Creating Paragraphs
Some people can
easily grasp how to divide stories or ideas into discreet units,
and these folks have little trouble putting their thoughts into
paragraph form. For many others, however, ideas are not so easily
divisible, and then paragraphing becomes harder.
If you find it
difficult to know where paragraph breaks should go, you may find
it useful to think of them in both the concrete (what are basic
rules for forming paragraphs) and the abstract (what is the
connection between paragraphs and ideas). If you think of
paragraphs as basically trivial, then you will have a hard time
communicating with your reader, who won’t know where you are
leading him. Paragraph breaks are like traffic signs that help
guide your reader down the road. Without proper use of the signs,
the reader is in for a much rougher and more confusing ride.
First, some basic
paragraphing rules:
1) A paragragh can be as short as one sentence.
Usually it is several.
2) Each speaker gets a new paragraph.
3)
A paragraph ties together related ideas. When the
action shifts, for example, you should begin a new paragraph.
About rule one:
why should a paragraph be made up of several sentences? To begin
with, it is difficult to develop an idea with simply one
sentence, so one rarely sees a descriptive or narrative paragraph
that short (although they are common in dialogue). Conversely, if
your idea is so complex that it requires numerous sentences, the
chances are that you are really writing about more than one idea.
Breaking your thoughts down into several shorter, more manageable
paragraphs helps the reader recognize that you are really talking
about more than one thing.
Say, for example,
that you are describing your character hiking through the
mountains. You write a long paragraph about the scenery he
observes on his hike, and discover that you have written a half
page description. When you notice such a lengthy paragraph
without a break, there are several things you may conclude: 1)
you are an amazing and creative writer who can break conventional
rules and needn’t be bound by them; 2) you have written too much
description and need to edit out some details to move the story
line along; or 3) you actually have written several related ideas
that can be broken down into several paragraphs. A little honest
analysis on your part will likely rule out the first option and
help you decide whether editing or additional paragraph breaks
are needed.
One easy method
for getting comfortable with paragraphing is to pick up several
books in the genre you are writing and see where the breaks are.
This is especially helpful for dialogue, which can sometimes be
confusing. As rule two states, when the attention shifts to a new
speaker, you should insert a paragraph break.
“I didn’t fall
into thinking like that overnight,” Jesse said. “It began so far
back that I can hardly recall. It must have been before the war.”
Sarah looked at
him with understanding. “I think I know what you mean. It was
when we first saw those newcomers coming in and all.” She paused
and looked down.
“That’s right. It
was them that did it,” he said.
So when creating
paragraph breaks for dialogue, follow the speaker rather than
what he says.
Rule three
requires that you step back and analyze the shift in ideas on the
page. You might find this like breathing—something that you can
do easily if you don’t think about it, but are unable to do well
when you focus your attention on it. But becoming a better writer
requires greater awareness of what you’re doing. If you don’t
ordinarily like to analyze your thoughts and your writing (“I
like to do what comes naturally”), then this will be harder for
you.
Paragraph breaks
indicate any kind of minor shift in focus in your story and are a
clear visual indicator to the reader that a new topic, idea, or
change in action is about to take place. Much of this goes on
subconsciously in the mind of the reader, who has spent years
following the directional signals of paragraph breaks and doesn’t
pause to think about them.
Look again at a
novel and seeing what happens at the break. Exactly what shift
has occurred? Did the new paragraph bring you into a different
room of the house? Did it shift your attention from one person to
another? Did it indicate a change in mood? Or did it show another
facet of an argument or another piece of idea that the writer was
developing?
If you are having
trouble knowing where to put your breaks, analysis of other
writers will likely help you more than anything else. Making
yourself aware of what your brain already subconsciously knows is
the key to paragraphing skillfully.
By Gayla Mills American Book
Publishing Editor
