Description
Masterclass 7 – Pace and tense
You know that feeling when you’re reading a book and the world disappears? When you stay up past midnight finishing a book, even though you have an early meeting?
This is what reviewers and blurbers are talking about when they say, “I couldn’t put it down”.
This Masterclass examines how these effects are achieved, using the techniques of pacing and strategic choices of tense.
Pace involves anticipation but it’s also a question of balance between slower and faster passages in a text. In this Masterclass we analyse:
- Where and when to bring in backstory, or hint at something yet to come
- How to introduce a faster or slower passage and why we would do such a thing, and
- How to stop a reader in their tracks while also making them want to keep reading.
Tenses may be familiar territory for those who have studied English grammar, linguistics or foreign languages, but many people aren’t confident about grammar and its terminology, including identifying tenses. In this Masterclass, Pamela Hewitt demystifies the territory of tenses.
At the conclusion of this Masterclass, you should have:
- A grasp of the terminology
- The ability to analyse the structure of the texts you work on
- The tools to explain problems with tense to the writers you work with.
The Masterclass includes examples from successful fiction and non-fiction that illustrate the effect of skilful use of pace and tense, and activities that allow you to play with transformations to tighten and slow pace, using tense to heighten dramatic effectiveness.
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