Story Pacing

Using scene and summary are bedrocks of storytelling. But the artful mixing of the two is what makes the difference between a mediocre story and a great story. Scene is where all the excitement is. It's action and dialogue and suspense. Summary is the background information that sets up scenes and fills in the gaps for readers. Good storytelling uses a combination of the two, weaving from scene to summary and back to scene again to keep readers riveted. The routine parts of a story should be shortened and summarized. Too much explaining and background detail will bore readers and detract from the storyline. These parts are necessary, but they should be kept to a minimum. The exciting parts of a story should be prolonged and dramatized with action and dialogue. However, readers need a break from the drama occasionally, and this is where summary comes in to provide relief. Readers will feel exhausted with too much non-stop action. They need pauses to absorb what they've read and gear up for what's coming. Scene and summary are the rhythms of a story, surging forward and pulling back, all the while weaving in the details that flesh out the story. The combination of both allows a writer to pace a story, build momentum, and keep readers hooked.