I’ve discussed pacing before, on a sentence-level and then scene-level, and now I’d like to look at it on a book-level. Whether you are planning to write a book or going back to one that’s already written, you’ll need to consider pacing so readers stay engaged. Too slow of pacing will bore them, and too fast will confuse them. While pacing in books differ, the successful stories generally follow a common structure when it comes to plot points. Today, we’re going to use turning points to pace a novel.
What Is Pacing?
Before we dig in, let’s define pacing for anyone new. Pacing is the speed at which the story is being told. Each genre has different expectations for the speed of pacing. Thrillers typically are faster paced than a coming-of-age novel. However, all books require a fast enough pace to hold the reader’s interest. Let’s look at how you can plan or analyze your book for good pacing.
How To Pace A Novel Using Turning Points
Pacing a novel is closely related to story structure. Don’t worry, I’m not going to preach on story structure again. You can always check out my posts on that topic if you missed them earlier, but pacing does coincide with story structure so I must mention it. Essentially, pacing a novel is centered on the turning points in your story. Turning points are when an action or decision changes the course of the plot. In regards to story structure, turning points are the ones like inciting incident, pinch point, midpoint, climax, etc. By pacing when these defining moments happen, you can control the pacing of your story.
Every time there is a change in the story trajectory, the pace will increase. There will be new fears and desires, creating new tension. Readers will have to reset their thinking and anticipate a new direction, abandoning what they already thought they knew. Each time you force your readers to change mindsets, it increases the pace. Contrarily, if you let readers dwell on one path for long, they will relax into their own way of thinking and the pacing will slow.
Five Major Turning Points
All stories, no matter the type of story structure used, have five major turning points. These are Inciting Incident, Accept the Change, Midpoint, Dark Moment, and Climax. Let’s look at each one and the percentage that each usually hits within a story. If you prefer not to use a formula with percentages, don’t worry. It’s not a hard and fast rule. Each turning point can happen before or after their normal percent mark, whichever works best for your story. But if something feels off in the story, it’s nice to have the percentages to reference in case a turning point is way off the mark and ruining your pacing.
For this post, I’m going to use the movie The Princess Bride for an example of turning points. If you haven’t seen it and don’t want spoilers, please skip the example sections. The Princess Bride is about two lovers, Wesley and Buttercup. The man goes on a trip, his ship is sunk by pirates, and Buttercup is left to marry another man, Prince Humperdinck. The movie is the tale of Wesley finding her and saving her from marrying the prince.
Inciting Incident—10%
The inciting incident is the big event that shakes up the protagonist’s life and catapults the story into action. When this event happens, there is no going back to the way things were before. Whether the protagonist likes it or not, his life has changed.
In The Princess Bride:
- Wesley’s ship goes down.
Accept The Change—25%
This turning point has many names in different story structures: Pinch Point 1, Doorway of No Return 1, Break into (Act) 2, etc. I call it Accept The Change because it’s when the protagonist accepts his life is different and makes a plan to achieve a new goal (the book goal). The protagonist is now on board for the new path and is making plans for it.
In The Princess Bride:
- Buttercup agrees to be Humperdinck’s bride, but she is then kidnapped. A man in black chases them.
Midpoint—50%
The midpoint is a turning point when the protagonist decides to stop being passive and start being active in achieving his goal. Something big happens, the character makes a big decision, and a new path toward the goal is set. While the protagonist accepted the change in the last turning point, the midpoint is when he becomes determined to achieve his goal.
In The Princess Bride:
- Humperdinck’s men find Buttercup with Wesley (the man in black), and they take her back. Buttercup decides to do what she can to save Wesley and agrees to continue with the marriage to Humperdinck if Wesley is returned to his ship.
Dark Moment—75%
The fourth turning point is the Dark Moment. Different story structures have different names for it: Pinch Point 2, Doorway of No Return 2, All is Lost, etc. Basically, this turning point is when the protagonist hits his lowest and almost gives up on his goal. Some big opposition crashes into him, and he doesn’t think he can go on. In the end, he must decide to keep going and that decision along with what he sacrifices for it will be a major turning point in the story.
