I’m in the middle of my WIP right now, and it’s slow-going. Part of that is internal stuff that’s messing with my productivity–another book is launching in a week; copyedits are due on another story; day job has been stressful–but part of it is I’m worried that my characters are standing (or sitting) around, navel gazing, instead of actually **doing** stuff.

I know, I know. First write the story. Then fix it. Yep. On it.

There’s a fine line between building tension and stalling the narrative. It’s tough to nail. I’m hopeful that in my revision, all will go well. Some authors really get how to pace their books. I’m rereading Jim Butcher’s DRESDEN FILES, and once again I’m stunned by the liquid ease of his action scenes. And there’s lots of them. Sure, Harry gets introspective at times, and there are segments of the series when there’s a lot of internal strife he’s dealing with (his subconscience is a bit of a jerk, in Harry’s own words, and then there’s the Shadow form of a fallen angel that he has to work with). But the pace doesn’t slow — or when it does, it’s because we need a breather after all the BANG! ZOOM! SHAZAM! from the previous chapters.

Which authors would you say do a masterful job of pacing?