Paragraphs

[NotWise]

How do you decide when one paragraph ends and another begins?

That seems like a fairly simple problem in non-fiction, but in fiction it seems very fluid. Aside from the need to break up the text into readable blocks, and to make sure that one paragraph quotes just one speaker, it seems like the decision of where to break a paragraph is poorly constrained.

I usually break the text into paragraphs to emphasize the flow of ideas, actions, and images that I want, but in most cases the text can be broken up several ways. Do you break to put dialogue at the beginning of a paragraph? At the end? Are there rules?

 

[SimonDoom]

How do you decide when one paragraph ends and another begins?

That seems like a fairly simple problem in non-fiction, but in fiction it seems very fluid. Aside from the need to break up the text into readable blocks, and to make sure that one paragraph quotes just one speaker, it seems like the decision of where to break a paragraph is poorly constrained.

I usually break the text into paragraphs to emphasize the flow of ideas, actions, and images that I want, but in most cases the text can be broken up several ways. Do you break to put dialogue at the beginning of a paragraph? At the end? Are there rules?

General principles I apply to stories I publish on Literotica:

1. A paragraph represents a particular plot point or idea. When I move to the next point or idea I make a new paragraph.

2. If the paragraph is getting long, I break it up, even if I'm not done with the thought/idea, per no. 1. In general I think it works better to have shorter paragraphs on this site. It's easier to read them.

3. I scanned my stories. My longest paragraph has about 10 sentences. That's unusual. The average is probably about half that or less.

4. Mixing up paragraph sizes is a good idea. Some longer narrative paragraphs, but also many shorter ones. Consciously ensuring variety in paragraph size makes the story read better.

5. I have one-sentence paragraphs, sometimes. I think they work well for dramatic emphasis.

6. Yes, I break to put the dialogue at the beginning of the paragraph. I think it would be weird to bury dialogue at the end of a paragraph. I don't like paragraphs that contain multiple bits of dialogue separated by narrative. I think it reads better to break it up and have separate bits of dialogue in separate paragraphs.

 

[ElectricBlue]

For me it's mostly a visual thing - using the white space on a page principle.

As a consequence, my style has evolved into fairly consistent length paras, broken as Simon does with shorter action sentences, and broken for dialogue. I'm not an absolute stickler for para breaks for every slice of dialogue, so from time to time I'll have embedded dialogue - that is, continuing dialogue from the same speaker. Even a meandering EB river needs a dialogue rock from time to time.

One of my rolling edit tasks is to find the natural breaks within longer paragraphs. I generally do it by eye rather than conscious construction - yep, should be a break about there, where's the right sentence.

It seems to work - the one consistent message I get about my content is how well it flows, almost poetic at times (I've lost count the number of times I've seen that). It's the one thing I really pay attention to during edit, the cadence and cascade of each sentence, the ebb and flow, the rise and fall. I'll add or delete words to keep the beat.

 

[Bramblethorn]

6. Yes, I break to put the dialogue at the beginning of the paragraph. I think it would be weird to bury dialogue at the end of a paragraph. I don't like paragraphs that contain multiple bits of dialogue separated by narrative. I think it reads better to break it up and have separate bits of dialogue in separate paragraphs.

Roughly this for me, but there's some non-verbal stuff that I'll bundle in with the dialogue if it's closely connected. For example, I think each of these works better in a single paragraph:

I rolled my eyes. "That's what he said last time."

"Sure, I'd love to come to your party." Just as soon as hell freezes over. "Send me the details and I'll see if I'm free."

 

[Voboy]

I notice my sentences and paragraphs get longer during sex bits. I've seen that in things I've read, too. When I do it, it's unconscious.

Paragraph breaks ought to serve the story. I use them to build tension, to establish pacing, to emphasize actions, or to show that my narrator is changing thoughts (I do a lot of FP). I do, unlike Simon, play with the placement of dialogue within paragraphs. I think you can manipulate the drama that way, like when a speaker is talking herself into a conclusion, slowly, with the thoughts coming together as she speaks.

But I don't think there are hard-and-fast rules here. Give the reader a break when needed.

 

[HeyAll]

I approach it like essay writing: Each paragraph is its own topic. If something new is happening, it's a new paragraph.

But I'm also mindful if it gets to be 5 lines, then I'll make a new paragraph, even if it's the same topic.

 

[SamScribble]

I approach it like essay writing: Each paragraph is its own topic. If something new is happening, it's a new paragraph.

But I'm also mindful if it gets to be 5 lines, then I'll make a new paragraph, even if it's the same topic.

About 20 years ago, I was co-opted to a task force that was trying to improve the use of Plain English in the public sector.

