Day Five: Pacing Your Story--The Goldilocks Principle

We all remember the children's story "Goldilocks and the Three Bears." Mama, Papa, and Baby Bear go for a walk while their porridge cools, and a little girl happens upon the house and decides to explore it. Once inside, she tries out their chairs, their porridge, and finally their beds. In each instance, two of the three are too hot/cold, big/small, hard/soft, but one is always "just right." Pacing is the process of controlling how fast or slow your plot develops within the construct of your story. The Goldilocks Principle in writing refers to getting that pacing "just right"--not too slow, not too fast--and matching the pace to what's happening in each scene. Some writers are able to do this as they write; others add pacing when they begin their revisions.

The key to pacing is variety. Longer, compound sentences tend to slow the pace, whereas short, choppy sentences and sentence fragments speed things up. If your character is taking a leisurely, meditative walk in the woods, you can use longer descriptive sentences to create the setting and reflective mood. But if someone suddenly starts chasing her, her mind isn't going to be on observing what's around her, but on survival. Shorten the sentences to create tension and pick up the pace.

Dialog is another way of varying the pace. Think about how people really talk. If someone is recalling a pleasant memory from long ago, they may tell it in more detail, digressing here and there, meandering through the experience. On the other hand, if someone is distraught, nervous, or scared, their thoughts and words will be choppy, jumbled, disconnected.

It is important for the writer to learn when to speed things up and when to slow them down, how long to sustain the tension and when to give the reader a break from it. If it feels like things are too slow, insert some action, either physical or mental. By alternating tension and relief, you can build to a more effective climax without losing the reader along the way. And remember that every passage, whether description or action, must advance the story. If a passage just sounds "nice" but doesn't move the story along, discard it.

One pitfall for new writers is not knowing when to end their story. Don't write past the ending. Once you've achieved resolution to the conflict, let the story draw to a quick, natural close. If there must be an epilogue, make it brief. Likewise, don't end the story too abruptly, leaving the reader unsatisfied. Even an open ending should give a sense that this part of the story is finished.

Day Four: Pacing Yourself

Fast and furious, or slow and steady -- how do you pace yourself during NaNoWriMo? It depends on the individual, and there is no right or wrong way to do it. But sometimes, what has worked for us in the past, suddenly doesn't work for us any more.

As in the past, all of the anticipation that had been building up during October, manifested as creative overdrive when the virtual starting gun fired at 12:01 a.m., on day one, November 1. I hit the ground running, ideas fresh in my mind, energy flowing, couldn't get the words out fast enough. I felt like I could sustain this pace forever, and was annoyed when non-NaNo necessities, such as eating, paying bills, and catching a couple of hours sleep, threatened to slow me down.

On day two, that pesky internal editor/critic showed up trying to distract me by critiquing what I'd written the day before. I reminded it, and myself, that the purpose of NaNo is writing -- the editing and critiquing come after the clock runs out on November 30. Founder Chris Baty had warned of the temptation to second guess yourself in "A Guide to the Novelling Month Ahead." For November 2, he wrote: "Stop writing. Wonder if you should start over. Keep going. Feel better." So, I muzzled the internal editor/critic and pressed on. The words didn't flow quite as quickly because I had to veer off the "write" road onto a side path to do a little research on locations, culture at the time in which the story is set, and a few other details. That taken care of, I continued setting the stage for the "meat" of the story.

On day three, things were still going well. The characters were becoming more real, the setting more developed, and all the elements were coming together. I ended the day in high spirits, still ahead of the three-day word count goal.

Then, when I woke up to go to my physical therapy appointment Tuesday afternoon (have been in p.t. since injuring my hand in mid-July), I realized that my hand was the ONLY thing that wasn't bothering me! After three days of flat-out writing, my eyes were burning, my brain was fogging, my body felt like it had been hit by a truck, and I was completely exhausted. The realization began to dawn that I can no longer pull consecutive all-nighters as I did when I was younger--not without unpleasant consequences. Wisdom dictated that I take last night off, give myself and my characters a rest, and start fresh tonight. Being ahead in the word count helped, as did the fact that my writing for yesterday had been completed the night before.

So, where does that leave me today? Right on track, and with the added bonus of nine and a half hours of sleep under my belt. Hopefully, my characters also had a good night's rest so they can better deal with the things that are going to happen to them.

If you're feeling stressed, overwhelmed, and thinking of quitting, stop and take a break. Some participants write less during the week, then catch up on the weekends. If you're starting to fall behind in the word count, don't beat yourself up over it. Get up, walk around, talk to a friend or your writing buddy, watch your favorite show, read a book, pat the dog, get some sleep, and start fresh the next day. After all, what's the worst that can happen? Even if you don't hit 50,000 words by the end of the month, you will still have written more than you would have if you hadn't tried in the first place.

So, after last night's brief hiatus, and feeling refreshed, it's back to the keyboard!