0 to 60: Write Pacing Your Readers Won't Forget

by Stant Litore

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.

Review“0 to 60: Write Pacing Your Readers Won’t Forget teaches vital elements in 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 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


Reviews for the Litore 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 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

Genres: Writing

135 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 28, 2022

About the author

Stant Litore is the author of Ansible, The Running of the Tyrannosaurs, The Zombie Bible, and Dante’s Heart. Besides science fiction and fantasy, he has written the writers’ toolkits Write Worlds Your Readers Won’t Forget and Write Characters Your Readers Won’t Forget, as well as Lives of Unstoppable Hope and Lives of Unforgetting, and has been featured in Jeff Vandermeer’s Wonderbook: An Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction. He has served as a developmental editor for Westmarch Publishing and holds a Ph.D. in English. He lives in Aurora, Colorado with his wife and three children and is currently at work on his next novel.

Reviews

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I attended Stant's class on pacing at a writers' conference. He is an impressive, energetic speaker. I wanted to spend more time on this topic, so I bought the book. It is laser-focused on pacing, using examples from literature and offering exercises to apply to your own writing. Having read it, I plan to go through Write Pacing again, slower, working on the exercises. I found this book well worth the time.