: Re: How to know if the story is going too fast? I have a question, part subjective, part common sense I think... The conjunction of experience of some writers can be helpful for me. How you know

@LarsenBagley300

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In my view, pacing in general is less about how many events happen at once, and more about how the details are fed to the reader. It also has to do with how well we manage the reader's excitement level

If you're asking about how many events happen in a week - Trust your instincts but fiction is not real life - there will be more events in fiction than real life. Pick up a favorite book and analyze it. It's ridiculous.

If you're asking about the rate of feeding words to the reader - you can draw out a thought or a moment. Something like the below, to my mind, stretches time even though it doesn't encompass any time at all:

The air in the foyer hung like an oppressive summer afternoon, the kind of afternoon when even the simple act of lifting a finger is too much work to contemplate. Merrill and Ramon faced one another silently.

New names should be fed not too quickly, maybe a few paragraphs per character before a new one comes in (general). Each character needs their due diligence when they come onboard in the story. Same with events.

Make sure you are taking each element of your scene and giving it the time on the page that it needs to be complete.

My actual answer is that like learning to play the piano, you will develop an ear for pacing, character introduction, amount of time to give to each scene, each element, and so on. There's no shortcut but to do it, keep at it, and watch yourself improve. Rinse and repeat.

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