Among the many 'discoveries' we made was that readers are more likely to keep reading - and comprehending - if the paragraph contains fewer than about 75 words. It seems that too much text in a single chunk is almost as daunting as gobbledygook or officialese.

Seventy-five words? Five or six lines? Yeah, that sounds about right.

 

[QuillandInk]

I see there are already a bunch of great ways to split up paragraphs mentioned above, so as a side note: When it comes to dialogue and prose, I try to emulate Brandon Sanderson these days. Here's a vid where he talks about dialogue and prose.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBCBpNeUfYQ you can skip to 5 minutes.

And if you want his latest full fantasy writing course here you go:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4ZDBOc2tX8&list=PLH3mK1NZn9QqOSj3ObrP3xL8tEJQ12-vL

I'm self-taught, and I still go back to these when I get stuck on something.

Even if you don't want to write fantasy, I'm sure there are at least one or two things that you can learn from them.

Edited for clarity, I was still waking up when I typed this.

 

[ThisNameIsntTakenYet]

I really had to adjust to the way this site displayed stories. Because of the smaller width of the text it can look much longer than it does in your text editor of choice. I found that what I previously thought were acceptable paragraph lengths looked monstrous on this site and should probably have been broken up into two or three smaller paragraphs.

As for when to break, I tend to do it without thinking about it most of the time. As I'm writing, I just naturally feel a paragraph break coming up and hit ENTER without even thinking about it. The only times I do think about it is when I'm editing and decide a paragraph is too long and needs to be split. I do seem to follow the earlier mentioned method of putting one speaker per paragraph though, but like EB and others I don't always start with the dialogue. Sometimes there's a thought or description before it. Example of something I wrote recently:

He considered her offer for a moment. "Alright, sounds good to me."

Recently I started experimenting with putting dialogue tags before the dialogue occasionally, as I generally always put them after it instead. I found it really helps preventing the writing from feeling stale or repetitive.

I notice my sentences and paragraphs get longer during sex bits. I've seen that in things I've read, too. When I do it, it's unconscious.

Interesting, I think I read some advice somewhere that suggested the opposite. Although writing advice commonly contradicts so that's no surprise. I guess it depends on what you're going for. If it's slow and sensual, longer sentences with a lot of descriptions would work to convey that tone. On the other hand, if it's quick and passionate, I tend to prefer shorter sentences instead so it keeps the action going and helps the reader read quicker. I'm not sure where I read it, but it can be useful to try and match the pace of your writing to the pace of the scene. Same for action scenes, those tend to have shorter, punchier sentences than usual for me too on average.

 

[oggbashan]

When writing for Literotica I tend to make my paragraphs much shorter than I would do normally to avoid a wall of text if the story is read on a small screen.

But not always. See this:

https://www.literotica.com/s/breathless-stargazing

 

[NotWise]

About 20 years ago, I was co-opted to a task force that was trying to improve the use of Plain English in the public sector.

Among the many 'discoveries' we made was that readers are more likely to keep reading - and comprehending - if the paragraph contains fewer than about 75 words. It seems that too much text in a single chunk is almost as daunting as gobbledygook or officialese.

Seventy-five words? Five or six lines? Yeah, that sounds about right.

Interesting. I checked the paragraph lengths in my in-progress story. The longest I found was 71 words, and that paragraph hadn't been edited yet. They were commonly about half that length.

I also checked an older story. One paragraph near the beginning was 101 words. Otherwise they were generally well under 75. The story contains a scene with a chase and fight. Except for some very short exchanges with a 911 operator, the paragraph lengths in that scene didn't change noticeably. The sentences did get pretty short, though.

The paragraph lengths in my non-fiction writing are almost certainly longer, and my employer writes paragraphs in the range of 200-300 words. His writing sometimes breaks the scale on the reading ease measures.

 

[ElectricBlue]

The paragraph lengths in my non-fiction writing are almost certainly longer, and my employer writes paragraphs in the range of 200-300 words. His writing sometimes breaks the scale on the reading ease measures.

That's the Phil Spector approach - a wall of text. Does this bloke want people to read his content or put wallpaper over it?

 

[LexxRuthless]

I had an early story rejected because my paragraphs were too long. The explanation was clear and concise: Literotica doesn't want to hurt their readers' eyes with excessively long paragraphs. Once I broke up the early and very long paragraphs into more manageable chunks, that story got onto the site right away.

Ever since that experience, I keep my paragraphs far shorter than I might otherwise.

 

[Hypoxia]

I follow no rules, but feelings. When I feel a paragraph, there it is. Too short is hard. Too long is too easy, so try to make breaks every 4-8 lines.