Marching to Their Own Drum – Writing at a Pace Middle Grade Readers Love

Middle grade books are set apart from other genres by a few things. We’ve talked about these in other posts – content and voice are two important distinctives. Today I want to talk about pace. How do we pace our story in a way that connects with middle grade readers and keeps them turning pages?

Pace is the way in which your story’s elements unfold. It affects the mood of your story, the tension within your story, and sets expectations for what the reader can expect as they turn each page.

Speeding up the pace can signal humor, danger, or conflict. Slowing down the pace can signal a character’s internal growth or show us more about the character’s world. Both of these are important, because like adults, kids need variety to keep them reading.

Let’s talk about some “gas pedal” techniques to accelerate pace:

Dialogue Bursts

This is about using a short dialogue exchange and action tags to create urgency and drop important information. Example:

“Hear that?” Jack froze.

“What?” Mary stuffed the map in her pocket and grabbed another armful of jewelry from the trunk.

“Exactly. It’s too quiet.”

“You’re paranoid. Come on.”

“They’re on to us.” Jack clutched his flashlight.

“Are you gonna help me or not?” Mary tossed him an empty backpack. “Get moving.”

Cliffhangers

Create uncertainty and tension by ending a chapter with something that makes them wonder what could happen next.

Short Sentences

When you’re building tension, try shortening the sentence length. Shorten it again. It works.

Now, let’s look at ways to ‘pump the brakes.\

Internal responses

When you need to slow things down, even if only for a moment, show readers your character’s internal life. This could be as simple as a sentence or two in which the main character has an emotional reaction to their situation. It could also be a paragraph of them reflecting on a choice they made or thinking though their next action.

Description

Nobody wants to read purple prose, middle grade readers included. But that doesn’t mean your main character can’t describe anything. If your MC has a unique way of viewing the world (and they should), they probably also have a unique way of describing their world and the actions within it.

Flashbacks

Memories are a great way to add breathing room to your pace. A little backstory can serve as color and context, and it can also be a useful way to weave in clues about an event yet to come.

A few words about any kind of pace adjustment-

1. Make sure that whatever you do moves the story forward. If you add a flashback scene, make sure it adds important information that’s relevant to a character’s motive or conflict.
2. Read it out loud. If you can, ask a middle grade reader to read it too.
3. Read more middle grade books to see other approaches.

Like anything else in writing, pace is a tool in a writer’s toolbox that gets more powerful each time you practice. What are some of your favorite pacing techniques? Let us know in the comments below, and happy writing!

When Kelli McKinney and her family aren’t exploring national parks, she can be found on the sidelines at her son’s tennis tournaments, brewing a cup of cinnamon spice tea, or chucking a toy across the backyard for her English Mastiff to chase.

She earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma and her graduate degree in radio/tv/film from the University of North Texas. She enjoyed an eclectic-yet-fulfilling fifteen-year career in corporate marketing before wandering off on her own to be a freelance copywriter.

Now, she is a part-time copywriter, full-time mom, and a children’s author. She lives in Texas but a huge piece of her heart belongs to Oklahoma. Her debut novel, JEFF PENNANT’S FIELD GUIDE TO RAISING HAPPY PARENTS is forthcoming in late 2022 with Chicken Scratch Books.

Kelli loves to hear from readers and writers. She can be reached through her website at www.kellmckinney.com or on Instagram @klmckinneywrites .