Pacing. It is critical for a story. After all, a book with scene after scene of intense, heart-pounding action quickly loses their impact as the reader becomes desensitized to them. A writer must switch between slower and faster scenes.
It's the same with sentences. Yes, scenes must be balanced. Chapters must be balanced. However, when it comes down to it, the sentence is a writer's greatest tool for pacing. It is smaller, more subtle. Because of its subtlety, it is more difficult to vary sentences. It is easier to see a problem across an entire scene, but not so much with just a paragraph or a sentence.
Length controls pacing. Long sentences are slower and more melodic. They give the reader the opportunity for rest and introspection. Short sentences are faster, brusquer, and give the reader the impression of intensity. This is true for scenes and chapters as well as sentences, but it all starts with the humble sentence.
In a critical action scene, I favor the one sentence or one word paragraph. It is similar to slow motion in a movie. You notice everything, but you focus on one special thing. One thing.
One.
Thing.
Like all writing things, the one word paragraph must not be abused. I would not use it more than two or three times in an entire book. It should be reserved for those particular moments when the character is truly in such a situation. When you think you are about to die, or the world is caving in around you, only one sentence will cross your mind. You will only have time to comprehend one thought. That is the moment.
I was in such a situation when I was almost run over by a car while riding my horse. As my horse bolted and I felt myself leaving the saddle, I remember thinking one thing. "Where is my head going?" If you haven't experienced this, you won't fully understand what I'm talking about, but those of you who have know how it is. That is the kind of event a creative writer would take two pages elaborating with long, slow sentences, because it really does feel like time has halted.
So what am I trying to get at here? Understand the situation. Try to find out not only if the scene is slow or fast, but how the character views it. Not a second passed before my horse bolted and I hit the ground, but it felt like much longer. That will truly tell you whether you should use a short sentence or a long one. The characters decide how a scene is, and therefore, the sentences.
This is a skill only cultivated by practice and producing hundreds upon hundreds of pages of bad writing. Every writer has stuff that will never, and should never, see the light of day. Use it to your advantage. Create literary chaos. You'll learn a lot and gain a lot.
It's the same with sentences. Yes, scenes must be balanced. Chapters must be balanced. However, when it comes down to it, the sentence is a writer's greatest tool for pacing. It is smaller, more subtle. Because of its subtlety, it is more difficult to vary sentences. It is easier to see a problem across an entire scene, but not so much with just a paragraph or a sentence.
Length controls pacing. Long sentences are slower and more melodic. They give the reader the opportunity for rest and introspection. Short sentences are faster, brusquer, and give the reader the impression of intensity. This is true for scenes and chapters as well as sentences, but it all starts with the humble sentence.
In a critical action scene, I favor the one sentence or one word paragraph. It is similar to slow motion in a movie. You notice everything, but you focus on one special thing. One thing.
One.
Thing.
Like all writing things, the one word paragraph must not be abused. I would not use it more than two or three times in an entire book. It should be reserved for those particular moments when the character is truly in such a situation. When you think you are about to die, or the world is caving in around you, only one sentence will cross your mind. You will only have time to comprehend one thought. That is the moment.
I was in such a situation when I was almost run over by a car while riding my horse. As my horse bolted and I felt myself leaving the saddle, I remember thinking one thing. "Where is my head going?" If you haven't experienced this, you won't fully understand what I'm talking about, but those of you who have know how it is. That is the kind of event a creative writer would take two pages elaborating with long, slow sentences, because it really does feel like time has halted.
So what am I trying to get at here? Understand the situation. Try to find out not only if the scene is slow or fast, but how the character views it. Not a second passed before my horse bolted and I hit the ground, but it felt like much longer. That will truly tell you whether you should use a short sentence or a long one. The characters decide how a scene is, and therefore, the sentences.
This is a skill only cultivated by practice and producing hundreds upon hundreds of pages of bad writing. Every writer has stuff that will never, and should never, see the light of day. Use it to your advantage. Create literary chaos. You'll learn a lot and gain a lot.