The Importance of Pace in Fiction: Don’t Rush the Reader, Don’t Stall the Story

Part of the series “how to write a book from start to finish”

By J.E. Nickerson 

Have you ever started reading a story—or watching a movie—and felt like you’d jumped into a speeding car with no brakes, already halfway down the highway?

While everyone loves an exciting story and fast-paced scenes, if it feels like you’re dealing with a runaway narrative that keeps picking up speed like an out-of-control train, you’re going to wear your readers out before they finish the first chapter.

On the flip side, if your story drags—like being stuck at a never-ending red light or crawling through rush-hour traffic at 2 miles an hour—you run the risk of losing your audience before things even get interesting.

That’s why pacing in fiction is so important. It’s not just about how fast or slow a story moves. It’s about how it feels to read. And your reader will feel it, whether you’re intentional about it or not.

Pacing is the rhythm of your story. It’s the space between plot points, the breath between moments. It determines whether your book feels like a page-turner, a slow burn, or a slog. And if you’ve ever picked up a book and thought, I couldn’t get into it, or I just had to know what happened next, you’ve already felt the impact of pace.

⸻

So What Is Pace, Really?

Pace is affected by:

• Scene length

• Chapter structure

• Sentence rhythm

• Dialogue versus exposition

• How quickly the stakes escalate

Fast-paced doesn’t mean every scene is an action scene. Slow pace doesn’t mean nothing is happening. Good pacing means the story matches the moment. The rhythm and flow of the story should shift according to the needs of the characters and the movement of the plot.

As an author, you speed up when tension rises, and you slow down when something matters. You let the reader breathe after a blow—and then you draw them right back in.

If you watch movies, you’ll notice that masterful directors like Alfred Hitchcock use pacing with great precision. Take the playground scene in The Birds, when Tippi Hedren’s character sits unaware as the birds silently gather behind her. The tension builds not with action, but with silence and time. If that scene had been rushed, the impact would’ve been lost—and the horror that followed would’ve felt disjointed and unearned.

That’s what good pacing does: it sets the tone before the action.

⸻

Why Pacing Matters for Writers

Readers don’t always lose interest because of your story. But they do stop reading because of your delivery.

You may have incredible characters, a powerful message, or even a surprising ending—but if you rush through important beats or linger too long in places that don’t move the story, readers start to skim. And skimming is a slippery slope to closing the book altogether.

I’ve seen this happen in films too—great actors, strong dialogue, and yet the story drags because the pacing is completely off. The same thing can happen in a novel. You can have vibrant, well-developed characters—but if the story never lifts off the ground, your readers won’t stick around long enough to care.

⸻

A Few Things That Can Throw Off Pace:

• Starting too slow. Don’t give us five pages of backstory before anything happens. Ground us, yes—but let us walk into something.

• Dragging the middle. This is where many books stall. Make sure your character’s choices and consequences are evolving, not repeating. If you feel stuck as a writer, that may be a sign your characters aren’t moving either. Look back and ask: what decisions have they made? What are the consequences? If you’re lost, your reader probably is too.

• Ending too fast. Don’t sprint to the finish. Resolution needs space. A good ending doesn’t just get characters from point A to B—it reveals how they’ve changed. The emotional arc matters.

Take the original Star Wars trilogy. By the end of A New Hope, you can already see the shifts beginning: Luke stepping into courage, Han evolving from self-serving rogue to reluctant hero. The story doesn’t rush their growth, but it keeps moving forward. That’s good pacing—forward motion with emotional weight.

As you craft your ending, take a bird’s-eye view of your characters’ path. What’s changed? What hasn’t? Making a list of key moments can help ensure your ending is earned. And if some arcs are unresolved, you can either bring them to a close in a meaningful way or leave them open for future development.

⸻

How to Improve Your Pacing

• Read your work out loud. You’ll hear where the flow stumbles or drags.

• Use shorter paragraphs in tense scenes. They naturally increase reading speed. Also, keep your characters’ dialogue true to the moment. If the scene is intense, their speech will likely be sharp, short, and direct.

Think about the movie Speed (1994). It’s hard to imagine the characters on a runaway bus expressing sheer terror in long, poetic sentences. The urgency of the situation demanded urgency in the dialogue. That’s how pacing and tone align.

• Balance reflection with movement. Too much introspection in a high-stakes moment can stall the momentum. But action without emotional depth? That falls flat too.

• Ask: What’s the emotional temperature of this scene? Then let the pace follow it. Slower doesn’t mean weaker—sometimes, it means heavier. And faster doesn’t mean better—it just means sharper.

⸻

A Final Word for the Writer Who’s Still Finding Their Flow

Pacing is a skill, not a formula. You don’t have to get it perfect in the first draft—but you do need to be aware of it. Your story is a journey. And journeys are made of movement and stillness, tension and rest.

If you respect your reader’s attention and honor your characters’ emotional arcs, the right pace will emerge.

Not too fast. Not too slow.

Just right for the story you were born to tell.

Here’s your beautifully edited article with the suggested changes integrated. I kept your voice intact—warm, clear, and confident—while tightening the flow, cleaning up sentence structure, and refining the pop culture references to better serve the message.

⸻

Title: The Importance of Pace in Fiction: Don’t Rush the Reader, Don’t Stall the Story

Have you ever started reading a story—or watching a movie—and felt like you’d jumped into a speeding car with no brakes, already halfway down the highway?

While everyone loves an exciting story and fast-paced scenes, if it feels like you’re dealing with a runaway narrative that keeps picking up speed like an out-of-control train, you’re going to wear your readers out before they finish the first chapter.

