• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About
    • About WHW
    • Press Kit
    • Resident Writing Coaches
    • Contact Us
    • Podcasts & Interviews
    • Master Storytelling Newsletter
    • Guest Post Guidelines
    • Privacy Policy
    • Charities & Support
  • Bookstore
    • Bookstore
    • Foreign Editions
    • Book Reviews
    • Free Thesaurus Sampler
  • Blog
  • Software
  • Workshops
  • Resources
    • List of Resources
    • Recommended Writing Books
    • WHW Descriptive Thesaurus Collection
    • Free Tools & Worksheets
    • Grab A Free Show-Dont-Tell Pro Pack
  • WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®
  • Nav Social Menu

    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®

WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®

Helping writers become bestselling authors

Pulse on Pacing: How Smooth Transitions Keep Your Story Moving

July 31, 2014 by ANGELA ACKERMAN

Writing itself is change, and within story structure, transitions are key to keeping things moving.

It isn’t just about getting your character from scene to scene, it’s also is about communicating ideas and making sure there’s a smooth flow from one piece of information to the next.

race

Without deft transitions, the manuscript flow becomes herky-jerky. Characters seem to leap about in time and space, plot points can get dropped and instead of riding down the flowing river of the writer’s consciousness with a pina colada in hand, the reader is riding shotgun in Monster Truck Crash Rally Death Match with an icy beverage all over their lap.

So how do we kick ass and take names as far as learning to transition well?

Movement

The plot and characters should always be in motion. Every action, every thought, every emotion should all draw the reader forward, deeper into the story. As you write, always think movement. Are the stakes rising, are the characters acting? Does each piece of information deepen the reader’s understanding of what is at stake, and what the character must face?

Each sentence should form part of the picture and contribute, naturally lead to the next. I’m not just talking sentence structure here, I’m talking about substance. Every word, phrase and idea must not be wasted. Select each carefully, with intent. This will create a natural and compelling flow.

Transitioning Between Scenes

Not every scene ends with a chapter break, so we need to have a little bag of tricks to get characters from one place to the next. First and foremost, always know where the ending point of your scene is. Every scene should have a natural beginning, middle and end…the end being where the character resolves to take a new action or where he finds himself in worse trouble than at the start. We don’t want those characters taking it easy, no sir. Bring on the hot irons of conflict & consequence!

TIP: When starting a new scene, be quick about anchoring the reader in the setting and let them know who’s viewpoint it is, especially if your book has two or more POV characters. Nothing turns a reader off faster than not knowing where they are, and who is speaking/narrating. A new scene should never feel like Musical Chairs–the reader should always know which POV they are experiencing.

Angela’s Tricksy Bag of, erm, Tricks

—Keep a Weather Eye on Your Story

This is an excellent way to show a passage of time and get the character moving. No one can hang out at the park for long on a wintery January morning, not unless hypothermia is on the menu. Ditto with a character noticing how the cloud cover is stealing the sun’s heat, a storm is brewing or how the sun’s position changes as it crosses the sky. When your character takes note, the reader does too. Time is fluid.

–Thinking Ahead

The character’s thought process can easily allow you to skip ahead to a new scene. By letting thoughts (or worries!) drift to a future event (getting off work, meeting up with someone for a date that night, a ball game on the weekend, etc) end the scene, it allows you to jump right into that event in the scene that follows without causing a ripple in the story’s flow.

—A Nice Fish Slap to the Face

Remember those high stakes we talked about? Well, action and pressure often leads to mistakes, which leads to nasty, sticky consequences. A great way to transition to a new scene is to show the character having to face the result of his earlier poor choice.

—Routine, Routine, Routine 

No matter how wild and crazy things get,  some routines are rarely broken. The responsibilities of school and work, waking up, going to bed, mealtimes…if you need to, you can use these (but don’t slow the pace!) to show a leap forward to a new scene. But remember some routines can be overused (such as starting a chapter with the character waking up). Instead, try showing them start the day brushing their teeth or heading out the door to school or work. Take care that transitions don’t turn into long coffee breaks, either. Each setting choice should contribute directly to story and character development and have meaning, not provide a reason to show a long internalization that probably is not needed anyway.

—Tick Tock 

There’s nothing wrong with having a good old-fashioned ticking clock to get a character out of one scene and onto the next one. If your character is on a schedule (and really, who isn’t?) they will be very aware of the time and can easily communicate this through their thoughts, actions or dialogue. No one likes to be late, right? Again, just be careful of not overusing this trick to get in and out of all your scenes.

—Changing POV 

Obviously, this is only one to use if you’re using multiple POVs. If you’re at a loss over which POV to use in a scene, it should be told by the person with the most to lose or gain from the action & events of the scene.

Need some more ideas on how to use the world around your characters to transition? Check out The Bookshelf Muse’s Symbolism Entry on The Passage of Time

Image: TPSDave @ pixabay
Original post

ANGELA ACKERMAN
ANGELA ACKERMAN

Angela is a writing coach, international speaker, and bestselling author who loves to travel, teach, empower writers, and pay-it-forward. She also is a founder of One Stop For Writers, a portal to powerful, innovative tools to help writers elevate their storytelling.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Pacing, Uncategorized, Writing Craft, Writing Lessons

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. mimmsy says

    December 15, 2015 at 9:45 am

    Thank you for this, I’m writing a story and have had some cridics come into chapter four, telling me that with all the people in it that it’s a confusing mess. Oops! So I’m going to apply what you’ve shared here and fix it. Thank you.

