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How To Make Your Writing Flow



Look at this sentence. That was brief, wasn't it? Here's where you should really start paying attention. When your sentences have different lengths without being so jarring, you create rhythm, which is a good thing. It can be a push and pull game; the sentences don't always have to be longer. It's good to give your readers a moment of rest before you add a more complex sentence, though, because you made sure that they could take a breath before you gave them something that would take a larger amount of time and focus. Once you're finished with that, then you can have a bigger drop. Let them breathe. 

It's easier to write similar sentences. I should know, I've done it. Say, is this fun to read? I can try to vary rhythm. Play with commas, earlier, later, whatever. You should avoid this, you know. Otherwise, your story will feel bumpy.

Your prose must act as a dance


Maybe you won't be able to manage this with every single sentence you write. Not every paragraph will have enough space for it but fret not. Writing rules aren't meant to be permanent, after all, who can really tell you what to do? That's up to you to decide. That doesn't mean you can just do whatever you want, that's just going to lead to chaotic (or postmodern) writing, and you don't want that. Trust me, if you want your prose to sound a bit more natural, then try this out. 

Here are a few examples, beginning with a bad author ignoring the rule

Jacob strolled to a nearby driftwood tree that had its roots sticking out like the attenuated legs of a huge, pale spider. He perched lightly on one of the twisted roots while I sat beneath him on the body of the tree. He stared down at the rocks, a smile hovering around the edges of his broad lips. I could see he was going to try to make this good. I focused on keeping the vital interest I felt out of my eyes. - Stephanie Meyer, Twilight

Here's a good author ignoring the rule

When it was light enough to use the binoculars he glassed the valley below. Everything paling away into the murk. The soft ash blowing in loose swirls over the blacktop. He studied what he could see. The segments of road down there among the dead trees. Looking for anything of color. Any movement. Any trace of standing smoke. He lowered the glasses and pulled down the cotton mask from his face and wiped his nose on the back of his wrist and then glassed the country again. Then he just sat there holding the binoculars and watching the ashen daylight congeal over the land. He knew only that the child was his warrant. He said: If he is not the word of God God never spoke. - Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Now here's a bad author following the rule

Silas turned his attention now to a heavy knotted rope coiled neatly on the floor beside him. The Discipline. The knots were caked with dried blood. Eager for the purifying effects of his own agony, Silas said a quick prayer. Then, gripping one end of the rope, he closed his eyes and swung it hard over his shoulder, feeling the knots slap against his back. He whipped it over his shoulder again, slashing at his flesh. Again and again, he lashed. - Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code
Here's an excellent author following the rule

The eldest of these, and Bilbo's favourite, was young Frodo Baggins. When Bilbo was ninety-nine he adopted Frodo as his heir, and brought him to live at Bag End; and the hopes of the Sackville- Bagginses were finally dashed. Bilbo and Frodo happened to have the same birthday, September 22nd. "You had better come and live here, Frodo my lad," said Bilbo one day; "and then we can celebrate our birthday-parties comfortably together." At that time Frodo was still in his tweens, as the hobbits called the irresponsible twenties between childhood and coming of age at thirty-three. - J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

As Cormac Mccarthy showed, flowing sentence length isn't necessary to make perfect paragraphs. If you're good enough, it won't matter. That doesn't mean it won't help, though, writing, and art, in general, is all about using the tools at your disposal as best as you can. So go ahead, check your story, and see if you can make it flow. 
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