Rate of Revelation: How To Improve The Pacing of Your WIP
Slow pacing in your novel? Here’s a little known trick to improve your writing forever.
Slow pacing is a common problem with writers, but few guides show you how to solve this issue once and for all. Helpful advice can be found scattered all over the internet, but often it’s called by different names and blamed on different problems.
That’s because pacing as a concept can be hard to pin down. The quality of a manuscript is a delicate web of features that create a whole, so breaking down each aspect to figure out where this “slow pacing” started can turn into a whole mess. Plus fixing one problem can create other problems down the line if you’re unlucky.
But did you know there’s one term that can capture nearly every variable into one? Let’s talk about something called the “rate of revelation.”
What Is The Rate Of Revelation?
Despite the name, it’s not about giving your characters epiphanies. The rate of revelation is how soon you introduce new events or information that’s important to the story. In regards to fiction, Linda S. Clare says it’s when your plot will “unfold at a rate that excites but doesn’t confuse readers.”
When it comes to prose, it’s ensuring you don’t spend forever making a single point when it can be done in one sentence. For your plot, your characters will react and make decisions to keep the reader’s attention without plodding along or overwhelming them. Thing is there are many different facets to pacing, making it hard to pin it down. Overall pacing problems can plague an otherwise phenomenal piece of writing.
At least until you understand how to use the rate of revelation.
What Does A Good Rate of Revelation Look Like?
It depends on the tone of your story, the genre you’re working on, or the audience you’re writing for. That means what is “good” for one person could be a horrible slog for another. That’s why we’re going to compare “slow” vs “fast” instead.
An Example of Slow Rate Of Revelation
Here’s an original example I wrote for you:
My sweaty grip tightens around my sword as I eye my sparring opponent. The slick grip worries me despite many weeks of training, as it’s possible my weapon could fly out of my hand. That would be trouble, as I would be left defenseless and would have no choice but to forfeit the match. My opponent’s gaze unnerves me, as she looks far more focused than I am. The crowd waits for the first move, the pressure from their anticipation making me even more nervous.
In this excerpt, the slow rate of revelation comes from long sentences, heavy internal narration, and sparse–if any–descriptions of the setting.
When you need to give your characters a moment to breathe, this can be a great time to use a slow rate of revelation. Another good spot could actually be in the beginning of your story! This sounds counter intuitive, but by taking the time to explain what’s happening and why it matters to your character, you can better guide the reader into your world. Then you can crank up the speed once everyone is safely buckled in for the ride.
However if you stay at a slow rate for too long, you risk losing a reader’s attention with too many words to make your point. Have you ever had your brain lose focus when you were trying to read? This could be a possible culprit. A reader’s brain could accidentally turn off instead of getting pulled into your world.
If you’re trying to write something that’s fast paced instead, a section like this needs a kind–but precise–editing hand.
An Example Of Fast Rate Of Revelation
My sweaty grip tightens around my sword as I eye my opponent, who stands with perfect poise compared to my knocking kneecaps. It’s the second match of the day; pressure to perform was intense after the one before mine ended with a howl of pain and a rush to the medical tent. Heat beats down on my metal helm. Sunbeams bounce off my blade. The crowd settles into an excited hush, then bursts into a roar as my opponent charges me.
This second attempt covers the roughly same amount of time, but the rate of revelation is faster because it introduces new context for the story. Plus the sentences are shorter with more imagery, and if we wanted to really make things interesting, we could have described the ensuing fight.
Now I typically tailor my advice for fiction writers, but I first learned about the rate of revelation from Nicolas Cole in his nonfiction book, The Art and Business of Online Writing. Here’s a quote from his book that shows the importance of using your rate of revelation effectively:
“What makes this paragraph ‘feel’ faster is the fact that so many actions are forcing the story forward. The reason [the slow rate] feels so stale is because it’s not actually revealing anything new to the reader… You could delete every sentence except the first one and you wouldn’t lose any of its value. If anything, it would gain value for the reader, because now you’re not wasting their time.”
The key takeaway is to keep track of how often you add new information. If your word choice is redundant, delete the weaker prose and consolidate. Intentional repetition can be a stylistic choice, but overuse makes it feel amateurish.
How Can The Rate of Revelation Improve My Prose?
Now let’s dig into some practical advice. For the above examples, I focused on how to use the rate of revelation on the sentence level, but later we’ll talk about the story level as well. Make a good impression by showing your mastery of the written word with these tips:
Balance physical action with introspection
You don’t need to keep an exact ratio for this. In fact, sticking to a formula for this can start to look predictable. Just ensure your characters make meaningful observations during an action sequence, or add in plot relevant actions to an internal monologue. Play with what works best for each scene.
Simplify your sentences
Can a five sentence paragraph be shortened to two? To one? Look at your vocabulary and grammar to cut out filter verbs or sticky sentences, but this doesn’t mean your prose should always be tight and concise. Think about the mood of the moment and if spending more time helps you tell your story.
Learn when to zoom in and when to pull back
What’s the difference between a scene and a summary? Answer: it’s how much detail you cover! Zooming in close for a scene will slow down the pace, while condensing everything into a summary speeds it up. Good writing isn’t always highly detailed–Sometimes you need to describe something at length, but other times you need to pull back.
How about my plot?
Genre fiction like thriller and adventure novels especially excel with a fast paced story. So what choices are being made and when? Outlines are helpful because they tell you when to hit certain milestones. These turning points show growth or change, which readers subconsciously look for. To make sure you’re hitting the mark at the right time, follow these tips.
Always aim for a specific goal in your scene
It’s hard to aim for a target that you can’t see, much like keeping your readers engaged while you’re still trying to figure out how to proceed. Slow pacing comes when we’re trying to find the right words, so this can be a stalling tactic, like clearing our throats. But if you know how this scene or story will be resolved, you can aim straight for it without losing the plot along the way.
Be smart about exposition
Too much too fast is a common concern when trying to avoid the dreaded info dump. So don’t always “pause” the narrative to give the reader necessary information. Instead you can tie in what your character already knows with their monologue or how they describe the setting as they go about the story. Play with what works, and ask beta readers and editors for feedback.
Don’t spend too much time on playing around
Looking at the popular story structure Save The Cat, there’s a section in the outline called “Fun and Games” that takes up the middle half of the book. That’s because it’s where all the action happens to keep the readers hooked, but you still need to include new plot information. So remember to write what you enjoy, while still adding revelations to keep the flow going.
Take Action
In short, understanding the Rate of Revelation can improve your writing across the board. When the advice is to ask yourself “Does this line or scene serve the story?” it usually means “Does this reveal something new and necessary?” Once you start editing with this question in mind, you’re on your way to never being confused by pacing again!
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Extra Resource: Most articles I found online about the rate of revelation didn’t focus much on how it could be used in fiction. But this article by Bill Johnson from the mid 90’s is a great read on how to use it in your plot. Check it out!