The hidden techniques behind well-paced fiction, with Joshua Essoe

1070. Fiction editor Joshua Essoe explains the hidden techniques behind pacing in storytelling. Learn how good pacing shapes reader engagement, why well-placed story beats and emotional shifts matter, and how popular films like Memento and Fight Club use pacing to captivate audiences. Joshua also looks at managing flashbacks, using white space strategically, and avoiding common pacing pitfalls in fiction writing.

Joshua's "Pacing and Cutting" Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/joshuaessoe/guides-to-writing-pacing-and-cutting

🔗 Share your familect recording in a WhatsApp chat.

🔗 Watch my LinkedIn Learning writing courses.

🔗 Subscribe to the newsletter.

🔗 Take our advertising survey. 

🔗 Get the edited transcript.

🔗 Get Grammar Girl books. 

🔗 Join Grammarpalooza. Get ad-free and bonus episodes at Apple Podcasts or Subtext. Learn more about the difference. 

| HOST: Mignon Fogarty

| VOICEMAIL: 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475).

| Grammar Girl is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.

• Audio Engineer: Dan Feierabend
• Director of Podcast: Brannan Goetschius
• Advertising Operations Specialist: Morgan Christianson
• Marketing and Publicity Assistant: Davina Tomlin
• Digital Operations Specialist: Holly Hutchings
• Marketing and Video: Nat Hoopes

| Theme music by Catherine Rannus.

| Grammar Girl Social Media: YouTube. TikTok. Facebook.Threads. Instagram. LinkedIn. Mastodon. Bluesky.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.