A friend posted a quote by the late Gary Provost on her Facebook page yesterday. In two short paragraphs, this fine teacher of writing makes a terrific point about sentence structure. I googled his name and found that this quote has been used on myriad websites. Then, I checked out the books this man wrote about the craft of writing. Why I am not familiar with him is a mystery to me. I plan to order the book shown above. I found the updated version on Amazon for a mere $6.49. The reviews made me think I needed to have this book.
His famed quote deals with sentence structure. Your story is of prime importance, but how you write it ranks high on the list of Things To Remember When Writing. (That topic is mine, not his.) Mr. Provost's quote says it perfectly. When I googled the quote, I found that it had been used on many blogs and websites. Most likely, writers who present workshops at conferences have used it, too. With thanks to Mr. Provost, who died in 1995, here is the quote:
One of the things my online writing critique group notes in their critiques is sentence length. Most often, they tell the writer that they are using overly long sentences. I seldom see anyone say that the sentences are too short, but when short sentence follows short sentence one after the other, as in the first paragraph in the quote, it becomes boring or monotonous. Mr. Provost states that thought quite clearly.
I believe strongly in the premise that sentences of varying lengths are the most pleasing to the reader's ear. This is something to add to your list of what to look for when you edit and revise your first drafts.
I imagine the varying sentence length rule would apply to poetry as well. You think?
ReplyDeleteNot necessarily. Poetry often has short sentences, or no sentences at all. Just phrases.
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