Maintaining Story Momentum and Structural Pacing

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I find that writers are often adept at mapping the big structural plot points of their story and understand the sense of progression and momentum of those, but then have a harder time figuring out how to maintain story momentum in-between those big, often climactic, plot points. So to the rescue: the story momentum measure. I’ve developed this tool to be used as both, a planning tool or a diagnostic tool to figure out where or why your story might be dragging. It’s not a silver bullet. It’s not the only thing you’ll ever need to figure out your pacing, but it hopefully can help you with getting an objective overview of your scene-by-scene progression. 

Using the Momentum Measure 

If you’ve read any of the story structure guides on this site, you’ll know about plot questions. These are the big picture questions that orient your reader into asking “will XYZ happen in the narrative”. For example, after the first line in the Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson, the reader is asking “Will the city of Luthadel fall?” In Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, one paragraph in, you are asking “Will Charlie Gordon become smart?” The key is that they’re one-at-a-time, future-oriented yes or no questions that give your reader a clear idea of where the plot is headed. You can read more about plot questions here. 

Why am I going on about plot questions? Because you need them to use the momentum measure. Once you have your primary plot question, that will be the index point you’ll be applying the momentum measure to. You’ll look at each of your scenes and will give it a number based on where it falls in the momentum measure table below. 

What change happens in the scene in regards to the plot question?

The momentum measure is built on three principles of human attention. Novelty, negativity, and immediacy. Basically we are more drawn to new information than something we already know. Secondly, we pay more attention to negative events than positive ones. This is why your local newspaper will never run a front page story announcing that there have been zero car crashes all month. And thirdly, we are also more interested in immediate events than anticipated future events. When you’re reading, you probably have already noticed that when stuff starts getting dicey for the protagonist, you are more likely to keep reading. And the more immediate the trouble is, the more invested you are.

So, following these principles, the columns in the momentum measure go from the least engaging type of progress to the most. I know this can sound a bit abstract, so here’s an example. 

Example:

Let’s say the plot question is “Will Viv’s cafe become successful?”

Let’s say Viv has had a few happy customers already this morning, but in walks a man she has never seen before and they have the equivalent of the exchange “what a nice shop you’ve got here, it would be a shame if something happened to it if you don’t pay your protection dues to the local crime lord.” Viv tells him to go pound sand and he leaves, for now. 

Looking at the momentum measure, this information was new to the POV character AND the reader, so it’s in the second row. And in terms of future prospects, well things aren’t immediately worse for Viv. The guy did leave after all. However, his words spell some future trouble. So this scene would get a rating of 2. 

What Can You Learn From the Momentum Measure?

In general, readers find that stories are moving along better and have more momentum if the information in their scenes is new and if things are getting immediately worse for the character in regards to the plot question. In other words, the higher the momentum measure numbers, the more momentum your story has. So does that mean the higher the better? No. The key of pacing is in variance. If all your scenes were 3s, then none would stand out and your reader would possibly grow exhausted and bored at the same time. 

I didn’t develop this tool to provide a formula for “perfect pacing”, but rather a streamlined tool to more objectively and numerically have oversight of the momentum variance of your scenes. 

Because I’m a pedant with a questionable idea of fun, I have read several successful novels and rated them scene by scene on the momentum measure. Here is how they averaged out.

The unweighted column is just the average of the scene ratings while the weighted one takes scene length into account. In general higher momentum and higher tension scenes tend to also be longer than the vignettes that would be rated at 0. That is why across all novels the weighted ratings are higher.

The main takeaway from looking at this distribution is that there is a range in momentum across novels. It all comes down to what the authors were trying to accomplish. It’s no surprise that the two epic novels on here had relatively high average momentum. If you want readers to get through your 400+ page tome, generating a steady sense of momentum and progress is a useful technique to employ. On the other hand, it’s not surprising that the cozy genre didn’t have very high momentum. If you’re someone who picks up a cozy fantasy, you’re not primarily turning pages because you’re riveted by how the protagonist will get out of trouble. You’re there for a chill, cozy ride. Catcher in the Rye, as the one novel on here that would be considered purely literary, doesn’t even have a clear plot question. It is an episodic collection of troublesome moments that a disaffected teenage boy gets into and out of because he didn’t want to go home to tell his parents he’d been expelled yet again. I would definitely not call it a page turner, but it is often ranked among the best books of all time and I can see why. So let that novel serve as a reminder that momentum isn’t the only tool that goes into an audience connecting with a story and reading it. 

So again, I want to emphasize there isn’t a one-size-fits-all pacing. That said, if in your own writing you spot several 0s or several 1s in a row, know the momentum is low and either increase it by revising the scenes, or make sure you use one of the many other engagement tools to keep your reader reading. 

For an extended discussion on this topic, check out the Writers’ Toolbox podcast episode I did on it. 

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