Using lots of words.

[Kelliezgirl]

Someone once said, ”I wrote you a long letter, because I didn’t have time to write a short one.”

I like to write shortish, trying to compress the situation, chemistry and feelings into small packages. I’m also a slow reader, so I try to service the ones like me.

But I also think that as one writes more and develops, one starts to write longer texts, describe more etc. Writers tend to write longer books as their career advances.

Blaise Pascal

https://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/04/28/shorter-letter/

 

[XerXesXu]

You can check your own 'verbosity' here.

Analyze My Writimg

 

[ronde]

For me, it depends on the POV.

I am tolerant of, and generally use, longer sentences and more words in a third-person narrative than in first-person.

While the 3P narrator might be omniscient, the 1P narrator should be able to describe things more concisely. They ARE the story.

I use long sentences sometimes, but I try to keep dialogue from running into a long sentence. The reason is dialogue is supposed to be a person speaking, and we humans have this nasty habit of needing to breathe sometimes. A comma can let a speaker take a breath, but I think it's more representative of most people to end a sentence, let them take a breath, and then start speaking again. The only people I know who speak in run-on sentences are college professors or people who are really upset, so I might use longer sentences for their dialogue.

 

[anthrodisiac]

I use long sentences sometimes, but I try to keep dialogue from running into a long sentence. The reason is dialogue is supposed to be a person speaking, and we humans have this nasty habit of needing to breathe sometimes. A comma can let a speaker take a breath, but I think it's more representative of most people to end a sentence, let them take a breath, and then start speaking again. The only people I know who speak in run-on sentences are college professors or people who are really upset, so I might use longer sentences for their dialogue.

Breathing is so pesky.

 

[AG31]

Thanks to all. I resonated with a lot of the replies, I'm pretty sure I've entertained myself in the past by breaking up long sentences into, what I thought, were more pleasing short ones (@MrPixel, @ElectricBlue), and varying sentence length (@crookedletter) is a given (and my cited authors do do that, of course), try to show, not tell (@SmilingLez), admiration for crisp, short sentences (@caleb35, @StillStunned, @Five_Inch_Heels). And, of course I agree with those of you who say, it depends.

Which leaves me with the still unanswered question: Why do I like these authors and these sentences?

These words keep bubbling to the surface: Rolling, undulating, enveloping. Maybe enveloping is the most fruitful clue. Maybe these authors envelop me in their world.

Anyway, Thanks again!