Let the Reader Breathe!
An alternative way to think about tension and pacing in our manuscripts.
Welcome back to Keep Writing! We hope you’re soaking in the longest days of the year like they’re a bath of pure sunshine. Warmest welcomes to our new readers in the audience: Help yourself to the heaping cauldron of pasta salad in the corner as you wander through our archives.
Here’s one of my favorite ways to explain the use of tension in writing: When someone reads your first sentence, imagine you are handing them one end of a rope. The reader’s only job is not to drop the rope: to give you their attention, to follow where you lead. Keeping the line taut? Holding their interest? That’s entirely up to the writer.
This metaphor works especially well for short pieces (an article, an essay, a work of flash), which utilize one steady level of pacing and tension throughout. But navigating tension in longer works may be more like fishing with a skilled angler who knows the value of the long game: when to reel, when to relax; when to fight, when to cut and run.
Because a long work that maintains the exact same level of pressure throughout is a staggering feat of steady pacing. It is also likely to be a terrible bore.
Variety is the spice of life and our manuscripts. It prevents blandness. It staves off drudgery. Even the most guns-blazing, action-packed movies will indulge in a bulletless scene now and then; even the quietest of domestic dramas will raise its voice at least once before the final credits roll.
It’s the author’s job to define the parameters of pacing and tension for each work, to decide how much it will whisper and how much it will shout. To decide what is a work’s whisper and what is its shout.
Some of this is naturally guided by a work’s genre. A thriller will utilize a faster pace than a cozy mystery, and a work of high fantasy will spend more time world-building than a contemporary rom-com. But on a more granular level, a work’s pacing is singularly determined by the choices of the author. Word by word, sentence by sentence, the writer determines when to slack and spool the line.
To a newer writer, this sounds like the author is some maestro, teasing crescendos from a manuscript with a wave of an expert hand. And every writer’s got a talent; yours might be adjusting pacing as skillfully as a marathon runner. So if that’s you, you lucky duck, go on and ride that wave of intuition to the finish line.
But for others, I fear the process is not as intuitive. It puts a lot of pressure on the writer to instinctively know when to hit the accelerator, when to lay off the gas, and when to yank the handbrake and Tokyo drift into the finale.
A more organic method might be to return to that earlier rope metaphor, as imperfect as it may be. Instead of tugging the reader forward into the abyss as you make your way through your manuscript, imagine turning around to face her. Study her face as she reads. Is she excited? Wary? Tired?
Ask yourself: Where have you led her already?
Where does she need to go next?
If you’ve just thrust a giant info dump upon her, she might relish some snappy dialogue. A rest-and-recovery scene after a car chase may provide respite. A small dose of comic relief after a few doom-and-gloom chapters may be just what the doctor ordered.
Put another way: Where are you giving the reader time to breathe?
There are so many easy ways to shake out staleness in a work to let a little fresh air in for the reader. We can look for ways to…
Break up longer sentences with shorter ones
Intersperse shorter paragraphs alongside denser ones
Pause for scenic description after an action-packed section
Include a little backstory to scratch a reader’s itch of curiosity about a character they’ve fallen in love with
Convert some description into dialogue (or vice versa)
Introduce a new character (or kill off an old one)
This is the real purpose of variety in a manuscript: Not to show off another toy in a writer’s bag of tricks, but to care for the reader as they take this long guided journey with you. A reader can always sense your care and attention as they read. This is what builds trust between writer and reader. The reader entrusts you with their precious time and attention, and you show them—word by word, chapter by chapter—that you intend to repay it tenfold.
The best books are not monologues, but rather conversations between writer and reader. Being a good writer isn’t about being some all-knowing expert; it starts with just being a good conversationalist.
Until next month—
Keep writing,
Nicki
Upcoming calls for submissions
Rejoice, procrastinators: A few June calls for submissions from last month are still open for your consideration.
Spotlight: Unleash Press: Unleash Work-in-Progress (WIP) Award 2024
Middle West Press: Midwestern eco-futuristic poems and micro-prose
Vine Leaves Press: The 2025 International Voices in Creative Nonfiction Competition
Cosmic Daffodil: Poetry and prose containing “future visions”
Lost Lake Folk Opera: Submissions on “Is American Democracy Dying?”
Spotlight Pick
Unleash Press: Unleash Work-in-Progress (WIP) Award 2024
If you’re knee-deep in a project and could use a little nudge to reach the finish line, consider submitting your work for this annual prize from Unleash Press. The Unleash Work-in-Progress (WIP) Award aims “to assist writers in the completion of an important literary project and vision.” The award prize is $500 plus “editorial feedback, coaching meetings, and an excerpt/interview feature in Unleash Lit.” Submit the first 25 pages of your WIP plus your answers to two questions (Who are you as a creative person, and what is your creative vision? and Who is your intended audience for this project, and why?). Entry fee: $35.
