[Caitlin]

So what, exactly, is "momentum"? The rate at which narrative action unfolds; the page-turning quality of a story; a certain je ne sais quois...but what else?

My first book was called "quiet" by those who enjoyed it, "slow" by those who didn't. My second, which is, according to me anyway, waaaay more "plot-driven" (another definition required?), has already been called "simplistic" (and slow!) by one reader. So. Any ideas on the nature, function, and apparent subjectivity of momentum?

[Radthorne]

I think another way to consider it is "pacing." Even in a page-turner of a book, I believe there is an ebb-and-flow to the action. Rather than simply continuous action to keep the reader hooked, there is a steadily-increasing "pressure" to the narrative. The reader is brought to a series of small climaxes, each of which gets progressively more involving, with higher stakes for the protaganists. But it is a series of peaks and valleys, rather than being all peaks.

That being said, each reader is going to respond differently to how you've created those peaks and valleys. If your book is intended to be more contemplative, the peaks might be more emtionally driven rather than action oriented, and readers seeking a battle scene on every other page might therefore be disappointed. But even with non-action oriented narratives, I think you can still provide that sense of story "pressure" that keeps readers engaged. In a way, it's kind of like trying to keep your protaganists in suspense as much as your readers. If the characters find themselves in suspense, then your readers will too.

[Caitlin]

But even with non-action oriented narratives, I think you can still provide that sense of story "pressure" that keeps readers engaged. In a way, it's kind of like trying to keep your protaganists in suspense as much as your readers. If the characters find themselves in suspense, then your readers will too.
Very, very cool suspense parallel. Thanks.

When I started to write Telling, back in 1991 when I was pretty darn young in many ways, I did so with a mission: ignore many of the tropes of adult fantasy. Not just subvert: ignore. It was my "protest fantasy" - an attempt to write something driven by a sense of wonder above all. This led to a very organic piece of writing (which I didn't dub a novel for several years, when I was still only about 90 pages in) whose pacing was almost entirely determined by the single protagonist's emotional state. I was very, very passionate about my ignoring/subverting mission back then - and I'm glad I was. I now know, however, that I likely won't write another book like that again. The protest's over. (Uh oh. Sounding like a jaded hippie...) I feel far more attuned and committed to the technical aspects of my writing now; I think (hope) my second book reflects this.

So (deep breath): momentum. Pacing. Peaks and valleys. Plateaus and plateaux, even! I'm fascinated by this, now that I've started writing with "it" in mind. And I'm even more interested/flabbergasted/compelled by people's reactions to it (or its lack) in the books they read and write.

[alison]

I think my writing is all emotionally-driven, and the momentum I try to give it is about the emotions within the characters; novels are for knowing what goes on inside people's heads, surely? That said, I too have found myself obsessed with the whole question of structure. Much more than I ever thought I would be when I started writing these things. After all, the architecture is how you manage the flow of the emotional narrative; if you get that wrong, the emotion doesn't come across. I've been lucky with the editors I've worked with, in that they have taught me a lot about how to do this; a lot is technique. Knowing when some moment should be shorter (or longer), when to stop, when to cut, when to begin...it's all a very interesting mixture of seat-of-the-pants gut instinct and technical judgment.

One way I know I work a lot is with contrast. That's something I've learned from writing a bit of drama, and certainly from watching it, and I always structure my scenes dramatically; in a way, I think about it in terms of stagecraft. And one thing that can drive a story forward is electric contrasts between different scenes. Kevin's right, too, about keeping characters in suspense. More globally, I try to drive a story forward in a series of peaks (like a classic five act play) heading towards a final climax and a denouement.

[Radthorne]

Over the weekend I realized that they way I usually describe my outlining method is very akin to what the movie people call storyboarding. Before they shoot a single frame of film, they create pen & ink drawings of every scene that's going to be shot. While this is partially a matter of dealing with the logistics of actually making a movie, it also means that they are figuring out the whole story in advance, and determining where those emotional highs and lows are (as well as where the action is going, etc.) Which is not to say that a lot doesn't then change in the editing room, just as it does for us as writers. But it does seem to me to be an apt comparison.

[KatG]

Welcome Caitlin! We've heard nothing but good things about you.

