Picking up the Pacing

Dagnabbit, Meredith is just so SMART. Pru admits that she thought pacing was about the sequence of events. Meredith points out NOT that Pru is an idiot (because she’s kind) but that the very rhythm of the language is a tool that any author can use to propel the story forward. William Goldman’s “The Princess Bride” provides a highly useful example.

Some useful show notes:

Great book on writing: SCENE AND STRUCTURE, by Jack Bickham 

Great writing coach other than Merry: Alicia Rasley. There are lots of useful articles about the writing craft on her website at http://www.aliciarasley.com/

The quote that Meredith reads is by Gary Provost, as quoted in WRITING TOOLS: 50 ESSENTIAL STRATEGIES FOR EVERY WRITER by Roy Peter Clark, which seems to have been updated to 55 strategies and can be found at Amazon.

This is the quote:

This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The sound of it drones. It's like a stuck record. The ear demands some variety.

Now listen. I vary the sentence length, and I create music. Music. The writing sings. It has a pleasant rhythm, a lilt, a harmony.  I use short sentences. And I use sentences of medium length. And sometimes when I am certain the reader is rested, I will engage him with a sentence of considerable length, a sentence that burns with energy and builds with all the impetus of a crescendo, the roll of the drums, the crash of the cymbals--sounds that say listen to this, it is important.

So write with a combination of short, medium, and long sentences. Create a sound that pleases the reader's ear. Don't just write words. Write music.