My friend Nicolas Cole describes your “Rate of Revelation” as how quickly new info gets introduced to your audience. Generally, the higher the RoR, the faster your Reader perceives the pace of your writing.

Similarly, I’d argue for a “Rate of Progress” metric. How quickly your story progresses your Reader from one part of your story to the next.

In video games, there’s a million metrics to show the Rate of Progress. To name a few:

• Levels — Advancing from level 1-1 to level 1-2 in Super Mario.

• Milestones — Beating a certain part of a mission.

• Collectibles — Pokemon’s “Gotta catch ‘em all” goal.

• Experience points — In Zelda, Link gets XP which lets him get more skills.

• Development trees — Skyrim’s character development trees.

Most games are simply interactive stories. You’re always “just a few minutes more” from making progress. And what video game makers have realized is progress is addicting.

In other storytelling mediums, progress is less obvious. Notice I don’t say progress is necessarily slow. But many writers make their Reader work too hard to find that progress, to earn that payoff that clear progress provides.

Instead, let’s look at two examples of storytellers who nail ‘signs of progress:’

In Brandon Sanderson’s book Mistborn, the main character gets into a fight against seven enemies. Sanderson tells you there are seven enemies at the start of the fight. Then, as Vin knocks them out, he tells you how many are left. You see the number ticking down.

Similarly, in The Fellowship of the Ring, Tolkien establishes early on that the fellowship consists of nine members: the four hobbits, Gandalf, Aragorn, Boromir, Legolas, and Gimli. As their journey progresses and the Fellowship breaks, Tolkien updates you on who’s still remaining in the core group. You feel the dwindling Fellowship becoming more vulnerable as its number decreases. The count creates tension and momentum (signs of Progress) that carry you through the major transitions.

Both writers give you a visual ‘Progress Bar’ of sorts. You know that number is headed towards zero, yet you can’t stop reading. You feel the story hurtling toward that point and you must know how it gets there. In other words, you’re addicted to the ‘Progress’ the author’s giving you.

A few ways I’ve seen people accomplish the same:

• Lists

• Maps

• Clocks

• Signposts

• Countdowns

• Chapter or Act Breaks

Notice that these are almost all either visual or numerical.

If you think of your story as a line from Beginning to End, Progress is everything in the middle. The “messy middle” as many people call it. To avoid that trap, make it as clear as possible for your Reader when the story progresses.

Characters go to a new place? Call it out. Character overcomes a fear? Put them in a situation to prove it. Horcrux destroyed? Count down how many are left. You get the idea.

Give your audience moments of payoff throughout your story, not just at the end, and they’ll enjoy your story so much more.

Have an awesome weekend,

Nathan

Trivia — A Sentence I Wish I Wrote

I’ve thought about writing about this book because of its “unreliable narrator.” What novel does it come from? Tap your best guess.