I write short paragraphs because of my training in
journalism. It is well known that people
loathe big blocks of type and they are less likely to read something that is
not broken up with white space.
In journalism, paragraphs are kept short (sometimes even
only one sentence) because when the material is typeset in a newspaper with
narrow columns, a few sentences in a single paragraph seems like a lot.
English teachers don’t like the journalism style.
But there is another advantage to writing short paragraphs
in a novel. Novels should be fun to
read, and realizing. If a reader has to
struggle to get through a paragraph then his eyes tend to wander or may even
get tired.
One of the comments I have heard over and over with respect
to the Look For Me series is that once a reader gets going he finds it hard to
put the books down. As a writer, that is
music to the ears. If a book is put
down, it may not be picked up again.
The Look For Me series is an easy read, but, it is an
intellectual read. You have to pay attention
and you have to remember what you read in order to fully appreciate how the
events unfold and how they interconnect.
That is one quality of the series that a lot of readers actually seem to
like. It is not boring when there are kinds
of things going on at different levels.
To me, it is just a style.
But the style comes from having been in the newspaper business pretty
much most of my life.
LookForMeIWillFindYou.com
Now, this same blog entry without paragraph breaks and you
will readily see what I mean…
I write short paragraphs because of
my training in journalism. It is well
known that people loathe big blocks of type and they are less likely to read
something that is not broken up with white space. In journalism, paragraphs are
kept short (sometimes even only one sentence) because when the material is
typeset in a newspaper with narrow columns, a few sentences in a single paragraph
seems like a lot. English teachers don’t like the journalism style. But there
is another advantage to writing short paragraphs in a novel. Novels should be fun to read, and realizing. If a reader has to struggle to get through a
paragraph then his eyes tend to wander or may even get tired. One of the
comments I have heard over and over with respect to the Look For Me series is
that once a reader gets going he finds it hard to put the books down. As a writer, that is music to the ears. If a book is put down, it may not be picked
up again. The Look For Me series is an
easy read, but, it is an intellectual read.
You have to pay attention and you have to remember what you read in
order to fully appreciate how the events unfold and how they interconnect. That is one quality of the series that a lot
of readers actually seem to like. It is
not boring when there are kinds of things going on at different levels. To me,
it is just a style. But the style comes
from having been in the newspaper business pretty much most of my life.
LookForMeIWillFindYou.com
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