21 Pace It

							July E-Tip

                                                       Pace It

    “I’ll never ride with him again.” Why? Did he drive too fast? Too slow? Or did he tap dance on the

accelerator?

    The driver determines the destiny of the vehicle, but the passenger decides whether or not he goes

along.

    The writer’s goal is to take the reader to a specific destination. If the trip is not interesting and smooth,

the reader may bail out. Pace is critical in driving and writing.

    Follow these suggestions from The Creative Writer’s Style Guide by Christopher T. Leland to pace

your writing.

    • Balance dialogue and narration. Too much of either tends to slow the story. Are there too many

quotation marks on the page? Or not enough? Narration and dialogue do not have to be 50/50, but they

should be balanced. People do not simply sit and talk, talk, talk. They twist and turn, stop and think, stand

and pace.

    A large percentage of communication is done with body language. Readers do not have this visual

advantage, so the writer must provide it.

    Even nonfiction needs some dialogue to keep it moving. Pages of narration can put the brakes on an

interesting subject.

    • Watch the length of the sentences. The shorter the sentence, the faster the pace. Note how the

pace accelerates in the following examples.

                                                     --------------

    Elaine’s eyes blazed. “You aren’t interested in what I think.” She couldn’t remember when she had

been so angry.

    Roger stopped pacing and glared at his wife. “I don’t know what makes you think that. I’ve tried to talk

sense to. . . .”

    “Sense?” Elaine jumped to her feet. “You don’t know the meaning of the word.”

    “Who are you to talk?”

    “I’m the one who knows.”
    “Ha! Says who?”

    “Says me!”

                                                      -----------

    Blaine balanced himself on one foot. His skateboard wobbled. His mother had told him that this hill

was off-limits until he was more experienced at skating. He surveyed the sidewalk. It didn’t look

dangerous to him. He could handle it. He could always jump off, if necessary.

    With his free foot, he shoved off. He felt like an eagle swooping down on its prey.

    With a whoop and a jump, he cleared the first two cracks. “Here I come,” he shouted to the traffic

below.

    He picked up speed. Zzzzrooommm! “Here’s comes another crack,” he warned himself. Like a pro, he

jumped it. “Wheee!”

    Crack. Jump. Crack jump; crack jump. Crackjumpjumpjump. What fun!

    What was that? The curb. Oh, no!

    The street.

    A car.

    Too fast. Too late.

                                                    ----------------

    Not all writing is fast-paced and action-filled. At times, readers, like sightseeing tourists, like to move

leisurely, savoring the details.

    Whether the vehicle you choose to carry your passengers is a sightseeing bus or a space rocket,

pace it. Keep it smooth so the readers will look forward to another drive with you.