Writing Prescription Eleven

"People will advise you to write all sorts of sentences. Snappy sentences, lyrical sentences, Hemingway-esque short sentences, long Faulknerian sentences. But there's really only one kind of sentence that actually works: a sentence that carries the reader forward from the previous sentence. This is harder than it sounds." Charlie Jane Anders

What is the only type of sentence you should be using in your writing? Sentences that build on previous ones and so propel your reader forward. Let me repeat: your sentences should build on each other.

Part of the joy of reading, especially fiction, is the feeling of being swept away by narrative. We read to "find out what happens next," - that's obvious! But I've read fiction that fails to do this: so this rule is not as easy to follow as it seems. How often do you find yourself reading a book, your eyes slide off the page and you don't read any further? It's highly likely the sentences were not building on each other.

One way to FAIL as a writer - write clunky, stumbling sentences. And it's one of the easiest problems to miss when you're revising your own work, because you're either looking at each sentence individually, or you're skimming whole sections.

The technique of writing the correct sentence is called Narrative Flow.

What is "Narrative Flow", how does it work and why is it so important? Narrative flow assists in building and maintaining a "willing suspension of disbelief" within the imagination of your reader.

How does it work? By allowing the reader to lose track of the individual words, and allow the scenes and situations to play out in their minds. When a story has a great flow, the reader will swim through the plot from start to end, and not notice how long it has taken them to reach the finale.

I can hear you ask: "But how can I know when I've got good flow going on?" The single most effective trick is to read the story out loud and listen for where you want to phrase things differently.

The most common group of people who have problems with flow are new authors. They tend to feel they have to fully express their narrative voice in every sentence - this unnecessary detailing causes them to lose flow.

Another common group with flow problems are those writers who stick religiously to the advice of keeping sentences short and structure simple. This leads to forced, unnatural sentences that are either too short or unnaturally simplistic making the narrative feel stilted, out-of-place or both.

Remember, writing is an art: there are no "hard-and-fast" rules outside of the basic rules of syntax and grammar. Even narrative flow can be intentionally broken and not be in error.

Words might be the atoms of storytelling, but sentences are the molecules. Verb by verb, they propel. Often the best works are the ones which feel as if they're taking you by the hand.

Word of the day – HYPOPHRENIA: (n) a vague feeling of sadness, seemingly without cause.

Character flaw # IGNORANT: lacking knowledge, information as to a particular subject or fact.