Getting sentences to flow....
- Thread starter Jestro
- Start date
Allyn
Pixie
Ohh, yeah, that can be a bit tough if you don't know exactly how to do it. While posting a few sentences/paragraphs here might be helpful, here are a few pointers that I use:
1) group ideas - if you're doing descriptions especially, go in a sequential order, from biggest to smallest detail. Don't jump around from descibing, say, how crowded a bar is to the nice glasses to the tables. Go from the bar to the tables, then to the glasses.
2) repeating words - Don't use the same word to start many sentences or paragraphs. I, personally, try never to start more than 2 sentences with the same word.
3) smaller paragraphs - If you have a long area of description or movement, break them up into a few smaller paragraphs. I don't know about others, but I find it a lot easier to read and follow then there are 2 smaller paragraphs instead of 1.
These aren't all, probably, and i might be wrong on some, i'm still learning too
Hoped this helped though
1) group ideas - if you're doing descriptions especially, go in a sequential order, from biggest to smallest detail. Don't jump around from descibing, say, how crowded a bar is to the nice glasses to the tables. Go from the bar to the tables, then to the glasses.
2) repeating words - Don't use the same word to start many sentences or paragraphs. I, personally, try never to start more than 2 sentences with the same word.
3) smaller paragraphs - If you have a long area of description or movement, break them up into a few smaller paragraphs. I don't know about others, but I find it a lot easier to read and follow then there are 2 smaller paragraphs instead of 1.
These aren't all, probably, and i might be wrong on some, i'm still learning too
Hoped this helped though 
Jayaprakash Satyamurthy
Knivesout no more
Allyn's points are pretty sensible, I think.
Personally, I try not to think too much about sentences. Sometimes, I write these long, Burroughs/Marquez sentences if I'm purposefully experimenting with that sort of thing, but most of the time it's really as simple as organising my thoughts and writing them out. All in all, it's safer to stay simple than to try something fancy which will spoil your story/point if it doesn't work right.
Personally, I try not to think too much about sentences. Sometimes, I write these long, Burroughs/Marquez sentences if I'm purposefully experimenting with that sort of thing, but most of the time it's really as simple as organising my thoughts and writing them out. All in all, it's safer to stay simple than to try something fancy which will spoil your story/point if it doesn't work right.
Personally, I'd recommend you forget about how well the sentences flow - until you come to rewriting.
For myself, it is almost as if the book is already written somewhere else - and that the writer is merely "channelling" it through. Sometimes I cannot write a section, no matter how hard I try and force it. I leave it and move on. Later, some inspiration occurs and I realise that I couldn't have written that section without knowledge of a later developed plotline. It's as if the writing knows this.
Spooky, huh?
For myself, it is almost as if the book is already written somewhere else - and that the writer is merely "channelling" it through. Sometimes I cannot write a section, no matter how hard I try and force it. I leave it and move on. Later, some inspiration occurs and I realise that I couldn't have written that section without knowledge of a later developed plotline. It's as if the writing knows this.
Spooky, huh?
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