanced layered story that could have been tightened up over a story that is great an idea but in execution i don't feel like i got out of it what i was supposed to this is kind of summarizing something that i've already said except it's doing it better so i want to read it it's all about for forward momentum for me whether it can change whether it be a change in location a sudden action scene a small reveal a character introduction or a comedy moment i constantly need something to push me forward as a reader even if the overarching plot itself isn't moving as long as there is that momentum in the micro sense then i'll be captured by whatever work i'm experiencing this is such a great comment and i think frederick bachmann does this really well because his stories are so character focused and so theme focused that they're very very very slow paced but he constantly has me reading one for his incredible character work but two because of his humor a lot of times there are just these little moments of humor that draw me in deeper that keep me moving as a reader and i think that that's a really really important point with pacing that when you're when there are slower moments with the story as long as there's something that keeps drawing me in it doesn't have to be a plot focus something the plot doesn't have to constantly be moving but if there's a character moment that's really engrossing or just a moment of humor that makes me say i really like this book it's making me laugh that keeps me reading those things can be incredible for pacing and then finally we'll end on i think any pacing can be enjoyable if it's being effective to the story i don't mind something super fast if it's a battle scene and it's making me read fast and breathe hard and i don't even care if i'm missing details because that's what a battle is like and i also don't mind a slow patch to describe the feel of the grass and the sun and the trees if it's moving forward the characters or the world or if it's there specifically to give me some breathing space it goes bad when it tries to force the story or characters or the reader to conform to a rhythm that's just not natural to the situation that is greatly worded and i think that that sums up a lot i read through a ton of these comments i highlighted the ones that were the most upvoted and interacted with or repeated a lot but i've read through a ton of comments and it seems like a lot of people are agreeing that slow pacing or fast pacing neither one are inherently bad and a lot of times it's completely subjective to what the reader wants some readers love slow introspective tiny detail stories as long as they're done extremely intentionally and as long as little moments are constantly driving the story forward doesn't have to be driving the plot forward constantly but just making the reader want to read more whether that be emotional beats or little clues or moments of humor those things really propel the story when it's a more slowly paced story same for action-packed stories there's nothing wrong with that and a ton of people loved very very fast-paced stories but having moments to breathe and reflect or just live life for a second after something very intense just went down these things are instrumental in making it not feel hollow or shallow or forgettable because you have those beats to reflect on what's happened and to soak it in really it's like what the one commenter said about a story needs to be full of ups and downs and i think a big problem a lot of times is at least for the more slower paced stories a lot of times i see this in romance or literary fiction or contemporary a lot of times i'll see the false um tension whereas like this is a slow story we're getting close to the end something needs to explode now and so a lot of times it'll be false tension an argument that feels completely manufactured or something like that and i just think that we can we as readers can be trusted more than that we as readers can appreciate nuanced tension and nuanced movement same for really fast-paced stories we don't need boom crash around every corner in order to stay invested we like to breathe too [Music] oh hey there what are you doing in my house don't worry about it what are you doing yeah but how did you get in my house you uh writing a book i am is the book good i think it is i think it's a really good story you sure about that uh no how can you be sure you're not creating any plot holes inconsistencies things that readers will read and tear your story apart i have um notes i have notes where i'm keeping track of things and you still might forget you still might mess something up oh don't you wish there was a browser-based organizational tool to help you write your stories it's called campfire it has over a dozen modules like character sheets timelines relationship webs and a manuscript editor that helps you to reference your notes while you write everything you create is private safely stored in the cloud and shareable to collaborate with friends they also have a hub of educational resources you can showcase your projects in campfire explore to share your work with the community and build a following and you can choose what parts of your project to share and craft a homepage to present your story create an account for free and enjoy access to everything from the start if you're working on bigger projects and campfire right you only have to pay for the features you need start a subscription for as low as 50 cents a month or pay a one-time price with campfire a la carte options plus campfire has massive updates on the way like more modules an offline desktop app a mobile app and the ability to monetize your writing and explore yeah while you were rambling on i actually looked up campfire and this website is awesome i'm gonna use them hey can i ask you a question yeah are those two unicorn horns on your head yeah did you choose two unicorn horns because you didn't have a headband with devil horns on it yeah yeah so you're basically equating campfire with the devil uh rethinking your ad concept a little bit now yeah yeah well i'm still going to use campfire though because this website is awesome yeah you should and if you use the link in my description you can learn more about it i will use your discount code and you should too but anyway i really enjoyed reading through everybody's comments on this one i really love the series because i love reading through all the different opinions and thoughts and trying to compile it all together and then all coming together in the video and discuss um some of the the most commonly stated things i hope you guys enjoy it too uh be sure to continue the conversation about this in the comments if you have more that you want to add in any direction i'd love to hear it and let me know what you tend to prefer if you tend to prefer that more slow nuanced sort of writing or if you like the a lot of action around every corner with some breathing room anyway like i said continue chat with me more about it in the comments i love reading these kinds of discussions i post videos every tuesday and friday i'll see you again soon bye [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Merphy Napier

Views: 33,270

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Id: gGj-f_feTS0

Length: 28min 40sec (1720 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 14 2021