Crazy pigs, by J.C. Kavanagh

 

To order your copy of the award-winning Twisted Climb series, click here: https://www.amazon.ca/stores/J.C.-Kavanagh/author/B01H0Q9GLA?ref=ap_rdr&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Many of my previous blogs have included variations of "Never-have-I-ever" seen/done this before. Well, here's another instance of never-have-I-ever.

How about swimming pigs? Yup, pigs really can swim. Especially if you tempt them with food. Let me explain. If you're a regular reader of my monthly blog, you'll know that me and my partner are on a trip of a lifetime - sailing our boat to the Bahamas. We sailed from Georgian Bay, Ontario (Canada), through three of the five great lakes, through the Erie Canal, the Hudson River, the IntraCoastal Waterway (ICW), with multiple crossings on the Atlantic Ocean, travelling south 'til we arrived in West Palm (Florida). With a clear and safe weather window, we sailed east to the Bahamas. We left our home port in July 2025 and arrived in the Bahamas November 22. 

So... our adventure continues. Last month, we anchored near a cute little town named Staniel Cay (pronounced key) in the Exuma part of the Bahama islands. Sailor friends had told us about these swimming pigs and, combined with multiple advertisements on social media that promoted the pigs as a tourist attraction, we had to see them for ourselves. Because... aren't pigs, with their disproportionately short legs, too fat to swim?

Apparently not.

If you have food, pigs will travel.

I wasn't keen on swimming with the pigs, so we opted to bring our dinghy to shore and feed them carrots. 

FEED ME !!

I'm happy I didn't swim in the crystal-clear water with these creatures. Look at those teeth! And when you pull out the carrots, all of the pigs come running toward you. All of them - 30 hungry piggies. It's like being transported to a sci-fi movie, "Planet of the Pigs." You feared for your life. Well, almost. The larger pigs were extremely aggressive, dominating the smaller pigs with shoves and angry snorts. I threw the sliced carrots into their mouths because I just knew they were going to bite the hand that fed them.  

Unlike Ian's daughter, Vee, not all tourists venture into the waters or onto the beach. 

So even though I didn't actually swim with the pigs, never-have-I-ever fed wild pigs on a beach.

I cannot foresee myself incorporating swimming pigs in my next novel, The Deepest Divide, part of  BWL's paranormal series, but I do see black bears and strange circumstances surrounding the castle on White Otter Lake. Stay tuned...

Enjoy the Spring days and remember to tell the ones you love that you love them :) 

J.C. Kavanagh, author of
The Twisted Climb - A Bright Darkness (Book 3) Best YA Book FINALIST at Critters Readers Poll 2022
AND
The Twisted Climb - Darkness Descends (Book 2) voted BEST Young Adult Book 2018, Critters Readers Poll and Best YA Book FINALIST at The Word Guild, Canada
AND
The Twisted Climb,
voted BEST Young Adult Book 2016, P&E Readers Poll
Voted Best Local Author, Simcoe County, Ontario, 2021
Novels for teens, young adults and adults young-at-heart

Email: author.j.c.kavanagh@gmail.com
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Pacing – Pain or Pleasure by A. M.Westerling

 

                                                  www.amwesterling.com 

I am a pacing moron.   

The first inkling I had of this was with my first manuscript. I was told the pacing was “irregular.” How could that be, I thought, you’ve also told me my writing is excellent and flows. I ignored it and moved on.  

As editor comments came back with disconcerting regularity that my pacing was too slow, felt off, etc. etc., I began to clue in that perhaps there was something to this pacing nonsense. Even the last rejection letter I received said my pacing was “slow and stately” - which promptly brought to mind a vision of my manuscript ambling down a red carpet cloaked in ermine trimmed velvet and carrying a scepter! When the editor went on to point out that today’s readers do not want “slow and stately”, I raised the white flag. However, I was still in denial – “What do you mean, the pacing is slow? What’s wrong with long sentences!?”  

But the more I delved into the matter, the more I realized I had no idea what pacing meant. Or worse, no idea how to fix it.  So I did my research - I took an online course, I found websites, I looked through books on writing, I posted to my RWA loop. And finally, the bits and pieces began to come together.  

First and foremost – what is it? The best definition I found is from Randy Ingermanson*: “Pacing is the amount of time you spend on each part of the story.” How simple is that – it’s how your story unfolds, how you move your characters, how you manipulate and organize the scenes for maximum emotional impact. Too slow, and you will lose your readers to boredom. Too fast and your readers will feel as if they’re on a speeding train.  

What you want is the right balance and the right rhythm. And therein lies the problem for me – I’m a left brain thinker. It’s all very fine and dandy to spout definitions but how do I actually do it? How do I control the pacing? As I discovered, there are a number of practical tips and techniques: 

1. Slow the pacing when you want to maximize the emotional effect ie: a love scene, or you want to emphasize something significant to the plot, or after a tense scene. Do this by writing longer sentences, longer paragraphs, longer dialogue, more description and more introspection.  

2. Increase the pacing when the tension is high. Use shorter sentences or sentence fragments, active verbs, fewer adjectives and adverbs and switch POV’s. Use sense details ie: taste the blood, smell the sweat. 

Other things to consider:  

• Shorten scenes towards the end to build tension. 

• Flashbacks and too much back story slow pacing – be judicious in their use. 

• Remove extraneous details to speed up the pace.  

• During an action scene, have your characters react, not think. ie: If someone’s drowning, they’re not going to be thinking about anything other than saving themselves. 

• Be careful with dialogue. Get to the point with the conversation, don’t start with “Hi, how are you, the weather’s nice, isn’t it.”  Once you’ve reached the objective, cut to the next scene. Avoid portraying one character as a good listener while the other one conveys information – it’s boring to read. 

• Ensure every scene contributes to the plot. ie: always make the romance the focal point or at the very least, show the barrier to the romance. 

• Even the choice of words can affect the pacing ie: perspiration reads slower than sweat. 

• When working with scene and sequel, remember that sequels slow pacing. 

 

The list I’ve compiled here is only the beginning. As I’ve discovered, there is no right or wrong method to pacing. However, the more you write, you better able you are to identify what you want the reader to feel and when you want them to feel it. Some writers have a natural sense for it; others find it a difficult concept to conquer. For me, it boils down to three things – practice, practice and more practice! 

 

After working as a professional engineer for a number of years, A.M. Westerling now writes historical romance. She is currently working on her tenth manuscript for BWL Publishing. Visit her at her website: www.amwesterling.com 

 

 

*www.AdvancedFictionWriting.com 

 

Other useful websites: 

www.fictionfactor.com  - “Pacing” by Dr. Vicki Hinze 

www.HollyLisle.com     - Pacing workshop 

www.ezinearticles.com  - “Proper Pacing Enhances a Fiction Writer’s Work”