Writer's Advice and Feedback Group discussion

I used to have problems with establishing flow and rhythm, and I still do, but here are some tips I've developed from my experiences :)

You don't want your story to be too fast or too slow. When it seems to be going too quick, add a ton of detail into your story. Have your character stop and think; describe the scenery; insert dialogue... stuff like that could really help enhance your story and improve the flow.

Also, I find that revising while I work just ruins my process of thought, which causes the words to lose their rhythm. So I would advise against rereading what you've written every few sentences... just go with the flow ;) and write out whatever comes to mind. There's always room for revision later.

So those are my thoughts. I would love to hear your own comments about the matter :D

Totally agree with not revising while you write. I used to obsess over editing every few lines but after doing NaNoWriMo last year I learned not to care, other wise I'd never get to the 50k mark. Now its more important just to get the story down and re-read it later. Unfortunately the flow of the words does come down to editing.

While you don't want the story to go to fast or to slow you want to make sure you hold the reader's attention. Too much detail can leave them bored and cause them to stop reading. Everything can be fixed in revisions though. My rule is write, read, revise.

I feel my story is going too fast, not as fast as my past "tried and failed" books but I've noticed that days pass within pages. I've tried everything I could think of. You guys?

I usually feel my way through the thoughts and feelings of my many characters. Role-playing or writing smaller meaningless stories with random characters and goals helps to practice either slowing or speeding up the pace of the story. So my advice is: Practice Practice Practice :)your writing skills

Awesome advice Iesha!

I would also suggest you try to add detail after detail about everything... The scenery, the appearances of the characters, their facial expressions, etc. I know that when I write, I always feel like I'm piling on too many details. But when I reread my writing, I always find that I should've added more to slow down the pace. So, don't worry about describing too much! You can always cut the unnecessary sentences out in your revisions ;)

Thanks so much guys, I will try it today. I'll try to return the favor sometime :)

I think there's a difference between story flow and story pace. If you're trying to write an 80k novel, you don't want to hit the end of the story at 60k, and add 20k of filler. That's pace. Outlining ahead of time helps with pace.

Flow is different, IMO. Flow is that the elements of the story (narrative, description, dialog) fuse together as seamlessly as possible for the reader' they're there because they have to be there. It's like a pancake recipe, many possible flavors, but no one wants to bite into a lump of just one of the ingredients (unless it's a blueberry)

Ah, good point Liam. I think I made it about story flow instead of pace because for me, the two problems are intertwined. Sometimes when a story has fast, choppy pace, I find it disrupts the way the story flows.
What are your tips about writing with good flow?

Well, for flow, look at how you use description. What, would your protagonist (or POV character) notice about the thing your describing? People take in millions of pieces of information every second, but our brains filter out everything except for what we find important, intriguing, etc. You have a full picture of the thing your describing, but what, of all that, would your character notice, and why would they notice it? You can describe other things, just concentrate on what's important to the character's mindset

With dialog, this also follows with description. What and how would your character communicate with people? Natural flows of conversation include unfinished thoughts spoken out, as two people who know each other can just hint at certain things. A key thing in writing dialog is not to underestimate the intelligence of readers. Sometimes an innocent action reveals half a page of dialog you don't need.

Look at the relationships between two characters, and the personalities of your important characters. How would each of them talk to the other? If you start two people out in a communicating pattern, that pattern shouldn't change unless the relationship changes. The short of that is to keep dialog realistic and consistent.

Flow, to try to sum up all of that, is making your characters, their goals, their obstacles, real. Even if you're writing sci-fi/fantasy, whatever. Characters are real, goals are real, obstacles are real.

One last tip. Every story has back-story, every character does too. You'll get more flow, and more power too, if you keep exposing back-story to a minimum, basically only as it comes up in the narrative of the story. A little goes a long way.

Hope that helped.

@Liam are you into psychology? 0.0

hehe... I live surrounded by crazy people.. Kind of have to be.

That was amazing, Liam. Thanks!

I always find that when I'm home alone, verbally delving into my characters' personalities helps me to decide the choices that they will make throughout the book and the internal battles that they will face.

I'll be standing in my kitchen, spouting away ideas that make my characters unique, discussing the chemistry between the two, and how they are both alike and different.

It assists in getting into the mindset of your people and all in all, helps to make their decisions and conflicts more realistic.

Also, it's fun.

Does not revising as you go, fix the flow problem?