So I'm having problems with the pacing of my story. I know the beginning and the end of my story, but the adventure itself is always hard for me to write. I don't want the pacing of my story to be too slow, but I don't want my characters to get to the end point so soon.
Link to universe because it will take too long to explain lore: Invalid Universe
The story is that Krystal, the main protagonist, is banished from a school for adventures because a unknown evil being, who call himself Abomination, had attacked the school with these strange creatures because of him, along with Krystal having these powers and abilities that no one has seen before. (I have 70 pages of this. This is just a summary). His friends and teammates join up with him later as he is traveling towards the place where he believes that the minions of Abomination were being created there. My problem is that they are within a days walk of the place they are aiming for and it felt, to me, too rushed. Any help?
Ok so first off, I understand your struggle. Pacing is a hard thing for just about everyone. I wrote 80 pages of worldbuilding once, so…yeah.
You said you have 70 pages of him being banned from school…now, it depends on what you want. Do you want a lot of the focus to be on the school, or most of it to be outside of the school? Not saying that you should do it right now or anything, but you might want to consider making that a little briefer. The other thing is, do you want it to be a little more fast paced or slow paced? Lord of the Rings for example is a little more slow to start, but something like Harry Potter is more focused on the school as supposed to the adventure (I'm talking about the first book here) so it shows the majority of the scenes about that. From what it sounds like, you want most of the focus to be on the adventure, so what I would do is trim the first part down just a little bit- but do that after you finish, if I were you, because you might not want to in the end- and space the adventure part out over no more than 2 months, and no less than 2 weeks. So, maybe give them some problems in the area they are encountering- wilderness beasts or such- and give them some mental/social struggles- maybe they're scared, want to turn back, fight with each other, etc.-and then, maybe thats not actually the place the minions are being created but a trap that ends up containing a hint to where they really are even though they almost die? And if you don't want the villain to be really focused on getting Krystal like that, maybe it could be meant for someone else. The other thing is, even if they cut off his minions, they haven't cut him off yet, so think about that when you're deciding how to pace this. But most importantly, don't stress out about it too much. You can always go back and change it, for the most part that part's really just numbers.
Does that help?
Yes it does, though I what I mean is that as of right now, the story as a whole is 70 pages. Krystal doesn't leave the school until the 52nd page.
Oh ok. I think you're fine, then. I wouldn't recommend making the climax a day's march away though, unless something bad happens and they get off track. However, if that's not where the climax takes place, I think you're doing great.
It sounds to me like you may need some more subplots, marching towards the big bad’s lair immediately after leaving school seems like a rush. Obviously i dont know exactly what the story is or if you already have something like this, but maybe dedicate some more time to Krystal’s adventures and struggles after being kicked out. Like being expelled is a big deal and I’d bet you can get some cool subplots out of it.
