How do you make your text have rhythm?
Do you ever feel as if your words are dancing uncoordinated on the writing track? It can be challenging to understand why some people perceive your text as lacking rhythm. The key to improving and making your texts flow gracefully to the rhythm of a ranchera is to understand two fundamental concepts: story time and story time. I invite you to explore these first before we dive into strategies for pacing your writing.
What is story time vs. narrative time?
Story time refers to how the events happened in reality, as they actually happened. For example, if you want to narrate how your day went to explain that you were late for work, story time would include all the events from the time your alarm clock went off until you arrived at work.
In contrast, story time is how you choose to recount those events. Instead of recounting every detail of the morning (such as snoozing the alarm several times), you might choose to summarize, "I was running late because there was no hot water." In this way, what could have taken hours in real time can be narrated in a few lines, keeping the reader immersed and without losing the thread of the story.
What are speed figures in storytelling?
Speed figures are essential narrative tools for managing the pace of your text. From ellipsis to pauses, these techniques help you control how quickly or slowly events are narrated:
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Ellipsis: literally means cutting or eliminating unnecessary information. It helps speed up the story by omitting details that do not impact the main purpose of the story.
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Summary: functions as a summary of events. Instead of describing each attempt to snooze the alarm, you simply say "snoozed the alarm several times," thus speeding up the story time.
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Scene: here story time and story time coincide more closely, being common in dialogues. It allows the reader to experience a part of the story almost in real time.
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Pauses: used to slow down a moment. They consist of adding reflections or details that extend a scene, causing the reader to stop and process crucial information.
How to use these figures in your text?
Understanding the practical application of these techniques is crucial to mastering the rhythm of your writing. Let's use an excerpt from Gabriel García Márquez as an example, who masterfully used these figures:
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Sumario: narrating several quick actions in a row for a sense of celerity, such as multiple verbs describing actions strung together in a short space. This makes the story feel agile and intense.
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Pause: after a narrative acceleration, introduce a twist that slows the pace, adding details that provoke thought and mystery. This contrasts with the previous speed, keeping the reader's interest.
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Scene: use dialogue to slow down the pace, making the reader take in every word, as if attending the conversation in real time.
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Ellipsis: implicit in the narrative, omitting irrelevant events that do not contribute to the central purpose of the story.
Now that you know how to use narrative figures, I invite you to review your own texts. Analyze where you have used pauses, ellipses, scenes and summaries, and how have they impacted the rhythm of your writing? I'd love to read your experiences and comments.
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