Description
Keep your readers on the edge of their seats. You’ve got great characters and a good idea for your plot, but your story builds tension too slowly; even you get bored in the middle, and you’re the one writing it. How do you avoid the slow start, the overly predictable middle, the boggy subplots, and the unsatisfying ending? Pacing is not just about action. It’s about the way you dance with the reader – where you drop clues, where you misdirect, where you cut between scenes, when you throw in unexpected complications, and how you raise the stakes. It’s about knowing when to delay and when to deliver.
So how do you rev up the speed at just the right moments, give just the right amount of pause for breath, and play with readers’ expectations in ways that build suspense and give your readers surprises they’ll be discussing for days? Jump into this book for Stant Litore’s exhilarating crash course on pacing in fiction. Beyond just theory, Write Pacing Your Readers Won’t Forget – like earlier toolkits in this series – will provide you with over 30 exercises that will challenge you to make your fiction thrilling.
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Need a kindle edition instead? Look here.
Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. (I earn a royalty because I wrote the book – but as Amazon also provides me with a small commission when you click the link above, I’m required to say something here about that and let you know. I hope you will get the book and really enjoy it.)
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REVIEW
“Not only is the advice great, but there’s a warmth to the chapters that makes writing inviting rather than intimidating.” – Todd Mitchell, author of The Traitor King and The Last Panther
“0 to 60: Write Pacing Your Readers Won’t Forget teaches vital elements in storytelling: how to keep the tale surprising, how to build tension and suspense, how to kick readers’ hearts into overdrive, and how to let them breathlessly rest. What struck me most is that Write Pacing Your Readers Won’t Forget is not only about the variety of ways we control pace, but about the intentionality of pacing: Do we reveal, delay, or misdirect? What are the hundred ways to do each? What makes for a better story? How do we recognize where we rushed, and how do we see where we’ve dragged?
“Drawing examples from multiple sources to illustrate the lessons, and then suggesting exercises to build skills, master teacher Stant Litore guides writers toward their creative goals. This is the fifth book in an eight-book writer’s toolkit. I’ve been writing and selling fiction for a long time. I wish I read these books when I started, but a writer should never stop growing. I’m ecstatic to have them now.” – James Van Pelt, author of Pandora’s Gun
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REVIEWS FOR STANT LITORE’S TOOLKITS FOR FICTION WRITERS
“Not only is the advice great, but there’s a warmth to the chapters that makes writing inviting rather than intimidating.” – Todd Mitchell, author of The Traitor King and The Last Panther
“There are other worldbuilding books out there; this is the one you want.” – Travis Heerman, author of the Ronin trilogy
“A master class: Litore has created an accessible, comprehensive approach.” – S.G. Redling, author of Flowertown and Damocles
“This is a clear, comprehensive, and beautifully written guide that will not only help emerging writers to find their voices and build imaginative worlds and characters, but one that will also prove invaluable to experienced writers seeking to spark their creative impulses or deepen the worlds they create.” – Angela Mitchell, author of Falada and Dancing Days
“Stant’s masterclass take on writing fiction…makes me want to rewrite everything I’ve done, and push on to new works. He is clear, entertaining, and passionate. I wish these books were available when I started writing, and I’m happy they are available now.” – James van Pelt, author of Pandora’s Gun
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Stant Litore is the author of the nonfiction titles Lives of Unforgetting and On the Other Side of the Night, and the fiction titles Ansible, The Zombie Bible, Dante’s Heart, and The Dakotaraptor Riders. Best known for his weird fiction, alternate history, and science fiction, he holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of Denver (as Daniel Fusch). He has served as a developmental editor for the independent writers’ collaborative Westmarch Publishing, and his work on character development has been featured in Jeff Vandermeer’s Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction. Litore’s fiction has been acclaimed by NPR, has served as the topic for scholarly work in Relegere and Weird Fiction Review, and he has been hailed as “SF’s premier poet of loneliness.” He is fascinated by ancient languages, history, and religious studies. He does not currently own a starship or a time machine but would rather like to. He lives in Colorado with his three children and hides from visitors in the basement library beneath a heap of toy dinosaurs, tattered novels, comic books, incomprehensibly scribbled drafts, and antique tomes. He is working on his next novel, or several.
He has taught these classes for Clarion West, Pikes Peak Writers, Writing the Other, Apex Writers, Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, and other professional associations and events for fiction writers.
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120 pages.
Cover art by Lauren K. Cannon.
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