Photo by Finn Mund on Unsplash
When should you make a new paragraph?
If you remember, way back in 2016 I talked about the power of paragraph breaks. SaidSimple presents a more in-depth posting with “When to Make a New Paragraph” (last updated 10/7/2021).
The posting shares the standard times when to make a new paragraph – by topic, change of time, change of place, when speakers change, and for dramatic effect.
For me, with the fiction editing, speaker change is an ongoing issue. I’m constantly commenting to my authors – camera change on who is speaking is a paragraph change. Same is true for most of the paragraph changes required – if a television would have a scene jump occur, then a paragraph change is needed on the paper. I know this imagery won’t work for everyone, but it helps some.
Nearly all of us learned the “by topic” rule when writing essays in high school. The rest of the new-paragraph-start rules have been absorbed indirectly – read the posting to solidify what you have learned : http://www.saidsimple.com/content/100835/
And remember, having everything in one huge page of information is draining on your reader, especially with modern tablets and phones.
White space is your friend. Break things up.