Welcome, Allison Brennan. I hear you have been working hard. Please tell us what we can expect soon.
I’m developing a workshop about writing thrillers and
romantic suspense, and presented it once on line and once in person. I’ll be
presenting it again at the RWA conference in Anaheim, and need to work through
some bugs – namely, I needed more time!
So as I was going through my notes to figure out how to
condense the workshop into a simple ten-point outline, I found this tidbit:
Years ago, I interviewed Linda McFall, former senior editor
with MIRA, for something (I honestly can’t remember what!) and she told me once
that what makes her want to acquire a book is 1) a great character she can root
for and 2) perfect pacing. Likewise, she said, she can fix anything except
character and pacing.
“Perfect pacing” doesn’t really say anything, does it? Fast,
slow, it doesn’t matter—what matters is that the pacing is perfect for that
story.
There are other editors who probably have other deal
breakers and can fix pacing with their magic wand, but to me Linda nailed it
about what makes me love a book – or a television show.
According to the Tennessee Screenwriting Association [LINK: http://www.tennscreen.com/thriller.htm],
one of the pillars of a great thriller is tension:
“Tension must be maintained throughout the story through the
conflicts (keeping it difficult for the hero to get what he/she wants) and
through the writer's style and story pacing.”
Tension is, essentially, perfect pacing. It’s giving the reader
enough conflict and information to keep them turning pages but not so much that
they go into overload and hyperventilate!
If the hero gets what they want at the beginning of the book,
there is no book – unless getting what they want sets up a chain of events
where getting what they want makes their ULTIMATE goal unattainable (i.e.
Monkey’s Paw syndrome, as well as subtext in dystopian literature, Star Trek
storylines—perfect society with dark undertones, etc.) So then there really are
two levels of goals and attaining one creates deeper, richer conflict.
What the hero wants can change over the course of the story. In
THE PREY, my debut novel, the hero was a hired bodyguard. His goal was to keep
the heroine safe while the police hunted down her stalker. When the killer goes
after someone close to the hero, his goal changes to revenge—he now has a
personal stake in finding the killer.
Tension means the reader does not know what will happen, or
they think they know and it’s all bad
for the characters they care about! Tension is largely psychological--something
may or may not happen, depending on both things we know and things we don’t.
Sort of like in 1980s horror movies, where you KNOW the teenagers are all going
to be killed (or most of them) but you don’t know WHEN. So every time they walk
on scene, you feel tense. Then when they survive three times, you feel
relieved, then WHAM! They get beheaded and you scream. J …
Tension is not necessarily action. When Donald Maass says “tension on every
page” this doesn’t mean a constant state of action and reaction, just that the
reader needs to be tense for the survival (real or emotional) of the characters
they root for.
Have you seen THE AVENGERS yet? If not, what are you waiting
for? One of the best movies of the decade, pitch perfect in every way from
character to pacing to dialogue. Obviously, I’m not surprised – it’s Joss
Whedon plus superheroes.
What I loved about this movie from a creative view was not just
the special effects or the clear but complex plot, but how each scene built on
the previous scenes, so that there was a constant state of tension without
being overloaded in every scene. It was fluid and flawless and I can’t wait to
go back so I can dissect it rather than simply enjoy it. You can learn a lot
about pacing and tension from the movies!
But pacing isn’t just important in thrillers. It’s equally
important in romantic comedies, for example. One of my favorite romantic
comedies is WORKING GIRL with Harrison Ford and Melanie Griffith. Like THE
AVENGERS, each scene builds on the previous scenes, so that you have a layered,
textured, and flawless storyline. It doesn’t have superheroes or chases or
explosions, but it has constant tension – is Melanie Griffith going to achieve
her dreams, retain her integrity, and keep her man in the cutthroat business
world?
In the world of television, crime shows usually focus on pacing
because it’s critical to the genre. But comedies like NEW GIRL need pitch
perfect pacing—it’s harder often because comedy is subjective, and you need to
set up and tell the joke and immediately move on. No explanation to the
audience. Great learning tools!
What movie or show have you seen recently where you were wowed
by the way the story was told? I guarantee, it’s all in the pacing.SILENCED On Sale Now www.allisonbrennan.com
