This is K.M. Wylen and you are listening to the 461 episode of the Helping Writers Become Authors Podcast. This episode is four pacing tricks to keep readers attention.

Stories live or die on their pacing. Great characters and concepts are the heartbeat of good fiction,

but even the greatest can struggle to keep readers attention if the pacing is off.

Pacing is a lot like tone. It varies depending on the type of story you're telling, and

it's instrumental in informing readers what to expect from this story, both in terms of content and the speed at which it unspools. Stories with purposely leisurely pacing instruct readers to settle in.

Writers like Lois McMaster, McChold, and Susanna Kirsley draw patient readers in with a slow burn of detail and foreshadowing.

Others, like Brent Weeks and Stephen Gould, race readers through fast-paced action-oriented stories. These approaches create

completely different reading experiences even within the same genre. But all

signal competent authors who know how to use pacing to serve the story.

A discussion of foundational pacing techniques will start and end with tips for

controlling how fast or slow your narrative is, as well as for identifying

win to utilize which technique.

Since I have discussed all of that in previous episodes and posts, today I want to take advantage of Part 21 of our ongoing

series, The Do's and Don'ts of Storytelling, according to Marvel, to talk about some of the smart

tricks you can employ to tweak your pacing and keep readers reading or watching.

Now I have to admit I wasn't just dying to see Captain Marvel. The trailers didn't quite wow me. Carol Danvers

seemed to come across somewhere between boring and annoying. Plus I just haven't

been in the mood for a theater movie lately. However, mostly because some of you guys were already

asking about this episode, I made it happen. All of this is to say, I went into the theater

in a slightly grumpy make me like you kind of mood.

And two hours later, I left with a big smile on my face.

I love it so much when that happens that it almost tempts me to get grumpy before every movie.

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