Short paragraphs? Why?

[orangecurious]

a couple of mine got sent back for "long paragraphs", so i try and cut them down now.. annoying as i can go on for a long time, but frequently have to break up scenes so it doesn't get rejected again.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I'm thinking of writing some stories of my own and I'm finding a lot of people that write in tiny little two or three line paragraphs. This is rarely allowing detail and description. Why do people do this? Can anyone explain? Sex is so wonderfully enriching and beautifully adventurous and packed with heaps of emotion and action/reaction. I can see that tiny paragraphs add pace and speed, but all the way through everything that happens in an unfolding story really fragments any focus. Why is there a liked passion for this snappy and thin linguistic style of expression?

I'm not sure exactly what counts as "two or three line paragraphs", because the line breaks depend on width of the browser window. But I do find that when every paragraph is short, it ends up feeling choppy, and having every paragraph long is equally bad.

The point of things like commas, semicolons, full stops and paragraph breaks isn't just to break the words up into chunks, it's also to guide the reader on how those chunks fit together. Two adjacent sentences in the same paragraph are more closely related than two adjacent sentences with a paragraph break in between.

If every paragraph is about the same length, then either the author is focussing more on some kind of "I should have a paragraph break every X words" than on that structure, or the cadence of that story is very regular.

Particularly with human interaction, a lot of authors write scenes that feel kind of like watching a very mellow game of tennis: Person A says a sentence or two, Person B replies in a couple of sentences, back and forth until the scene is done, and the same dynamic applies to their sex scenes. IME, real conversations and real sex scenes (at least, the interesting ones) are rarely like that, or not for long. Usually they'll have a kind of ebb and flow to them: one person will take the lead for a while, while the other mostly listens or perhaps tries to take over, and then it switches. If every paragraph is short, the author probably isn't doing this.

 

[NotWise]

I don't see how shorter paragraphs prevent you from exploring the heights or depths of emotion, or the complexities of a sexual setting. That's especially true if your explorations include dialogue, which normally implies short paragraphs; soliloquies are rare these days. Even a deeply thoughtful exchange usually alternates between voices in conversation, with each voice in its own paragraph.

And, as others have pointed out, the editor may reject your story if she finds the paragraphs too long.

 

[Voboy]

Short paragraphs have their place, when conveying snappy events and/or drawing attention to whatever's in that paragraph; the brevity sets it apart, and that's often what the writer wants.

OP, I too would find endless short paragraphs off-putting. My solution would be to back out to some other story and keep the writer in mind as someone NOT to click on again. I doubt I'd let it bother me beyond that. There are plenty of other fish in the sea.

 

[Britva415]

This is rarely allowing detail and description

It doesn't sound to me like your complaint is actually about paragraph length, it sounds to me like you don't like the absence of detail and description.

Unless the detail and description are in fact there. In which case, the reason for not info-dumping in large paragraphs might have to do with showing-not-telling, which is generally considered to be a positive storytelling tool. As the reader, you do ultimately get the info, but you get it as the narrative reveals the details, not in an info-dump of large paragraphs in which nothing actually happens.

But I don't know what stories you're talking about, so, I'm just guessing. Either way, short paragraphs don't impede detail and description.

 

[Britva415]

IMO short sentences/paragraphs are good for conveying action scenes, longer ones are good for drawn-out processions of events.

I note that in both of your examples, you emphasize that in both of the types of sentences you're describing, the story is being told, stuff is happening. Long paragraphs of mere detail and description are usually bereft of events and narrative.

 

[Britva415]

a couple of mine got sent back for "long paragraphs"

Do you have any estimate for us about how long they were? I'm looking for a word-count or sentence-count, not a number-of-lines.

 

[Britva415]

I wouldn't consider manipulating my paragraph structure for the sake of some reader's anticipated screen format or size. For one thing, it can never be that everyone's pleased or that anything can work just-right for everyone, and for another thing, that would be bastardizing the narrative for an extremely flimsy justification.

* /takes a pause to allow for the obligatory "pandering to the readers" interjection we always get around here. This is a spot where it's actually called-for.

