how to grasp pacing

[Blackout]

in the most recent chapter of my novel, some of my readers have commented that the pacing of my novel is way too fast (an arc typically lasts for about 2 chapters with at least 3000 words for each chapter). is it really too fast? if so, how can i pace it better?

 

[DDTStudios]

Dude that way too fast. An arc for me last 17-18 chapters. Can I take a look?

 

[Blackout]

Dude that way too fast. An arc for me last 17-18 chapters. Can I take a look?

I woke up as a mob from a harem anime one day. I was always jealous of the main character, so I decided to steal his harem

Our MC realized he became a mob character in an anime he was watching. Will he stay as a mob, or will he try to overthrow the real main character? My PayPal account: PayPal.Me/blackout085059

www.scribblehub.com

 

[DDTStudios]

If anything, I would suggest making your arc around 7-8 chapters for starters then slowly extend that. I think 40 chapters for an arc is way to much and 20 is just about right.

 

[Zeeksi]

I really hope those are mini arcs part of a total arc because that does sound way too fast.

I'm around 3/4 of the way through my first 'arc' and im about 250k words into it but there are lots of little 'mini stories' that take place over 3-8 chapters during that time.

 

[DDTStudios]

Maybe you could add more description or dialogue. To me, you seem more like a veteran writer. I feel like I’m the wrong person to give you advice being only a beginner in writing.

 

[Blackout]

Maybe you could add more description or dialogue. To me, you seem more like a veteran writer. I feel like I’m the wrong person to give you advice being only a beginner in writing.

whoa whoa whoa, I'm nothing like that. I'm a beginner too. that's why I'm here seeking advice

 

[Blackout]

I really hope those are mini arcs part of a total arc because that does sound way too fast.

I'm around 3/4 of the way through my first 'arc' and im about 250k words into it but there are lots of little 'mini stories' that take place over 3-8 chapters during that time.

the thing is, i don't really know how to extend my chapters

 

[LostLibrarian]

An Arc should normally tell a small story in itself.
So each arc also should have:
- inciting incident
- complications
- crisis
- climax
- resolution

You could, of course, just pack all of that into one 10-20k long chapter, but especially with webnovels it's often more of 10-20 chapters for one arc. Often with a bit of breathing time between those story points, some SoL chapters, or just more complications.

It's not impossible to have a small and unimportant arc in 6k words, but that would leave you with not much breathing room to actually develop the world or characters. Let's say you introduce a threat to the protagonist in the chapter, your readers won't have the time to "fear for the MC" or make their own thoughts.

Think of any good movie you enjoyed. There often are 1 or 2 short breathing passages where you as viewer can sit there and think "What will happen next?" or "How will the hero survive that?". With such short arc, you won't have that effect and it'll read more like "Hero won, Hero won, Hero won". And that often feels rushed because the complication and/or resolution is missing.


Imho - and those are just my thoughts - you should at least have a chapter break after the incident, the complications and after the crisis. Just so that your readers can actually ask themselves and wonder about your story. So I would say you should at least go for 4+ chapters an arc. I personally use more of a novel format with ~50k words/arc in a lot (~35) chapters. With that you have enough time to flesh out characters and the world in between. That isn't necessary for every arc and every story, but as I said... always give the reader time to think about your story. Or else your story will end up as fast-food story... :D

 

[Alienix]

I follow One Piece. My story contains: saga, arc, and act.

Act is about 5-10 chapters. Arc is about hmm even arc 1 in my novel hasnt finished. Well, I estimate it will be around 50-100 chapters. Ah, I write xuanhuan. As for saga, each time the mc breakthrough to another realm, the saga ends.

 

[GDLiZy]

If it feels right then it is. The slow pace and the fast pace don't affect the enjoyment of the story if you intend it to be that way.

 

[Deleted member 29316]

An Arc should normally tell a small story in itself.
So each arc also should have:
- inciting incident
- complications
- crisis
- climax
- resolution

You could, of course, just pack all of that into one 10-20k long chapter, but especially with webnovels it's often more of 10-20 chapters for one arc. Often with a bit of breathing time between those story points, some SoL chapters, or just more complications.

