One of the top reasons a piece gets rejected is because of pacing problems. Join Utopia Science Fiction’s editor-in-chief, Tristan Evarts as we explore the nebulous concept of pacing, break it into digestible pieces and address some of the ways to best fix and understand pacing problems in your fiction.
Whether you’re a new author or looking to hone your craft, you’ll learn how to avoid common pacing problems and control your story’s pacing for maximum effect.
In this class, we’ll delve into the essential elements of pacing that you can use to take your story from good to great and make stand out in the slush pile. You’ll learn:
- what your story must have before you can manipulate pacing,
- the technical tools of pacing, and
- the story elements essential to well-paced story.
From structure to style, we’ll explore techniques you can apply to stories of any genre to keep your reader engrossed from beginning to end.
Through the expert guidance of a seasoned editor with over seven years experience, you’ll discover how to balance action with world-building and character-building to create stories that drive the reader from sentence to sentence, paragraph to paragraph, opening to finale.
You’ll learn the most common cause of pacing problems in a story and how to fix it. And, you’ll gain the tools for understanding what to cut, where to expand and when to rearrange.
You’ll leave this workshop with a solid understanding of and approach to pacing that will empower you to take your stories to the next level.
DATE: August 29, 2025 – Friday
TIME: 5:30PM ET | 4:30PM CT | 3:30PM MT | 2:30PM PT | 21:30 UTC
About Your Instructor
Tristan Evarts is the Editor-in-Chief of Utopia Science Fiction Magazine which he launched in 2019. He’s been reviewing, editing and providing feedback on submissions to the magazine for over seven years.
Utopia Science Fiction Magazine is a growing science fiction magazine dedicated to publishing quality science fiction short stories, science articles, and poetry. New issues are published quarterly on the first of the month and an archive of free-to-read past stories is maintained on Medium and Substack. Since 2019 the magazine’s team has grown to eleven people.
Tristan’s first published work was in the 2013 short anthology Galaxies Crossed. He has a degree in English and Philosophy with a specialization in creative writing from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He’s studied with famous authors such as David Gerrold and Margaret Atwood. He’s also the owner of Castle Books and Tea bookshop.