People who read on handheld screens should be quite used to the way uncontrived paragraphs flow on their screen. E-books, news articles, whatever other stories they consume besides Literotica pieces - the text in these writings weren't composed with phone screen layout in mind, they were composed according to what the writing required. A paragraph should start and end such that some particular idea is encapsulated within it.

I don't know whether these authors OP is referring to are doing a good job of encapsulating distinct ideas in the 2-3 sentence paragraphs the OP described, but if the narrative is such that one new thing is happening or one new idea is being introduced within those 2-3 lines, then, they're "doing it right". Of course I am not saying that 2-3 lines is the only right way to do it right. Some paragraphs require only one single sentence. Others can support several more.

When a new idea is started, or a new person's action is narrated, or a new person's utterance happens, that's when you break the paragraph. Not before, and not after.

Of course rules are made to be broken and, if one can even pull it off at all, there can be good reasons for altering the preceding rule of thumb regarding paragraph composition. But in my opinion, some guy's potential screen size isn't one of them. How could it possibly be? All the screen sizes are different, and, contriving paragraph length for some reason unrelated to the story does not serve the story.

I do believe that too-long paragraphs have a number of flaws. One of them is that they're hard to read and to follow, but that's true on any screen layout. It's not the screen's fault. Another flaw is that paragraphs like that almost certainly are failing to segment off different ideas from each other. And lastly, long paragraphs in which nothing happens except detail being described are paragraphs which don't advance the narrative.

And that is not an ideal storytelling technique. There should almost never, without a real good reason, be a paragraph in which nothing actually happens. Of course, some talented author can break that rule for some particular effect, but honestly, an author who can sustain attention, interest and compositional coherence within paragraphs which are both excessively long and not narratively active is a virtuoso. Most authors, even professionals, aren't at that level and aren't likely to succeed at employing static and/or long-ass paragraphs as an effective storytelling technique.

 

[RejectReality]

Because long paragraphs are particularly difficult on the eyes when viewed on a backlit screen, ( nevermind the steadily growing number of people reading on small screens ) and the demographics of the website visitors suggests that many of the readers probably aren't working with 20/20 vision either.

If you feel it sacrifices your art to write shorter paragraphs, then don't. ( Subject to limits Laurel may put on you, because she's sensitive to reader requests that paragraphs not be too long. )

You just need to be aware that a reader who ends up with a headache or has to go back and hunt for their place in a wall of text multiple times per page may very well back-click, and certainly isn't going to be overly enthused to give your next offering a try. Then there are some like you who probably won't read a story that's all shorter paragraphs. There's your target audience. If they're enough for you, then sally forth with all eloquence.

 

[KeithD]

I wouldn't consider manipulating my paragraph structure for the sake of some reader's anticipated screen format or size.

Sure, you could have such veto power if you owned the Website. You don't.

 

[ronde]

This subject has been debated on this Literotica forum since at least 2001. Both writers and readers at that time used desktops or laptops. The current "smart phone" wasn't really widespread in the US until Apple unveiled the IPhone, and even then, the price of the phone and limitations on bandwidth for most plans made smart phone usage pretty costly for most people.

The consensus of the writers on the forum back then was paragraphs should be composed of 10 or fewer lines of text. That wasn't because of the size of the screen. It was because even on a (then) full-size monitor, it was easy for a reader to lose their place if the paragraph was very much longer. It's the difference between reading a book and reading from a monitor. With a book, you can follow your progress with a fingertip. I suppose you could do the same on a monitor or you could follow along by using the mouse to move the cursor, but most readers don't. If they get lost, they're forced to go back to the start of the paragraph to find out where they were reading. More often than not, they'll do that once or twice and then give up and go on to a story that's easier to read, and yes, that applies to "strokers" too.

That said, there are some other "rules" I follow regarding paragraphs.

1. A single paragraph should have information relative to one or maybe two incidents. Those incidents might be the action of a character or characters or a thought by one of the characters. Mixing more than that into one paragraph can get confusing. It's better to describe the start of an incident in five lines and start another paragraph. It's kind of like saying the character did this (first paragraph) and then the character did this (second paragraph). Both may be about the same incident, but are separated by time even if that time is only a second or two.