In The Princess Bride:
- Buttercup realizes Humperdinck lied and Wesley was never called to come for her. She hopes Wesley will still come, but she decides to kill herself if he doesn’t.
Climax—85-99%
The climax is the last and biggest turning point. This is when the protagonist puts his plan into action to achieve his goal, and he either succeeds or fails. Both his internal and external arcs will collide in an epic moment where he’ll have to prove he’s changed and not just his circumstances. The climax is usually a sequence of scenes so this percentage mark is a range. This turning point can happen anywhere in the last quarter of the story, depending on how long of a resolution you need to give the book a satisfying ending.
In The Princess Bride:
- Wesley breaks into the castle and finds Buttercup in time to stop her from committing suicide (making her fail at her plan). Then he punishes Humperdinck and takes her away (letting her get her ultimate goal to be with Wesley).
Fawkes’s 12% Rule Of Thumb
While knowing the five main turning points is great for analyzing pacing, I find it leaves a lot of gaps in the story. September C. Fawkes, an author and editor I really admire, developed an easy and effective way to think of turning points and story pacing. She has analyzed many stories and found that the rate at which key plot points unfold is about every 12%. That means that approximately at every 12% mark you should have a turning point to keep pacing satisfying for readers. Now, she does call it a rule of thumb because it isn’t an exact science, but I find it helpful when writing and editing. Depending on the length of your novel, you can know about how many words you have to reach each turning point. For example:
- A 60,000-word novel will have a turning point approximately every 7,200 words.
- An 80,000-word novel will have a turning point approximately every 9,600 words.
- A 100,000-word novel will have a turning point approximately every 12,000 words.
Whether you are a plotter or pantser, this is helpful for you. If you are writing an 80,000-word novel, you know about every 10,000 words you need to shake up the story and its protagonist. Depending on the turning point, the shakeup should either be medium sized or big. The quarter marks will be big, and the rest will be smaller but still big enough to uproot the story. By following that guideline, you’ll end up with a well-paced novel that should entice readers to keep the book open. Let’s look at Fawkes’s outline of how this should roll out for an 80,000-word novel but use The Princess Bride for examples.
- Medium Turning Point—12% (Around the 9,600 words mark)
- Wesley’s ship goes down.
- Big Turning Point—25% (Around the 20,000 words mark)
- Buttercup agrees to be Humperdinck’s bride, but she is then kidnapped. A man in black chases after them.
- Medium Turning Point—37% (Around the 29,600 words mark)
- Wesley reveals he is the man in black and has come to save Buttercup, and they choose to escape into the Fire Swamp together.
- Big Turning Point—50% (Around the 40,000 words mark)
- Humperdinck’s men find Buttercup with Wesley, and they take her back. Buttercup decides to do what she can to save Wesley and agrees to continue with the marriage to Humperdinck if Wesley is returned to his ship.
- Medium Turning Point—62% (Around the 49,600 words mark)
- Buttercup realizes she can’t marry anyone but Wesley and goes to Humperdinck to call off the wedding and find Wesley for her.
- Big Turning Point—75% (Around the 60,000 words mark)
- Buttercup realizes Humperdinck lied and Wesley was never called to come for her. She hopes Wesley will still come, but she decides to kill herself if he doesn’t.
- Medium Turning Point—87% (Around the 69,600 words mark)
- Buttercup is forced to do the marriage ceremony with Humperdinck.
- Big Turning Point—89-100% (Somewhere in the last 8,000 words)
- Wesley breaks into the castle and finds Buttercup in time to stop her from committing suicide. Then he punishes Humperdinck and takes her away.
I found this rule of thumb to be very helpful in making sure I keep the pace up and things happening in my stories. If you don’t love story structure and want to keep things simple, this 12% rule is great for you. It’ll keep the story moving at a good pace and make sure your story stays interesting. If you’re interested in learning more about this rule of thumb, check out September’s website for more details.
Final Thoughts
Whether you just want to focus on creating five turning points in your story or shaking things up at every 12% mark, pacing is key for a good book. If you shake up your reader’s mindset too much, they’ll be confused and quit reading. If you never having turning points, readers will be bored. Make sure to include at least five well-placed turning points, and the story will hopefully stay engaging for readers.
Thanks for reading!
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