On the flip side, if your story drags—like being stuck at a never-ending red light or crawling through rush-hour traffic at 2 miles an hour—you run the risk of losing your audience before things even get interesting.

That’s why pacing in fiction is so important. It’s not just about how fast or slow a story moves. It’s about how it feels to read. And your reader will feel it, whether you’re intentional about it or not.

Pacing is the rhythm of your story. It’s the space between plot points, the breath between moments. It determines whether your book feels like a page-turner, a slow burn, or a slog. And if you’ve ever picked up a book and thought, I couldn’t get into it, or I just had to know what happened next, you’ve already felt the impact of pace.

⸻

So What Is Pace, Really?

Pace is affected by:

• Scene length

• Chapter structure

• Sentence rhythm

• Dialogue versus exposition

• How quickly the stakes escalate

Fast-paced doesn’t mean every scene is an action scene. Slow pace doesn’t mean nothing is happening. Good pacing means the story matches the moment. The rhythm and flow of the story should shift according to the needs of the characters and the movement of the plot.

As an author, you speed up when tension rises, and you slow down when something matters. You let the reader breathe after a blow—and then you draw them right back in.

If you watch movies, you’ll notice that masterful directors like Alfred Hitchcock use pacing with great precision. Take the playground scene in The Birds, when Tippi Hedren’s character sits unaware as the birds silently gather behind her. The tension builds not with action, but with silence and time. If that scene had been rushed, the impact would’ve been lost—and the horror that followed would’ve felt disjointed and unearned.

That’s what good pacing does: it sets the tone before the action.

⸻

Why Pacing Matters for Writers

Readers don’t always lose interest because of your story. But they do stop reading because of your delivery.

You may have incredible characters, a powerful message, or even a surprising ending—but if you rush through important beats or linger too long in places that don’t move the story, readers start to skim. And skimming is a slippery slope to closing the book altogether.

I’ve seen this happen in films too—great actors, strong dialogue, and yet the story drags because the pacing is completely off. The same thing can happen in a novel. You can have vibrant, well-developed characters—but if the story never lifts off the ground, your readers won’t stick around long enough to care.

⸻

A Few Things That Can Throw Off Pace:

• Starting too slow. Don’t give us five pages of backstory before anything happens. Ground us, yes—but let us walk into something.

• Dragging the middle. This is where many books stall. Make sure your character’s choices and consequences are evolving, not repeating. If you feel stuck as a writer, that may be a sign your characters aren’t moving either. Look back and ask: what decisions have they made? What are the consequences? If you’re lost, your reader probably is too.

• Ending too fast. Don’t sprint to the finish. Resolution needs space. A good ending doesn’t just get characters from point A to B—it reveals how they’ve changed. The emotional arc matters.

Take the original Star Wars trilogy. By the end of A New Hope, you can already see the shifts beginning: Luke stepping into courage, Han evolving from self-serving rogue to reluctant hero. The story doesn’t rush their growth, but it keeps moving forward. That’s good pacing—forward motion with emotional weight.

As you craft your ending, take a bird’s-eye view of your characters’ path. What’s changed? What hasn’t? Making a list of key moments can help ensure your ending is earned. And if some arcs are unresolved, you can either bring them to a close in a meaningful way or leave them open for future development.

⸻

How to Improve Your Pacing

• Read your work out loud. You’ll hear where the flow stumbles or drags.

• Use shorter paragraphs in tense scenes. They naturally increase reading speed. Also, keep your characters’ dialogue true to the moment. If the scene is intense, their speech will likely be sharp, short, and direct.

Think about the movie Speed (1994). It’s hard to imagine the characters on a runaway bus expressing sheer terror in long, poetic sentences. The urgency of the situation demanded urgency in the dialogue. That’s how pacing and tone align.

• Balance reflection with movement. Too much introspection in a high-stakes moment can stall the momentum. But action without emotional depth? That falls flat too.

• Ask: What’s the emotional temperature of this scene? Then let the pace follow it. Slower doesn’t mean weaker—sometimes, it means heavier. And faster doesn’t mean better—it just means sharper.

⸻

A Final Word for the Writer Who’s Still Finding Their Flow

Pacing is a skill, not a formula. You don’t have to get it perfect in the first draft—but you do need to be aware of it. Your story is a journey. And journeys are made of movement and stillness, tension and rest.

If you respect your reader’s attention and honor your characters’ emotional arcs, the right pace will emerge.

Not too fast. Not too slow.

Just right for the story you were born to tell.

Hey Singh, will keep your story moving ahead smoothly, creating a believable  world that your characters live in, it is equally important to your storytelling. If you’re looking for a way of creating a vivid and inviting world for your characters and your readers to live in during your next adventure, read the article How to Create a World for Your Characters. Start developing the skills to create vivid and memorable worlds for your characters and your readers to explore together.

Looking for more examples of pacing fiction? Read my books,The Caterpillar who wanted to become a Butterfly, and Eddie and Freddy return to the hidden Kingdom. These books provide examples of character arc, pacing and dialogue that drive of the story forward without stalling or losing the audience in the process

Need some direction for your writing? I made a free guide just for writers starting out—The Creative’s Writing Desk.

⏭️🌿The Creative’s Writing Desk pdf

📚 And if you’re new here, I’m J.E. Nickerson — faith based author and inspirational storyteller. You can check out my books here or follow me on YouTube for more inspiration and encouragement on this writing life.

📬 Subscribe for Free Writing Help and Creative Tools

Join 100+ readers and receive exclusive access to the writing guides, step-by-step articles, and creative support I’ve designed to help you write your book with confidence.

✨ Get inspiration, clarity, and direction delivered right to your inbox