I sincerely doubt that your stories lack peaks in them. What they probably lack is a lot of military battles, causing some to grumble that your pacing is too slow and "girly." As genre fantasy opens up, there're going to be some folk complaining about how books are too different from one another, but many others will be overjoyed. Oddly enough, I've only occasionally seen battle scenes with much battle action in them. Usually, most of the narrative is taken up with descriptions of equipment, weapons, outfits and heraldry, what they had for dinner over the campfire, the set-up of the battlefield, cliched conversations about upcoming death and that sort of thing, with actual fighting being very short. And some epic fantasy fans are used to enormous casts with loads of sub-plots, and assume that you always need them, though again, such mammoth structures can often slow down pacing to a leisurely crawl.

Not that your trying to improve your writing is a bad thing, but I wouldn't worry too much about how fast you're going. A story in which a girl actually morns her lost parents for more than a minute sounds really interesting to me, with strong emotional themes that certainly would provide suspense and tension, and those things do tend to drive pacing more than action itself.

[Caitlin]

Welcome Caitlin! We've heard nothing but good things about you.
Thanks very much, to you and the purveyors of aforementioned "good things"! I continue to feel warmly welcomed here.

What they probably lack is a lot of military battles, causing some to grumble that your pacing is too slow and "girly."
Oh yeah, the gender thing. My writing's been called both "feminine" and "feminist" - with both approval and condemnation from those doing the calling. Always fascinating to me!

A story in which a girl actually morns her lost parents for more than a minute sounds really interesting to me, with strong emotional themes that certainly would provide suspense and tension, and those things do tend to drive pacing more than action itself.
Your mention of "mourning for more than a minute" is so important. Something that's always struck me about genre books and movies (and non-genre ones too) is how deaths are used merely as catalysts; plot devices that move the action forward. I was quite sure, early in the writing of Telling, that I wanted to do the opposite: I wanted the deaths, and the resultant grief, to be the plot.

So now you have to read the book and see if your estimation was correct! ;)

[Radthorne]

That very thing was the subject of a post I made somewhere here (buried in the annals of SFFWorld-dom, I'm sure...). I've always found it very superficial when the heroes lose someone close to them, then the first thing they do is jump on their horse to go avenge the death, or whatever. People mourn when they lose other people that matter to them. Portraying that feeling brings depth and emotional fullness to one's characters.

In my books most of the chapters weave back and forth among the main storylines, but in the first book I have a chapter that focuses entirely on one particular character and her transformation as she loses someone who has been close to her throughout her entire life. It was important to me that the process she went through, having this other chacacter slowing slipping away, and then actually losing her, be believeable. It served to give both characters more depth, as well as being an emotional bridge scene for the main character. People hooked on action sequences would probably not like it. But I found it worked well for me and the story I wanted to tell. Sounds like you came to the same sort of conclusion, so naturally I applaud you for it! :)

[KatG]

I'm hoping to read all the forum authors soon. I don't feel entirely comfortable coming around and chatting without having read the author's work at all. But then, I'm used to talking with little knowledge of what I'm talking about. :)

[alison]

In my books most of the chapters weave back and forth among the main storylines, but in the first book I have a chapter that focuses entirely on one particular character and her transformation as she loses someone who has been close to her throughout her entire life. It was important to me that the process she went through, having this other chacacter slowing slipping away, and then actually losing her, be believeable. It served to give both characters more depth, as well as being an emotional bridge scene for the main character. People hooked on action sequences would probably not like it. But I found it worked well for me and the story I wanted to tell. Sounds like you came to the same sort of conclusion, so naturally I applaud you for it!

Fantasy with real characters and real emotional lives - my kind of thing. Well, I'm reading that book of yours at the moment, Kevin, and although I haven't reached that bit, I'm enjoying the actuality of your characters, their implication in the mundane (the cook character with his donkey, to take a minor instance; very funny but also about the practicality of eating.) And the thoughtfulness too, the philosophical framework through which these events move. It feels rich, and it makes it feelingly imagined.

But this is Caitlin's forum, so I should switch back to being on topic... like KatG I haven't read Caitlin's books yet, but everything she says makes me itchy to get them. What you say about wanting the emotional events to be the plot strikes a chord with me; the plot of my book The Riddle depends completely on the inner life of its main character, which was a bit scary to contemplate but was fun to write. But I have to say that the mechanics of plotting, ie, the bare lines of a story, has always seemed to me to be the least interesting part of writing. A plot doesn't mean without all the flesh on it.