Episode 1: Plotter? Pantser? It’s the Pacing!
A plotter likes to write down an outline for their story before they begin. They plan scenes and chapters like a road map to guide their writing sessions. They craft story arcs, build out subplots, and sweat the details along the way before they get started.
A pantser might start their writing sessions without any planning or forethought. They might start with a concept and then follow their impulses. They might pause to evaluate their work, cycle back, or keep braving forward through the dark.
Plotters have a pin at each point on the map, where Pantsers feel their way to their final destination.
What all good writers have in common is that they have a feel for pacing. Pacing deals with speed. It’s how fast or slow the story moves and unfolds for the reader. Too slow and the reader will get bored and turn away. Too fast and they can’t keep up and they might want to get off your wild ride. It’s how you distribute the information, scenes, plot points, or beats of a story that ensures an enjoyable ride.
When you study pacing, you’re training your brain to recognize the patterns of story. Learning pacing, observing pacing, dissecting pacing is storytelling exercise, like in a workout. It’s muscle building for your muse.
My favorite exercise equipment to workout pacing is television shows, especially pilot episodes. Hour long television shows have about 45 minutes to tell a complete, compelling story while contending with commercial breaks, and then a seven day break between installments. And then months between seasons.
There’s so much we can learn from studying the patterns of episodic stories. The B, C, and sometimes D storylines, how to lead/launch into scenes, how to hook the reader between commercial breaks. There are novice characters to guide us through the new world, cats to save, dogs to pet and twin sisters and secret babies ~oh my!
Is there any wonder I’m having a breakdown. If you need a good Muse workout, join me as I breakdown the patterns and techniques of television show pacing to use in novel writing. To hang out with me, you need to know the 12 basic points that you’re going to see in the sixty minute dramatic format for episodic television shows.
- Set Up
- Want/ Need
- Plan
- Obstacle
- Growth
- Setback
- Regroup
- Confrontation
- Silver Lining
- Resolution
- Closure
- Open Door