Short jabby sentences — boof, boof, boof — are great for excitement and pace. As are short uppercutty paragraphs — zip, zap, pow — and short punchy chapters. But you can't keep this frantic activity up forever. Remember Muhammad Ali's 'rope a dope' technique. You are going to exhaust yourself and more importantly you'll give your readers brain damage. You’ll have them longing for long, cool, languorous passages in which to catch their breath. They’ll be like a boxer wrestling with an opponent to stop the barrage of blows. But then again if all your sentences, paragraphs and chapters are as long and complex and involved and relaxing your readers are going to drift off. In writing you need to be able to mix it up, control the pace. To be equally capable of boxing and wrestling and know when to switch up the pace and slow it down. Yes, a writer needs to be a Mixed Martial Artist. I do love a flawed analogy.
Comments