Limited Space Available: Come explore what has helped many writers take their work to the next level. See what a focus on pacing can do to improve your writing and submit a PB for critique each month, week 4 & 8.

Writers will receive invites to weekly zoom sessions, participate in writing activities and challenges to improve pacing, and receive two critiques in this session.

In this course, we will explore the many techniques that contribute to the perfect unfolding of story, including some of the following:

The 10Ps of Pacing Good Writing

Plot. Move your verbs, characters, and plot—move yourself—to move your readers.

Poetry. Use all the literary devices and poetic tools available to you as a writer. Power them up to lift up your writing.

Place. You are creating a performance. So, be ‘on the page’ and ‘in the now’ of your writing and hop, skip dance with your story and help your text sing.

Play. Really play. Let go. Thrill yourself to thrill your readers. Help readers enjoy and devour the next word, next phrase, next page.

Prosody. Pay attention to the musicality of language. Listen. Hear. Create sounds that mock the action of a scene. 

Perform. Really Engage your stage—Listen to the sounds. Hear and taste setting.  Be authentic and leap from scene to scene. Experience each second of your story.

Punctuate. Make each road sign count. Stop, pause, or halt your reader as necessary to alert your reader to the emotional ‘juicy bits.’

Pause. Use the comedic pause and give weight to what is left unsaid. ‘Unwrite’ your picture book strong and still some moments along the way.

Page-turns. (and chapter breaks and transitions). Honor the opportunity to create emphasis, surprise, reveal, and present that Awe… or Ah-ha! moment.

Personality. What’s your overall tone and how does it support your story? Think voice, attitude, and how every little thing in your story contributes to the theme.

Many Pacing Tools that Improve Good Writing

Pause. The space between words, the perfect pause in a piece of writing can captivate readers. The more we become aware of the moments a story needs space and quiet and the stillness, the more depth and meaning we may gift our readers.

Words. Every word matters. One word may elate us or break our hearts. It may race, slow, or halt the story, evoke the senses, and add wonderful sounds. One word (or the elimination of one word) will also do more. Do you have strong, active verbs? Do you use a rhythmic repeat to point out emotional change or point out an important part of my story? If so, use this.

Repetition. Repetition rallies the reader. It helps make a moment more memorable. Will repetition work well? Can you use a repetitive line to highlight the emotional growth of your main character? Add rhythmic beats to your story or create a ‘build’ structure? Are there spots where a repetitive phrase will add to the read-aloud? Are there places you can create more roll-off-the-tongue fun? If so, see if you can incorporate it into your manuscript, perhaps three times.  Can you see where repetition will help you make leaps in time? If so, use it.

Rhythm. Rhythm rocks a book fantastic. Do you see that rhythm is not optional, it’s essential? Are you hearing your picture book as a read aloud? Prosody, the sound of words is just as important as the word choice itself. Can you replace a regular word for an original word or craft a word string that sings? Are your words mocking the action of your story? If not, try.  Are you considering fun narrative devices: onomatopoeia, assonance, consonance, alliteration, etc.

Rhyme. To Rhyme or not to rhyme—or to use internal rhyme. Musicality in every manuscript matters. Are you exploring Poetry and not just Rhyme? Are you taking staying true to your story and staying committed to true rhyme? Are you monitoring your word choice and monitoring your rhythm, melody, imagery, and form? Are you selecting the best words for sound, accent, and meaning to express your ideas and emotions. Does your rhyme sing? Are you taking full advantage of all the Poetic devices available to you?  

Questions. Questions query the quest and pull your readers through the story. Do they alert readers to something specific, offer surprise, or pose the contrary? Are you thinking about how a Question might further your manuscript and engage your readers? Do you see how questions can be the premise behind a whole book idea?

Setting. Setting patterns place and time. Are you creating a setting that readers may crawl into and explore? Are you considering a setting shift or mix-up—and, most importantly, are you there with them? Can you add variety, and excitement, or break up your story in a non-linear way? Are you exploring how readers move through your story? Do you visualize each scene and add in only what’s necessary? Does your setting have reason to move to and fro, back and forth, or compare/contrast, or trigger memory response?

Details. Details deliver clues to be puzzled together. Details hold duality and double-down on your story to serve more than one purpose. Do you see how you can have the details of your story serve double duty and describe the setting and character in very few words? Are the detail in your story necessary or can you pull back? Do your Details add wordplay and rhythm, and have you explored using literary devices to do more?

Descriptions. Descriptions dance delicious. Descriptions normally slow the pacing, allowing time for readers to process information important to the story. Descriptions may also speed the story or create whole, believable worlds built out of words. They may move from slow to fast depending on how writers use literary devices to craft fabulous word strings. 

Dialogue. Dialogue reveals character, draws readers in, and speeds the pace of story. Dialogue can be most effective when it’s contrary, but writers often overlook this fabulous angle. It can be presented with different tags to draw the reader in. Use said when you want the tag to feel invisible and keep the focus on what is being said. Use an action tag will offer movement, atmosphere, or reveal character all in a few words. The best dialogue is an argument, so you might also ask what kind of universal truth or conflict is the dialogue bringing to light?

Objects. Objects do more. They reveal character, personality, likes, and dislikes. They serve as pacing markers or an endowed object. Objects may represent the obstacles a character has to overcome. Used within a story, objects help the reader make connections. They become powerful in defining inner character.

Lists. Lists organize and do more. Alert what might be coming next. A list is a list but can also do so much more. It’s an under-utilized pacing tool that lures readers into a story. It may slow the reader, build tension, reveal character, or become an interactive game. A list of words can join with the art on one page—over a series of spreads to share changes in the emotional trajectory.

Whitespace. Whitespace enhances the emotional impact. Like pause, it paces with immediacy. It opens up a moment to invite reader reflection. It’s a silence that forces readers to entertain expressions, feelings, and the emotional journey. Facial expressions, page positioning, and body language surface are all present for readers to consider. The pacing slows, and the character’s plight reveals itself like a freeze-frame.

Characters. Both unspoken and well-rounded characters layer a story. Unspoken characters slow the pacing, and add layers to a story. They move stories beyond words and create a bonus feature for readers to interact with on a higher level. Mostly the illustrators genius, writers may take advantage of this tool, too.

Art. Art offers splash & pizzazz. It might marry and dance and interplay with the words of a story, but not necessarily replicate. Art is best when it follows the intensity of a scene. But art may be contrary or carry the story alone. Art must further the words.

Graphics. Graphics attract attention. Graphics consider the book as a physical form. It’s horizontal or vertical and can be flipped or rotated. Words may become a graphic on the page, become art, divide up a scene, or go large. Both art and words may garnish attention from readers.

Page Turns. Really setting up for page turns can amp up the pace. There are a lot of different ways to explore this and we will look at many.