Pacing Your Writing

Ever read prose that goes on and on (and on and on and on)? Overly detailed writing can be a bore at times, despite your teachers' advice to be more specific!

Pace, however, is important to writing. When you wish a reader to spend more time on your writing, add detail. When detail is unneeded or unnecessary, remove it and speed up your pace.

What readers like most is appropriate pacing at appropriate times. Give detail where needed; remove it to speed things up. Be sensitive to your reader's need for breathing space. No one enjoys wading through detail that doesn't add to the enjoyment of reading.

 

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