Tag Archives: Narrative rhythm

Archive Seasons 11-15, Career and Lifestyle, Guest, Live Audience, Season 14, Theory and Technique

14.52: Game Mastering and Collaborative Storytelling, with Natasha Ence

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Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary Robinette, Dan, and Howard, with special guest Natasha Ence

Natasha Ence is a professional game master.

(Yes, you read that correctly.)

She joins us to discuss collaborative storytelling, and how the principles of game mastering for role-players can be applied to creating a fulfilling, engaging story.

Credits: This episode was recorded live at LTUE by Dan Thompson, and was mastered by Alex Jackson.

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Write about a role-playing game experience that has gone badly. Really, really badly…

Tales of the Table, the Patreon where Natasha Ence creates RPG setting materials you can use

Archive Seasons 7-10, Season 08

Writing Excuses 8.15: Narrative Rhythm

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We begin with an audio glitch and a jumbling of our usual intro. Why? Because it breaks rhythm, and sometimes you may actually want to do that.

Narrative rhythm is the pattern of story elements and associated structures that help drive the reader’s pace through a book. Consciously managed, narrative rhythm is a a critical pacing tool, but can also be used to point up important information, increase the impact of certain scenes, and even encourage the reader to take a breather.

We talk about examples from film (it’s not the same thing, but it’s easy to make the point this way), as well as examples from our own work. Scenes and sequels, chapter breaks, cliffhangers, and more all come in to play here.  And of course you, fair listener, want to know how to manage narrative rhythm, and we cover some tips and tricks for that, too. 

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 19:57 — 13.7MB)

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Re-write a classic fairy-tale, first with nothing but rising action, and then with the addition of some falling action.

The Book of Three: The Prydain Chronicles, Volume 1, by Lloyd Alexander