McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
Dresden Files Pacing
the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:
--- Quote from: meg_evonne on August 30, 2012, 03:20:04 PM ---FYI, I do not love excel character sheets etc. I hate them, but I do them. I also track every scene for its value (if a scene isn't adding three items to the overall plot, it gets cut or enriched), and I track every scene for its tension level, which I rate. I want to see that tension increasing. I will also balance and note on the sheet what type of tension I've put in there--action, threat level, character arguments, sexual tension etc.
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I'm not convinced that it always wants to be monotonically increasing, though, particularly if your book is longer than can be reasonable be read in one sitting; there is something to be said for giving the reader and the characters a break between a bad bit and a worse bit, dramtic reversals sort of thing.
Quantus:
--- Quote from: the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh on August 31, 2012, 01:48:58 AM ---I'm not convinced that it always wants to be monotonically increasing, though, particularly if your book is longer than can be reasonable be read in one sitting; there is something to be said for giving the reader and the characters a break between a bad bit and a worse bit, dramtic reversals sort of thing.
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Are you talking about something like the Big Middle event that JB describes in his writing blog, or something more twisty?
o_O:
a first movement resolution would be nice, even if the movement is not in sonata form?
the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:
--- Quote from: Quantus on August 31, 2012, 01:58:49 AM ---Are you talking about something like the Big Middle event that JB describes in his writing blog, or something more twisty?
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Jim's notion of Big Middle would be an example of the kind of thing I mean, yes. I'm also thinking of a couple of books othat do a "build-release-build-release-build-release..." pattern, moving faster between tension and release as they go; Raphael Carter's The Fortunate Fall is a good SF example, though my favourite is I think William Goldman's mainstream novel The Color of Light. (I'm a sucker for books about writers), and a number of things in genre that build to a climax, have enough space after it for things to appear resolved, and then drop you back into greater tension.
Quantus:
--- Quote from: the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh on August 31, 2012, 09:31:42 AM ---Jim's notion of Big Middle would be an example of the kind of thing I mean, yes. I'm also thinking of a couple of books othat do a "build-release-build-release-build-release..." pattern, moving faster between tension and release as they go; Raphael Carter's The Fortunate Fall is a good SF example, though my favourite is I think William Goldman's mainstream novel The Color of Light. (I'm a sucker for books about writers), and a number of things in genre that build to a climax, have enough space after it for things to appear resolved, and then drop you back into greater tension.
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Hmm, Ill have to check that one out.
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