Deadline: July 15
her house.: Collaborations on an unknown theme
Submitters to the brand-new literary journal her house. will need to navigate a submission process that editors admit “will likely be dissimilar to any other submission process you’ve gone through.” First, creators (“fiction writers, nonfiction writers, photographers, poets, musicians, chefs, artists”) must fill out an inquiry form to request to submit to the journal. If accepted, authors will receive more detailed submission guidelines and will “be asked to contribute the type of work you do for that [issue’s] theme.” No submission fees, no payments. (If you do submit, let us know how the process goes for you?)
Deadline: July 1
Jelly Squid: Submissions on desire and ambition
Brand-new literary magazine Jelly Squid seeks poetry and prose on the theme of “desire and ambition” for its inaugural issue. Send up to three poems (8 pages max) or up to 3,000 words of prose. No science fiction and high fantasy, academic writing, or formal criticism. No submission fees, no payments.
Deadline: July 1
Middle West Press: Midwestern eco-futuristic poems and micro-prose
The Iowa-based micro-publisher Middle West Press is looking for speculative “poems and micro-prose (300 words max.) engaging with themes of environmentalism, climate change, technology, and more through a lens of Midwestern experience.” Editors explain: “Our intent with this project is to have fun, but also to illuminate, interrogate, and challenge (via the still-human domain of poetry!!!) the ways people think about place, people, and culture. We are looking for terrain-shifting, mind's-eye-bending, firmament-rending expressions of new and future realities. Be provocative. Be poignant. Be human. Even if you write like a Giant Robot Tractor.” Submitters will be notified regarding the status of their submission by Nov. 4. The target publication date for this project is spring/summer 2025. Send one to three poems. No submission fees. Contributors will receive one comp copy of the anthology.
Deadline: July 1
Vine Leaves Press: The 2025 International Voices in Creative Nonfiction Competition
“To sustain hope for the world to become a more loving, tolerable, and open space,” Vine Leaves Press is hosting a nonfiction writing contest to elevate marginalized voices. These include, but are not limited to, writers who identify as BIPOC, LGBTQ+, women, or neurodivergent; writers who are or have been incarcerated, unhoused, or undocumented; and writers who live with disabilities or chronic illness. The winning writer will receive $1,000 and publication by Vine Leaves Press; runners-up will also be considered for publication. Narrative manuscripts can range from 50,000 to 80,000 words, while poetry or other more experimental genres should be at least 100 pages. Entry fee: $25.
Deadline: July 1
Thema: “A New Routine”
Thema, a theme-centric journal that only accepts printed and mailed submissions, is now accepting submissions from their second themed call of the year. Mail stories and poems relating to “A New Routine” to editors by July 1 to be considered for the journal’s next issue. Contributors are paid $25 for short stories and $10 for poems and short-short pieces (fewer than 1,000 words).
Deadline: July 1
Mom Egg Review: Submissions on motherhood
Poetry and prose with a focus or lens on mothering/motherhood are welcome at Mom Egg Review. Send up to three poems or prose up to 1,000 words. The submission fee is $3, but submitters may also request a submission scholarship by emailing the publication with their submission, cover letter, and bio (a free-entry earlybird submission window occurred earlier this year, but has since closed). Entry is also free with a subscription purchase. Submitters will receive a response by November 2024 and the final issue will be published in April 2025.
Deadline: July 15
Unleash Press: Unleash Work-in-Progress (WIP) Award 2024
If you’re knee-deep in a project and could use a little nudge to reach the finish line, consider submitting your work for consideration in this annual prize from Unleash Press. The Unleash Work-in-Progress (WIP) Award aims “to assist writers in the completion of an important literary project and vision.” The award prize is $500 plus “editorial feedback, coaching meetings, and an excerpt/interview feature in Unleash Lit.” Submit the first 25 pages of your WIP plus your answers to two questions (Who are you as a creative person, and what is your creative vision? and Who is your intended audience for this project, and why?). Entry fee: $35.
Deadline: July 15
Cosmic Daffodil: Poetry and prose containing “future visions”
The literary journal Cosmic Daffodil asks writers to “dive into the realms of possibility and imagination” for its “Future Visions” themed issue. “Whether it’s a dystopian future, an alternate history, or a world transformed by technology, we want to hear your most inventive, thought-provoking creations,” editors urge. Send up to two pieces of flash fiction or nonfiction between 300-600 words or up to five poems (10 pages max). No submission fees, no payments.
Deadline: July 15
Lost Lake Folk Opera: Submissions on “Is American Democracy Dying?”
Send short fiction (1,000 to 6,000 words), essays or opinion pieces (500 to 3,000 words), short plays and scenes (1,000 to 6,000 words), or poetry (no more than 10 poems/10 pages) for consideration in the next issue of Lost Lake Folk Opera, a literary magazine published by Shipwreckt Books. The theme of the issue is “Is American Democracy Dying?” No submission fees, no payments that I can find.
Deadline: July 31
Last Leaves Magazine: “Feral” poems
For its ninth issue, Last Leaves Magazine seeks feral poems: “Show us the wild creature you’ve hidden, or the ferocious existence you wish you could live out,” editors say. “We want to read your untamed poetry and view your art before it has been cultivated by society.” Send up to five poems and no more than 10 pages. No submission fee, no payment.
Deadline: July 31