It's not impossible to have a small and unimportant arc in 6k words, but that would leave you with not much breathing room to actually develop the world or characters. Let's say you introduce a threat to the protagonist in the chapter, your readers won't have the time to "fear for the MC" or make their own thoughts.

Think of any good movie you enjoyed. There often are 1 or 2 short breathing passages where you as viewer can sit there and think "What will happen next?" or "How will the hero survive that?". With such short arc, you won't have that effect and it'll read more like "Hero won, Hero won, Hero won". And that often feels rushed because the complication and/or resolution is missing.

Good to know that my novel's still on the normal side...

 

[atgongumerki]

If you do not know what to do to stretch out an arc:

Make a timeline.
Put your events on this timeline.
Think about what happens between the events, and about what kind of life your characters have during this time.
If it still feels too rushed, you either need more events between the initial confrontation and the climax, or you need to stretch them further along the timeline. For example, instead of having the Big Bad beaten in a week, make it a year or a decade.
As long as there is no world-ending event that needs to be stopped, you have basically infinite time to deal with the villain, crisis, or whatever the MC's problem may be.

The best thing about having long periods of time in which little happens is:
it gives you time to focus on who your characters are and how they react and feel.
For example, Big Bad destroys a city, and your heroes visit this town.
You can show how shocked and disgusted they are OR how they barely care cause cities of that scope vanish every other year and they are used to it.

But:
It is your story, you can do whatever you like with it.

 

[Blackout]

If you do not know what to do to stretch out an arc:

Make a timeline.
Put your events on this timeline.
Think about what happens between the events, and about what kind of life your characters have during this time.
If it still feels too rushed, you either need more events between the initial confrontation and the climax, or you need to stretch them further along the timeline. For example, instead of having the Big Bad beaten in a week, make it a year or a decade.
As long as there is no world-ending event that needs to be stopped, you have basically infinite time to deal with the villain, crisis, or whatever the MC's problem may be.

The best thing about having long periods of time in which little happens is:
it gives you time to focus on who your characters are and how they react and feel.
For example, Big Bad destroys a city, and your heroes visit this town.
You can show how shocked and disgusted they are OR how they barely care cause cities of that scope vanish every other year and they are used to it.

But:
It is your story, you can do whatever you like with it.

the thing is, my novel is a story where my mc got isekai'd into an anime, so pretty much all the event has a time limit

 

[atgongumerki]

anime!?
depending on which one, there are a lot of off-screen passages you can use
or you can describe the events in more detail (which is difficult as it may sound long-winded)

The thing about adaptation is:
There is always a change in pacing, the more visual the medium the faster it tends to be.
A lot of novels and mangas/mahnwahs/... leave out a lot of details when getting adapted to anime.
And if you think about your story as a fanfiction-adaptation, the pacing will naturally change.

 

[thedude3445]

I recommend, as always, using movies as research. Movies are self-contained stories that are almost never more than ~160 minutes, so they are forced to tell a complete story in a short amount of time and utilize the three-act structure very well.

Some movies are forced to compress quite ambitious storylines into short spaces, so you can study them for how you might play out a single story arc of your book. Other times, though, you want a single story arc to take place in a pretty short period of time and to be relatively self-contained, and movies are excellent at that of course.

Here are some recommendations I have for you to study:

• Pom Poko - The most underrated Ghibli movie, it is a parody of epic samurai adventure films starring tanukis and puts an entire season's worth of storyline into two hours. It's a hidden masterpiece.
• Princess Mononoke - The most fairly rated Ghibli movie and a non-hidden masterpiece. This is an epic fantasy that moves along at a blinding pace and is an excellent piece to study for action-oriented stories.
• Kong: Skull Island - A big ensemble cast of characters, huge stakes, and impressive worldbuilding. It's exactly the kind of story you could adapt into a fantasy isekai tale to great success.
• Raiders of the Lost Ark - The quintessential Hollywood action blockbuster film. A must watch if you want to delve into the study of pacing, because every single scene of this one is almost perfectly crafted to tell one grand story.