    • BECCA PUGLISI says

      December 15, 2015 at 10:08 am

      Good for you, for taking advice and following up on the best way to solve the problems you’re facing. That’s so important for writers to be able to do well.

  2. Diane Rinella says

    August 31, 2014 at 3:45 pm

    This is excellent! I’ve often struggled to solve this problem. Great suggestions!

  3. SimonLee says

    August 2, 2014 at 1:02 am

    These are good ideas–transitioning can be difficult. I often find myself not wanting to transition at all and just get to the next scene. One of the biggest things I take from this blog post is that you really just need to slow down and let the transition happen.

  4. Michelle Somers says

    July 31, 2014 at 11:45 pm

    Hi Angela
    Thanks for the tips. They are all solid gold 🙂
    Michelle

  5. Julie Musil says

    July 31, 2014 at 9:05 pm

    Excellent advice, Angela. Reading Jody Hedlund’s novels have helped me a lot with traditions. She writes in scenes and does a great job with this. Good bag of tricks 🙂

  6. Christina Hawthorne says

    July 31, 2014 at 1:42 pm

    As usual your advice is spot-on. Great stuff. Following these guidelines will certainly help avoid readers experiencing those pesky “Huh?” moments.

    • ANGELA ACKERMAN says

      July 31, 2014 at 1:58 pm

      Glad you think so, Christina! Happy to help 🙂

  7. Traci Kenworth says

    July 31, 2014 at 12:45 pm

    I just used a fish slap in the face this morning!! It should draw me back into the stakes and get things moving along when I write again. Always encouraging. Thanks for the tips!!

    • ANGELA ACKERMAN says

      July 31, 2014 at 1:58 pm

      Hurray for the fish slap! Those are the BEST!

  8. :Donna Marie says

    July 31, 2014 at 11:23 am

    Again—a wealth of knowledge and fantastic tips! Thank you, Angela! 😀 😀 😀

  9. ANGELA ACKERMAN says

    July 31, 2014 at 10:53 am

    Ha, thanks you guys! Hope you are both enjoying your summer! 🙂

  10. Bish Denham says

    July 31, 2014 at 10:45 am

    You continue to be an encyclopedia of ideas!

  11. Karen Lynne Klink says

    July 31, 2014 at 10:23 am

    Excellent ideas to fall back on when needed.

Trackbacks

  1. More Story Elements - Juneta Key says:
    April 12, 2018 at 6:06 pm

    […] Pulse on Pacing: How Smooth Transitions Keep Your Story Moving by Angela Ackerman […]

  2. Story Structure & Elements - Juneta Key says:
    April 12, 2018 at 5:55 pm

    […] Pulse on Pacing: How Smooth Transitions Keep Your Story Moving by Angela Ackerman […]

  3. Elements of Building A Story: Research, Outlining & Plotting, Etcetera - Writer's Gambit says:
    March 7, 2016 at 9:34 pm

    […] Pulse on Pacing: How Smooth Transitions Keep Your Story Moving by Angela Ackerman […]

  4. Writing Mechanics: Study & Contests - Writer's Gambit says:
    March 7, 2016 at 8:53 pm

    […] Pulse on Pacing: How Smooth Transitions Keep Your Story Moving by Angela Ackerman […]

  5. This Week's Articles for Writers | 8-1-14 | L.A. Writers Group says:
    December 1, 2014 at 6:50 pm

    […] Pulse on Pacing: How Smooth Transitions Keep Your Story Moving […]

  6. No Wasted Ink Writer’s Links | No Wasted Ink says:
    August 11, 2014 at 12:05 pm

    […] Pulse on Pacing: How Smooth Transitions Keep Your Story Moving […]

  7. Top Picks Thursday 08-07-2014 | The Author Chronicles says:
    August 7, 2014 at 1:03 pm

    […] Alderson shows us how to pick the exact right beginning to story, Angela Ackerman explains how transitions keep the story moving, and Roz Morris examines endings and […]

  8. Writing Links…8/4/14 | TraciKenworth's Blog says:
    August 4, 2014 at 8:06 am

    […] https://writershelpingwriters.net/2014/07/pulse-pacing-smooth-transitions-keep-story-moving/ […]

  9. Friday Link Pack 08/01/2014 | I make stories. says:
    August 1, 2014 at 1:45 pm

    […] Pulse On Pacing: How Smooth Transitions Keep Your Story Moving Handy tips from the folks over at Writers Helping Writers on keeping readers moving through your prose. […]

Primary Sidebar


Welcome!

Writing is hard. Angela & Becca make it easier. Get ready to level up your fiction with game-changing tools, resources, and advice.

Follow Us

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Subscribe to the Blog

Check your inbox to confirm! If gremlins tried to eat it, you might have to check your spam folder.

Read by Category

Grab Our Button

Writers Helping Writers

Software that Will Change the Writing Game

One Stop for Writers

WRITERS HELPING WRITERS® · Copyright © 2023 · WEBSITE DESIGN BY LAUGH EAT LEARN

Cookies are delicious and ours help make your experience here better. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with our cookie use. Cookie settingsGOT IT
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. More on our Privacy Policy here.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT
 

Loading Comments...