When I was sitting down to write this post, I thought of some ideas I could use to introduce the subject. When I think of phrasing, I tend to think in terms of music. Because I wasn’t sure of a nonmusical way to describe phrasing, I asked a friend. She thought for a minute, and then asked why I didn’t lead with an example of what I meant. I pondered the idea, and then agreed that it was probably the best way.
Are you as bored as I am?
You could have the best story, idea or essay in the world and still lose your readers to a sort of boredom. A “reader’s fatigue” if you will. The fastest and easiest way to do this is to structure all your sentences and paragraphs exactly the same way. Even if your work is grammatically correct and every sentence has a new idea, because of the similar or identical structure a reader will see this as “droning on.”
This month I’ll discuss some tips and tricks for preventing this common error and spicing up your work by including a variety of structures and techniques in your phrasing.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]
count your commas
Don’t get me wrong: I love a complex sentence. The kind that makes a diagrammer squirm and an Oxford comma weep for joy. But if every single sentence you write has a comma after about five words, knock it off. Nobody in the world needs that many precatory phrases, not even the late and mostly unlamented Justice Scalia.
count your lines
Look at your writing.
Look away.
Look at your writing.
Now look away.
Now look at your writing. It’s on a horse. No, just kidding. But do try this one easy trick to make sure all your paragraphs aren’t the same length. Change it up. Count lines. Short paragraphs put a lot of emphasis on what’s in them, so if you’ve been thinking about italics and boldface, try a short paragraph instead. Long paragraphs can ease the reader into the flow of your writing, set up dreamy moments, or make complete arguments that you can then reinforce with – guess what?
That’s right: a short paragraph.
count your words
For the love of whatever you hold holy, please don’t make all your sentences the same length. It’s ok. You don’t have to be afraid of fragments anymore. As long as you know how to write complete, logical, complex sentences, it’s just fine to use fragments now and then for emphasis or to more closely mimic the way you or others speak. Just don’t overdo it and lose the arc of what you’re writing.
count your threes
Look. I don’t have any particular hate for David Foster Wallace. [Ed’s note: I didn’t when I wrote this. I’ve since Learned Things. /rbg] He’s a perfectly fine writer. But if I have to listen to one more read of “This is Water” I will actually throw up and pass out just to try to break the boredom up a little for myself and everyone else. Read through the speech a little and start counting the places DFW has used the “rule of three” – including the rhythm of a three-item list to fix examples in the listener’s memory while still moving the piece forward. Once or twice might be memorable. More than three times a page is a triad of terrible.
That’s pretty much it, folks. Variety is the spice of life, and the life of writing. It’s ok to be attached to a clever turn of phrase or sentence structure; in fact, I often build an entire piece around one phrase I thought of during a drive, on a run or at the gym. It’s not ok to be so attached to that turn of phrase that you repeat it throughout your piece. You’ll lose the reader before you get to share your cleverness with them, and that’s just… silly.
