Pacing Analysis of a Draft
Find slow stretches and rushed moments.
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Analyse the pacing of my draft. Chapter summaries with approximate word counts: [CHAPTER_SUMMARIES]. Genre expectations: [GENRE_EXPECTATIONS]. Where beta readers said it dragged: [FEEDBACK]. Build a table of chapters with columns: word count, scene type (action, reflection, dialogue, exposition), tension level 1 to 5, and what changes. Identify runs of similar chapters, spots where tension drops for more than two chapters, and rushed events that need more space. Compare the structure with typical beats for the genre without imposing rigid rules. Recommend specific cuts, merges, and additions with the effect of each. Provide a revised tension curve in text form. List questions to ask myself when a chapter feels slow. Add a quick fix list for the three slowest chapters, giving specific moves such as starting later, cutting a repeated beat, or inserting a reversal. Ask me for the chapters' word counts if I left them out, and note that tension is subjective, so mark my own judgement of tension as the key input and invite corrections. Add a worked pacing chart for an invented ten-chapter draft in text form: for each chapter its word count, type (action, reflection, dialogue, setup), tension on a scale of one to five, and what changes. Show the pattern the chart reveals (chapters four to six all at tension two with no change) and three fixes (compress, merge, add a reversal). Label it an illustration. Add a method for measuring pacing in my draft from the information I provide, a list of questions about each scene's purpose, a rule for cutting scenes that change nothing, and a rereading exercise: read only the first and last paragraphs of each chapter and check whether the story still makes sense. Provide a revision plan in three passes. Close with a one-paragraph summary of the draft's overall rhythm in plain language, naming the strongest stretch, the slowest stretch, and the one change most likely to help.
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Ch | Words | Type | Tension 1-5 | What changes 1 | 3,100 | Action | 4 | Heist begins 2 | 2,900 | Dialogue | 3 | Crew doubts leader 3 | 3,400 | Reflection | 2 | Backstory only 4 | 3,300 | Reflection | 2 | Nothing new 5 | 2,600 | Action | 5 | Alarm trips Finding: chapters 3 and 4 are two slow chapters in a row; tension stays at 2 for 6,700 words. Fix: cut the backstory in ch.3 to one scene, move the vault discovery from ch.5 into ch.4. Rushed: the betrayal (ch.5) takes 400 words and deserves 1,200.
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