2. Dialogue almost has to be in one or two line paragraphs because that's how real people speak to each other. There are exceptions, but those exceptions are when a character is answering a question with a detailed answer. If you listen to someone giving one of those detailed answers in real life, it's rare for that person to go on and on unless that person is making a lecture out of the answer. Usually they'll speak a few lines and then pause. That's how dialogue should be written and breaking up that dialogue into separate paragraphs can give the reader the impression that a short pause did happen.

3. It's easy to make the narration in a story run into many words. It's easy because we get caught up in the words the narrator is saying and can't stop writing. I tend to write with the idea that at some point, the reader has to take a breath and process what they've already read. Starting a new paragraph is an easy way to give the reader that opportunity.

 

[XerXesXu]

White space, in economic terms, is wasted space. In my school days, far less prosperous times, text book pages looked like black and white stripes in a thin white frame. This meant the books were affordable and 10 text books would fit in your satchel. As paragraphing has evolved to create more, rather than less white space, books have become much easier to read, but require considerable physical development to carry, unless you have the digital version on your smartphone.

 

[MrDevereaux]

So writing is enslaved to the immediacy of technology? It's not connected to human creativity or the passions and complexities of sexual emotion?

Good writing should stand on its own regardless of the technology involved, one technique to do this is to go back to basics: use pen and paper. Connect with the words, the movement of the pen. It’s slow in comparison, but it can help.

 

[Bramblethorn]

2. Dialogue almost has to be in one or two line paragraphs because that's how real people speak to each other. There are exceptions, but those exceptions are when a character is answering a question with a detailed answer.

Dialogue is rarely just dialogue, though - or shouldn't be. There's usually stuff happening around the dialogue, both physically and inside people's heads. e.g.:

"Are you okay with this?" I said.

She smiled. "I'm fine."

"Can I kiss you?" I wasn't even sure that I wanted to kiss her at that moment, but I felt like I had to push at this unfamiliar situation, find out what the rules were.

"Yes, you may."

I touched my lips against hers, and she nuzzled back; I opened my mouth and tasted her, still strawberry-sweet from the crêpes she'd had for dessert. She settled into the kiss, and I felt the tip of her tongue against my lips and I didn't know whether I was into it -

Ding. "Twenty-second floor," said the recorded voice.

"This is us." My heart was thumping, and I couldn't tell whether it was the I-want kind of excitement or the oh-god-this-is-a-gigantic-fuckup kind. "Last on the right."

 

[LisaMayTurner]

Good writing should stand on its own regardless of the technology involved, one technique to do this is to go back to basics: use pen and paper. Connect with the words, the movement of the pen. It’s slow in comparison, but it can help.

I bet you use a feather really well.

 

[MrDevereaux]

I bet you use a feather really well.

Never had cause to use a feather … not as a quill at any rate

 

[orangecurious]

Do you have any estimate for us about how long they were? I'm looking for a word-count or sentence-count, not a number-of-lines.

no, but i try and base it on a "full screen" viewed on a phone... that seemed to be where i could cut a paragraph. since then i've not had any rejected for that.

it is a more recent thing, reading my very old stories here and there are some long ones.

i just get used to it and try and instigate a break, sometimes it sounds forced, but, hey ho.

 

[Britva415]

Sure, you could have such veto power if you owned the Website. You don't.

I don't get what you're saying. I'm just talking about writing.

If the site doesn't want to publish something of mine because paragraphs are too long, you're perfectly right, I own that shit and can veto by taking my ball and going home. They can't tell me what to do!

 

[TheRedChamber]

The consensus of the writers on the forum back then was paragraphs should be composed of 10 or fewer lines of text.

It's worth focusing on this point, I think. I would say I'm comfortable writing long paragraphs and certainly don't consciously limit them or try to make them particularly 'punchy'. That said I just went through my previous three stories looking at how they display on a laptop screen (1920x1080 resolution, Firefox full screen, Default Lit Font Size). In about 40k words I only had one paragraph that ran for 9 lines. That paragraph was 209 words long. It was a bit of an anomaly because it described the (long) matchpoint play at Wimbledon and probably didn't need to be broken up. Most of my 'long' descriptive or action paragraphs didn't get over 7 lines.

