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Q&A Variation in paragraph length

Yes, variation is good, whether it's word length, sentence length, paragraph length or even chapter length. But at the same time, you need to keep something else in mind: the paragraph needs to be ...

posted 11y ago by Tannalein‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T02:57:40Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/8298
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Tannalein‭ · 2019-12-08T02:57:40Z (almost 5 years ago)
Yes, variation is good, whether it's word length, sentence length, paragraph length or even chapter length. But at the same time, you need to keep something else in mind: the paragraph needs to be as long as it needs to be. What I mean is, if you need to write a paragraph that's just one sentence long to make an impact ("Something of great significance happened" in your example) then do it. If you're doing it just to variate the paragraph length, you'll probably break the rhythm of the narration. If you have a long paragraph where a sum of things are happening, then make it long. If you join several paragraphs together just so you can have a long paragraph, you're misusing your paragraphs :)

Also, something else to think about: if your paragraphs are all the same length as in the first example, what's happening in the story? Why aren't there any dialogues? Why isn't there anything of significance happening? What I mean is, same length paragraphs can make the story appear monotonous, but also, the same length paragraphs can be a product of a monotonous story. If you notice that the paragraphs are the same length, you might want to examine the story to see why they're all the same length, and is there a way to spice up the storytelling. Chances are, if you make the story dynamic, the paragraph lengths will follow.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2013-07-01T13:36:44Z (over 11 years ago)
Original score: 4