Story Flow as Trust
As someone who has been a devoted reader since a very young age, as well as a reviewer and author of fiction, story flow is something I've learned to feel intuitively without properly considering its defining nature. I'm not convinced it's simply another name for pacing. Perhaps a better way to describe it is a "momentum of attention."
Momentum of Attention
In physics, we learn that momentum is mass times velocity—you could think of it as the "staying power" behind something in motion. Imagine a heavy stone rolling down a hill: it's hard to get started, but once it's moving, it takes a large force to stop.
Now take this notion into the world of communicating stories, emotions, and ideas. The mass of the stone translates roughly to the weightiness of the ideas—but also the ease with which they're consumed. The speed of the stone is the pacing of the story. Both matter. Here are a few notions I've developed about this "momentum of attention," i.e., flow.
Story Flow Heuristics—Just a Few!
Pace isn't simply about speed. Don't assume that because a book is slow, it isn't well-paced. A book that performs well here builds tension, deepens character, or plants notions that will be developed more fully as the novel proceeds. I feel this careful and intentional kind of structuring (including the speed we typically think about as ‘pace’) describes the purpose of an author at work—creating value in a story because the story needs it, as opposed to the author needing it. Purposelessness, therefore, not necessarily slowness, breaks the pacing component of flow and draws the reader out of your story.
Don't overwhelm the reader with unnecessary information. Provide information—as a security officer at a defense firm might say—on a need-to-know basis. Not too early, not too late, just when it's needed to keep the story moving. Worldbuilding is a frequent violator of this principle, which is why authors still learning the craft seldom sound like Tolkien. Overwhelming the reader with backstory or other not-yet-needed detail breaks flow.
Choppy transitions break flow. Most readers have experienced books that show great promise but fail to move smoothly between structural beats or big ideas. The moment a reader's left brain has to get involved to untangle an author's structure or process, flow is broken—perhaps irreparably.
Believability. As a writer who loves working with historical fact, I find myself utterly ejected from a novel's flow if I have to engage with facts I feel are incorrect, or presented dishonestly. This is the biggest reason I might DNF a novel. But it applies just as much to a character's emotional states, or dialogue—if it doesn't seem believable that a real person in that situation would react with those emotions or words, flow is broken, and the author has to rebuild the reader's trust. One exception might be the unreliable narrator, which sometimes works—though I find it overdone and not very compelling.
Addressing Flow Breakage as an Author
As an Author, I do spend time considering mechanical heuristics like the above when I’m creating outlines, drafting chapters, and editing. I find that editing, especially, is a place where I can flag a chapter that sounds stilted or somehow off. My best practice when this happens—and it often does—is to avoid the temptation to fix it in place. Instead, I often go back to my notebooks and rewrite the offending section or chapter a) by hand if possible—this seems to unlock a creative process that is lost upon first sight of a keyboard, or b) on a different document if I’m unable to write it out long-hand. Then I replace the section with broken flow with the new one and test it out editorially.
In Short...
Flow is the investment a reader makes in a novel. It is the goodwill of a reader extended to an author. Devoting one's attention to another's story—not to mention five to ten hours of one's leisure time—isn't something authors should take for granted. Breaking that flow is breaking the trust an author hopes to develop with their reader.
Also By Tod Newman
Book Reviews – I love reviewing a mix of classics and good modern indie writers—just for fun, but also as a service to the modern reader.
Find Tod’s Novels at the Desdichado Books Bookstore.
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