Do you consciously control scene length, or do you let each scene play out naturally? How much do you think scene length can contribute to pace and tension?
Do you consciously control scene length, or do you let each scene play out naturally? How much do you think scene length can contribute to pace and tension?
I am conscious about getting scene length, pace and tension right.
The ways I use to quicken the pace, raise the tension, or increase the conflict are:
I shorten sentences. I use strong crisp positive description. I place power words early in the sentence.
i.e. Haunting Devilment caked his blackened eyes. Torturous Pain ravaged his stooped aging body. "Help me," he screamed.
The opposite applies when I want to calm things down. i.e. He had a kind of devilment in his eyes. He felt pain in his stooped aging body. Please, can someone help me, he called.
When I first started writing I let scenes run away with themselves, just for the fun of it. Then I realised I might never get to the point if they didn't have a bit of focus! I would still say I let scenes play out naturally and am not afraid to wander off on a tangent if the story demands it, but I do set scenes page limits these days.
Scene length sets pace and that's the end of it, if you ask me. You can argue all you like about dialogue versus narrative, speech tags, description etc but the speed the characters reach a point and move on dictates the pace. Tension is far more complicated and has a number of factors. A quick pace can rack up tension but tension is pulled tightest by dialogue, action and the stripping back of the text in terms of narrative, description etc.