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Basic Novel Pacing Guide



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Sun Nov 11, 2018 2:47 pm
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Vervain says...



*This was originally written on my tumblr account! I promise I didn't steal it, haha. I wrote this a while ago to help out a friend of mine, and I thought it might help some other writers, too. Not everything may be 100% correct! I’m trying my best to figure out pacing myself, and this is a trial and error sort of thing.

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For the sake of this guide, it is assumed that 5000 (5k) words is equal to 15 pages in standard publishing format. For simplicity of numbers, this is based off a 60k-word draft (180 pages). (If anyone’s having trouble with the math, let me know and I can help you figure out your own goals!)

It is recommended that writers following this guide have an A-plot (the main conflict-resolution path) and a B-plot (a side path that may not reach its climax or be resolved). This is not necessary to write a novel; it’s simply how this guide works best. I’ve synchronized this with a 5-Beat structure as well.

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Introduction: Beat 1: The Hook. Establish the world; establish your character; establish the voice. You can tease with a bit of either the A-plot or the B-plot here. Introduce your characters’ goals: What do they want? 5k words / 15 pages.

B-plot introduction: Introduce the secondary plot that will not make up the majority of the book’s conflict. Take this time as well to develop more of your characters, introduce their backstory, and establish your main and supporting characters’ flaws that will play into both this conflict and the main conflict. Introduce your characters’ methods: What would they do to get what they want? 10k words / 30 pages.

A-plot introduction: Beat 2: The First Plot Point. Introduce the main plot that will make up the majority of the book’s conflict. This usually comes in the form of a “disaster” or a change that the main character(s) are forced to face. Introduce your characters’ stakes: What do they have to lose? 5k words / 15 pages.

Body: Tension Rising: Develop both the A- and B-plots here. Take your time; this isn’t the full-on climax yet. Keep incorporating those character flaws and features that play into the conflicts. 10k words / 30 pages.

Body: Midpoint: Beat 3: The Midpoint. Something changes the game. Whether this is the antagonist or villain winning a battle, a character being exposed as a traitor, or whatever other plots you may have—this is a change that affects the A-plot, if not the B-plot, and turns the story on its head. This is an excellent place to raise the stakes and put pressure on your characters. 5k words / 15 pages.

Body: Tension Rising: Again, develop both the A- and B-plots here. This time, the action is escalating towards a climax. Things can fall apart here, or heroes can be rallied together. This is the time for plans to be made and fail. This is where the raised stakes should be made clear, and the characters’ goals and methods become even more important. What do they do when desperate? 10k words / 30 pages.

Climax: Beat 4: The Climax. Your A-plot comes to ground here, and your characters’ actions (or inaction) determine how the story ends. This is the Big Bad Battle; this is the final heist; this is the culmination of everything standing between your heroes and their goals, or their happily-ever-afters. No matter how it ends, it ends now. 10k words / 30 pages.

Denouement: Beat 5: The Resolution. This is the happily-ever-after (or happily-never-after) your characters earned from the climax. This is where you show how your characters have changed as a result of the story, and you might tease at the ongoing plot. You can either resolve the B-plot here or leave it hanging for later, or for fanfic authors. This can be longer or shorter as you please, whether you want to leave it all open for the next book in the series or want to take your time wrapping things up and nursing your characters’ wounds. 5k words / 15 pages.

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Hopefully once you’re done with your denouement, you’ve got a full draft in front of you and are ready to move onto the next thing that catches your eye! (Who am I kidding, all of us have already got three WIPs going at once.)
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Sun Nov 11, 2018 4:27 pm
TeaParty says...



This is very helpful, thank you! [emoji9]

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Mon Nov 26, 2018 1:16 am
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BluesClues says...



Oh, wow, this is so helpful! Pacing is one of my many weaknesses. I'm a little confused by B plot - would this be like a subplot? I know you said this particular thing isn't necessary to writing a novel, but I just want to clarify.

Honestly, I've always had problems with understanding the five-beat structure, if this is like the same thing as the five-act structure! And I think this article cleared it up nicely for me - maybe because instead of just labeling what each act is, you gave the pacing points and like what needs to happen in each beat. I'm 9000% sure I'm not hitting the beats *where I need to,* but I was able to label different parts of my novel as most of the beats!

(I mean, admittedly I'm working based on a, er, much longer draft even if we're talking about my second draft BUT I also think I could math this out based on your numbers to figure out, like, percent through the novel in which roughly these things should happen.)
  





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Mon Nov 26, 2018 1:29 am
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Vervain says...



Thanks for asking!

So your A-plot is going to be your main conflict, whatever that is. It doesn't have to be world-ending; it can be as simple as "Harry Potter must save Hogwarts from the Basilisk" and exploring what steps are involved in that. A lot of stories (especially folklore and fairy-tale-like stories) only have an A-plot because they're only used to tell one story. Cinderella wants to go to the ball; Snow White's evil stepmother wants to be fairest of them all; Sleeping Beauty's prince fights through various evils to rescue her from her sleep.

The B-plot can be a subplot ("Ginny has a crush on Harry"; "Dobby keeps trying to save Harry"), an overarching series plot ("Voldemort is rising to power"), or a conflict of about equal importance to the A-plot which affects the story ("Harry is outed as a Parselmouth", which isn't the best example but which affects his relationships with other characters and how he's perceived, and additionally affects the A-plot). Any and all of these things can of course affect each other, and can occur in the same story or overlap between each other. There's certainly other types, but these are the main kinds (subplot, series plot, alternate plot) that I can think of at the current moment.

The beats almost but don't quite correlate to acts in my mind. They'll follow approximately the same structure, but I've always found it more helpful to say "this should be happening about now" than "this is the kind of act this is". I actually based this five-beat structure off similar beat sheets—if it helps you, consider checking out Blake Snyder's Beat Sheet as well!

The percentages are very rough, and based on pretty numbers that fit into nice neat boxes and don't vary much, especially nearing the end. The denouement absolutely does not have to be a full 8% of your novel, after all, and the climax and rising action tend to blend together a little bit at the edges.

Hopefully this helps out a bit! Let me know if the explanation is a bit weird or you need me to rewrite this when I'm more coherent, lol.
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