This is a difficult one to discuss because everyone has a different idea of what is a good pace.

There are a few solid points though. Action should be fast, quick, short sentences. You want the reader to feel the tension, the excitement.

Really the pace of a scene should be dictated by the characters and the content. But readers and writers often have different ideas of what is the right pace.

Genre fiction, such as fantasy has sub genres. Epic fantasy is normally far slower paced than something like urban fantasy. There are exceptions, of course, but as a general rule, it works.

When I wrote Magelife, it was my first story. Honestly, I hadn’t written anything since I left school, with my failed in English, a decade and change ago. But I read a lot. Most of you can tell my inexperience, but you can also tell my passion to tell the story. That affected the pacing. Parts were too fast, in the wrong places. Others were too slow. I expanding when I shouldn’t have, and gave short measure to parts that needed fleshing out.

I knew it was fantasy, but where does it fit? Its not epic, its told in first person. Its not urban either, which is normally in our world but with magic. So what is it? I don’t know. Its fantasy, action-y but not action packed. Adventure sure, but also slice of life. It is something. This left me befuddled as to how to pace it and I had to wing it.

It was also a web serial. Some of you know that, some of you were readers then. But web serials have a different pace than a novel. Each chapter is delivered in isolation. On a weekly or fortnightly basis a chapter is released and the readers are let at it.

This can create problems. I know of other serials that end on cliff-hangers, almost every chapter. Its like the hook of the first chapters in a novel. A technique to keep the engagement of the audience. Its also something that doesn’t fit too well in a novel. You don’t want a cliff hanger in the middle of a novel.

One of the biggest problems for an author when writing is to look at their story with an unbiased eye. We have to tighten the action to make it snap. We have to slow down, give breathers after such tension, to explain, to let the reader get drawn in. Few stories are non-stop action. And if they were it would be like jumping on a galloping horse. It leaves you breathless.

Pace also helps by reinforcing the emotions. When the narration is relaxed, the reader feels it, promoting a connection with the work.

There are many challenges to writing a compelling tale. Pacing is just one.