How to Use Pace in Writing -

To develop uniqueness and feeling of the moment forward pace is reduced.  Pace slows with silence and description of sight, smell or touch as an event unfolds extending tension.  Expand tension with characters inner thoughts before their reaction, dialogue or scene description.  Readers share terror, fear or joy in events and the experiences of crowds or characters.  When characters thoughts of-and their circumstances are described, the scene slows then feelings increase unique to the character.  Scenes slow down the action.  Sound and new setting description can direct, set mood and pick up the pace.  A characters statement with opinion imagery can control scene pace, a contrast to the previous scene.  Action dialogue scenes can pick up the pace.  Narrative information about key scenes brings the scene alive for the reader.  Those scenes may be effective for chapter openings or section transitions.   Pick up the pace by condensing slow text and summery also speeds up the pace.  Create a clear writing flow that makes the logical connections and is easier to read.

Slow Pace:

J.R.R. Tolkien’ The Hobbit (Middle-Earth Universe), this introduction to the hobbit Bilbo Baggins, the wizard Gandalf, Gollum, and the spectacular world of Middle-earth recounts of the adventures of a reluctant hero, a powerful and dangerous ring, and the cruel dragon Smaug the Magnificent. The text in this 372-page paperback edition is based on that first published in Great Britain by Collins Modern Classics (1998), and includes a note on the text by Douglas A. Anderson (2001). Unforgettable!

Josephine Tey’ The Daughter of Time, inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard, recuperating from a broken leg, becomes fascinated with a contemporary portrait of Richard III that bears no resemblance to the Wicked Uncle of history. Could such a sensitive, noble face actually belong to one of the world’s most heinous villains—a venomous hunchback who may have killed his brother’s children to make his crown secure? Or could Richard have been the victim, turned into a monster by the usurpers of England’s throne? Grant determines to find out once and for all, with the help of the British Museum and an American scholar, what kind of man Richard Plantagenet really was and who killed the Little Princes in the Tower.

Paced:

Hakan Nesser’ Hour of the Wolf, soon Chief Inspector Van Veeteren, now retired from the Maardam police force, will face his greatest trial yet as someone close to him is, inexplicably, murdered. Van Veeteren's former colleagues, desperate for answers, struggle to decipher the clues to this appalling crime.

Elmore Leonard’ Djibouti, they learn soon enough that almost no one in the Middle East is who he seems to be. The most successful pirate, driving his Mercedes around Djibouti, appears to be a good guy, but his pal, a cultured Saudi diplomat, has dubious connections. Billy Wynn, a Texas billionaire, plays mysterious roles as the mood strikes him. He's promised his girlfriend, Helene, a nifty fashion model, that he'll marry her if she doesn't become seasick or bored while circling the world on his yacht. And there's Jama Raisuli, a black al Qaeda terrorist from Miami, who's vowed to blow up something big.