Questions 3: Keeping a Story Flowing

Posted on April 25, 2025 by Charles Yallowitz

We all have preferences for flow in a story.  Let’s see what everyone thinks:

  1. What do you think is a good tool for creating seamless breaks in a story?
  2. What sport would you compare writing to in terms of maintaining flow of action?
  3. What is some advice you would give an author to help them maintain story flow?
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About Charles Yallowitz

Charles E. Yallowitz was born, raised, and educated in New York. Then he spent a few years in Florida, realized his fear of alligators, and moved back to the Empire State. When he isn't working hard on his epic fantasy stories, Charles can be found cooking or going on whatever adventure his son has planned for the day. 'Legends of Windemere' is his first series, but it certainly won't be his last.
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10 Responses to Questions 3: Keeping a Story Flowing

  1. L. Marie's avatar L. Marie says:
    April 25, 2025 at 11:58 am
    1. I like what Terry Pratchett did in his book, Thief of Time. At the beginning of each scene, he used the word Tick like a clock ticking. It gave each scene a built-in momentum and integrated everything under the movement of time.
    2. Hockey. It’s fast-paced and has built-in penalties and goals. After a time out, a player is back in the game.
    3. I think you do very well in your books at providing action without sacrificing pace with info dump. Since you asked for advice, here is one: Spread out story details. Info dump slows down story momentum. I understand the need to help the reader to understand the world. But some exposition dumps in books are like a garage stuffed so full of boxes and other things, you can’t navigate through it. Brandon Sanderson’s first three pages of Mistborn are a great example of giving enough details to help a reader know they’re not in Kansas anymore while also giving the reader a path through the world.

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  2. John W. Howell's avatar John W. Howell says:
    April 25, 2025 at 3:39 pm

    I like the idea of having mini cliff hangers. The reader gets a reason to continue and it halps the flow. Also with major tme shifts I like the * * * method of letting the reader know about the passage of time.

    I think basketball is a perfect analogy to maintaining flow. The excitement is there until someone makes a foul. Then to get back to excitement can take a while during the free throw process.

    My advice for flow is to think of the story as a movie. In a movie you would never have scenes where nothing is accomplished.

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  3. coldhandboyack's avatar coldhandboyack says:
    April 26, 2025 at 9:58 am

    Ugh! This is one of my great struggles. I’m not really into sports anymore either, so I’m hear to learn.

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  4. DebyFredericks's avatar DebyFredericks says:
    April 26, 2025 at 10:34 am
    1. What do you think is a good tool for creating seamless breaks in a story? As others have mentioned, ending on points of tension (not necessarily cliff hangers) that keep the reader engaged.
    2. What sport would you compare writing to in terms of maintaining flow of action? I like the basketball comparison, because even when there is a pause for a penalty throw, one team is still achieving something (or so they hope).
    3. What is some advice you would give an author to help them maintain story flow? If you’re feeling stuck, it’s okay to change to another POV for a while.

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