Pacing Problems

🔍 Section 1: Spot the Sag

Look back at your manuscript’s middle chapters and answer:

• Which scenes feel slow or like filler? Why?

• Are there any conversations or descriptions that don’t move the story or character forward?

• Does the tension ever drop? When and why?

• Do your readers get time to breathe between big events, or do things happen too fast?

🔗 Section 2: Cause and Reaction Check

Write out the major events of your middle. For each event:

• What caused it?

• What reaction does it trigger?

• How does it move your character closer to or further from their goal?

Example:
Event: Protagonist’s secret is revealed.
Cause: They trusted the wrong person.
Reaction: They feel betrayed and must hide again, raising stakes.

🎯 Section 3: Character-Driven Decisions

Your pacing is powered by choices — but are those choices true to your character?

• What is your protagonist’s main misbelief or false idea about themselves?

• How do their choices in the middle reflect this misbelief?

• How do those choices create new problems or challenges?

✏️ Section 4: Rewrite Challenge

Pick one slow or weak scene. Rewrite it with these goals:

• Each action/reaction clearly follows from what came before.

• Your protagonist’s choices are motivated by their misbelief or goal.

• The scene raises the stakes or changes the story in a meaningful way.

💡 Bonus Reflection

• How could adding a ticking clock or deadline change the pacing in your middle?

• Is there a twist or complication you can introduce midway to re-engage your reader?

• After these revisions, how would you describe the rhythm of your story’s middle?