Author Topic: Anyone else have trouble with paragraphs?  (Read 1659 times)

Wired

Anyone else have trouble with paragraphs?
« on: March 10, 2019, 02:15:44 AM »
I don't mean formatting. I mean deciding how to break your prose into paragraphs for best impact. There seems to be unlimited ways to do this, with no hard rules, and it's driving me nuts.
« Last Edit: March 16, 2019, 02:03:46 AM by Wired »
 

PJ Post

Re: Anyone else have problems with paragraphs?
« Reply #1 on: March 10, 2019, 02:55:02 AM »
The only rule that matters to me is narrative flow, (sometimes this includes rhythm), because that greatly influences pacing, which maintains engagement - which is what makes books entertaining. The primary governor is pov and tense. First present can easily incorporate wacky paragraph styles, such as stream of consciousness, styles that might feel awkward in third past, especially third omniscient. I think the more traditional one's approach, the closer they should adhere to what we think of as "standard" paragraph structures, using the occasional exception for narrative punch, such as the use of fragments.
 
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bardsandsages

Re: Anyone else have problems with paragraphs?
« Reply #2 on: March 13, 2019, 03:01:08 AM »
Writing is an art, not a science. There is no special formula regarding how long a paragraph should be. It is based on what you are trying to convey.

In general, high impact scenes should have shorter paragraphs to keep the pacing brisk and the intensity high.

Background, exposition, or description text should be longer to give a complete picture of the scene or idea being presented.

If you "switch gears" with an idea, you should go to a new paragraph. Words like However, but, yet, etc are often good cues that you may want to move to a new paragraph.

I will say that, as an editor, breaking up excessively long paragraphs is one of the most frequent things I have to do. At this point, a lot of it is instinctive. But some of it is aesthetic. If I have a page with a huge block of text, that can be intimidating to a reader and I know I need to figure out a way to break it up.
Writer. Editor. Publisher. Game Designer. Resident Sith.
 
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dikim

Re: Anyone else have problems with paragraphs?
« Reply #3 on: March 14, 2019, 09:44:48 PM »
As a rough guide, start a new paragraph when you
  • start a new topic
  • a different character starts talking
  • it seems like a good idea
Reading your writing out loud can give you a good idea where to put paragraphs. A full stop gives a little pause. A new paragraph gives a longer one.

And I agree about long paragraphs looking daunting. It's nearly always possible to find a good spot to put in a break.


Author of more than 40 books and several scripts. Writes fiction and non-fiction for children, young adults, adults and other writers.
www.dianakimpton.co.uk
 

She-la-te-da

Re: Anyone else have problems with paragraphs?
« Reply #4 on: March 15, 2019, 09:23:04 PM »
I tend to get lost in long paragraphs. I know it happens to others, especially when reading on a device. I know we were taught to keep similar ideas together, but there are usually places where you can break a paragraph up and have it make sense. Fiction writers can break some rules, as long as they know what they're doing and have a good reason.
I write various flavors of speculative fiction. This is my main pen name.

 

VanessaC

Re: Anyone else have problems with paragraphs?
« Reply #5 on: March 16, 2019, 01:27:40 AM »
Personally, e-readers have influenced how I deal with paragraphs in my writing.  Thinking back to "old style" epic fantasy in paperback, paragraphs would go on and on and on and on in some cases.  That, to me, doesn't work on an e-reader because you're faced with this massive chunk of text on the screen which is, frankly, off-putting.  (It's one reason why I read my drafts on my kindle as part of my editing process - anything that takes up most of or a whole page on my kindle needs to get broken up.)

I'm not saying don't use big paragraphs, just to think about it and use them wisely.

Apart from avoiding large chunks of text, I tend to break up narrative into paragraphs when it "feels" right, and occasionally will change my mind several times over the course of my editing.  I've got no formal grounding in grammar / editing, though, and am still learning (a lot!) as I develop my writing.
     



Genre: Fantasy