I guess a 10-line paragraph would have 230 words. A quick Google suggests that paragraphs should be at most around 200 words and even in academic writing at most 300. I'm going to keep my eyes open for what other writer are doing. It doesn't seem like this advice is out of the realm of standard fiction practice though.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

It's worth focusing on this point, I think. I would say I'm comfortable writing long paragraphs and certainly don't consciously limit them or try to make them particularly 'punchy'. That said I just went through my previous three stories looking at how they display on a laptop screen (1920x1080 resolution, Firefox full screen, Default Lit Font Size). In about 40k words I only had one paragraph that ran for 9 lines. That paragraph was 209 words long. It was a bit of an anomaly because it described the (long) matchpoint play at Wimbledon and probably didn't need to be broken up. Most of my 'long' descriptive or action paragraphs didn't get over 7 lines.

This paragraph is 13 lines on my phone. 10 lines gets you to 'matchpoint'.

It's as long a paragraph (the whole 13 lines) as I'd be happy to read regularly.

 

[TheRedChamber]

This paragraph is 13 lines on my phone. 10 lines gets you to 'matchpoint'.

It's as long a paragraph (the whole 13 lines) as I'd be happy to read regularly.

That's the problem with talking about lines rather than words as things look different on different devices.

My paragraph above is a full 4 lines on my laptop and is 114 words long. A similar paragraph displayed on my computer in a Lit Story page takes up five and a bit lines. Again, personally, I'm rarely over that limit for the vast majority of my paragraphs but it does happen. I don't have a problem reading longer paragraphs on a phone, but its certainly worth remembering that people do.

 

[Voboy]

That's the problem with talking about lines rather than words as things look different on different devices.

Not just different devices; I'm consuming it on a laptop too, but if I shrink or expand the window in which my web browser sits, the number of lines will change. Lit stories, once published, do the same thing.

There are FAR too many variables in how our content here is consumed to be able to "plan" a paragraph of a specific number of lines.

 

[Koboldwithaquill]

I have a simple philosophy when it comes to my writing: Keep it fast, punchy, and visceral.

I don't know how often I actually succeed at this, but I go for a "less is more" approach unless specific moments call for more detail or description. I do love my graphic, juicy details in a sex scene, but If you can condense two or three lines into just one line while conveying the same message or emotion to the reader, then I think it's almost always better to do that.

That being said, short and long paragraphs both have their place. I think it's important to find a good "rhythm" — too many lengthy paragraphs in a row will eventually feel exhausting to read, while too many one or two-sentence paragraphs can feel choppy or distracting.

 

[Syzoth]

I'm thinking of writing some stories of my own and I'm finding a lot of people that write in tiny little two or three line paragraphs. This is rarely allowing detail and description. Why do people do this? Can anyone explain? Sex is so wonderfully enriching and beautifully adventurous and packed with heaps of emotion and action/reaction. I can see that tiny paragraphs add pace and speed, but all the way through everything that happens in an unfolding story really fragments any focus. Why is there a liked passion for this snappy and thin linguistic style of expression?

Every author has a different writing style. Every author also has a different type of story that they want to tell.

I see a lot of stories like you mentioned, with tiny little 2 or 3 line paragraphs, that are generally shorter in length.

My paragraphs, in contrast, tend to be a LOT longer because my stories are often 40-50 pages, if not more.

I don't think either is right or wrong. As a writer, I like to be detailed because I want the readers to feel what I'm feeling. At the same time, I also know firsthand that there are a lot of readers who prefer something "short and sweet".

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Damn the page/screen size. A paragraph should be as long or short as it needs to be. When editing, if I think a paragraph is wandering into a separate idea, I break it up. If I think two paragraphs really are one continuing idea, I push them together. However, I never lengthen nor shorten a paragraph simply as a dramatic device. Not even as a pace device. I let my sentence structure and word choices handle the pace.

I know that some authors like to purposely make shorter paragraphs as a dramatic effect. Valid style choice, sure, but I find it annoying. It's like the story doesn't have enough drama on its own and the author feels the need to ham it up. Especially bad is the moderately lengthed paragraph followed by a short sentence in a paragraph of its own that sums up the previous paragraph. Nothing so blatantly says "aren't I a stylish writer? (wink-wink)" more than that. The writing itself should not overshadow the actual plot/story.

Then there are the folks who add a carriage return after every sentence. This is rampant in online clickbait articles. Nothing says rank amateur hack more than this.