New Paragraph

No, I didn't forget to add a title to this blog post and accidentally leave the default "new paragraph" thing up.

"New Paragraph" is actually the title of this blog post.

Today, I am going to be discussing paragraphs with you.

What is the goal of a paragraph? When should we have paragraph breaks? How long should a paragraph be?

We'll cover all of those today.

What is the goal of a paragraph?

Well, according to dictionary.com, a paragraph is: a distinct section of a piece of writing, usually dealing with a single theme and indicated by a new line, indentation, or numbering.

That's the techincal definition of a paragraph.

Now....what is the goal of a paragraph?

Basically, a paragraph is meant to break up information, but there is so much more a paragraph can do.

Paragraphs make things easier to read. Paragraphs help with emphasis. Paragraphs discern who's talking.

If used right, paragraphs can be a writer's biggest tool.

Overall the goal of a paragraph is to break up the information you put in your chapters in a way that gives the desired effect.

Whether that desired effect is to emphasize something, to let your reader know that someone else is talking, or just to break up what's happening so that your reader won't be overwhelmed.

When our writing is in giant paragraphs, it can be harder to read,

When should we have paragraph breaks?

• Whenever the subject changes.

• Whenever the person talking changes.

• Whenever the person moving or thinking changes.

• When dialogue is getting too long and needs to be broken up at a subject change.

• When you need to emphasize a certain sentence.

All of these are times when you should start a new paragraph.

But we don't just break paragraphs because it's proper. We also break them because it's easier to read.

Think about it.

Which looks better?

This:

Her eyes landed on a note sitting on her father's desk. Should she? No. That would be stupid. But her hands betrayed her as she reached for it, the slightly creased envelope sliding into her delicate grip. She slipped her thumb beneath the torn seal, not focusing on the strangely familiar crest on it, and pulled out the letter. As her eyes landed on the parchment, she gasped. It was not the swirly and abnormally neat writing that brought this reaction, and it wasn't the use of her father's full name at the top. It was the title scrawled before it that made the letter slip through her fingers, shock coursing through her.

Or this:

Her eyes landed on a note sitting on her father's desk.

Should she?

No.

That would be stupid.

But her hands betrayed her as she reached for it, the slightly creased envelope sliding into her delicate grip. She slipped her thumb beneath the torn seal, not focusing on the strangely familiar crest it was made of, and pulled out the letter.

As her eyes landed on the parchment, she gasped. It was not the swirly and abnormally neat writing that brought this reaction, and it wasn't the use of her father's full name at the top.

It was the title scrawled before his name that made the letter slip through her fingers, shock coursing through her.

Keep in mind, I have a sort of unique way of breaking paragraphs, as do most writers, so you might not separate paragraphs in the exact fashion I do.

Now, which one of those was easier to read?

They both said the same thing, but didn't the second one read better? Didn't it look better? Was it even easier to feel the emotion in the scene because of it?

Breaking paragraphs isn't just the proper thing to do, it's the best and most beneficial thing to do for the sake of your readers.

Let's quickly go over the list of when it's grammatically proper to break paragraphs.

Whenever the subject changes.

If you're writing a description and it ends, start a new paragraph.

If you're talking about one thing and switch to another, start a new paragraph.

Anytime you're writing and you move from one subject to another, you need to start a new paragraph.

This is essential.

Whenever the person talking changes.

You have to start a new paragraph every time the person talking changes.

This isn't just proper. It also helps your reader know who's talking.

If you've read my post, "A He Said, She Said Situation," you'll know that this makes it so you don't have to overuse dialogue tags.

Whenever the person moving or thinking changes.

Just as changing paragraphs when a different person talks, you have to change paragrpahs when a different person moves or thinks.

This helps your reader know that it's a different person moving, but also just helps make the breaks between one character doing something and another doing something not seem so abrupt.

Whenever dialogue is getting too long and needs to be broken up at a subject change.

Sometimes our characters are telling a story or just talking a lot.

A lot of times, if we don't break paragraphs during this, we can end up with an entire page making up of a single paragraph of dialogue.

The correct way to do this is to break it up at a semi-subject change in the dialogue.

This is gramatically how you do it:

"[dialogue-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------]

"[continued dialogue-----------------]"

Did you see how I didn't put an "end quote" on the first paragraph?

This is how you gramatically show that it's the same person talking, just a different paragraph.

When you need to emphasize a certain sentence.

This is the least grammatical paragraph break. It's more for added emotion than grammar.

But it's still important.

There are one sentence or sometimes even one word paragraphs called "one-liners".

These are used for emphasis when writing a book.

Now that we've briefly gone over when to break a paragraph, I'm going to move to our final question.

How long should a paragraph be?

There is no length a paragraph has to be when writing a book.

When you write an essay for grade school, they sometimes give you a range of how many sentences a good paragraph would be for their class.

There's no "range of how many sentences" for writing a story.

It's quite subjective.

But you should keep from writing a bunch of 1-2 sentence paragraphs and stay away from a bunch of super long paragraphs.

That's basically all you should keep in mind.

If you haven't noticed from whenever I write a little example or excerpt on a blog post, I have a my own "style" of where I break paragraphs.

Yes, it's usually grammatically correct, but I tend to break them when I don't necessarily need to for emotional factors or just to give a certain feel to my work.

This is part of discovering your own writing voice.

The more you write, the more it'll come out.

You'll find that you like to break paragraphs in your own way.

So how long should your paragraphs be?

There's no set requirement.

As long they're not the entire page, or always 1-2 sentences, it's your choice.

I hope you all learned something today! Remember to break your writing into paragraphs.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, just message me in the contact bar below.

Happy writing!

-Jocelyn