Im having a really hard time understanding when to start a new paragraph and how long one should be in fiction I was originally writing in a Light novel style but honestly don't know if that really matter's or if I should even be doing that Anyways. here is 2 examples can someone explain witch one is correct? Or are they both wrong? Or how would you format the paragraphs ------ Emptying the pail’s contents into the alley—as nearly everyone did—she gave a sigh and took a moment to stare out into the world. Like most buildings in the city of BLANK, the orphanage didn’t have a yard or even a small plot of grass; instead, the building—like most—was surrounded by nothing more than brick-laden roads and stone buildings, leaving very little room for children to play or for any other recreational activities to occur. But even with all that in mind, emptying the mop bucket was BLANK favorite chore of the day, due to the complete tranquility of morning that appeared for just a short amount of time each day before the city’s rush hour. As she went to set the now empty pail underneath the kitchen’s cabinet, her mind began to race. For what reason did Mother want to see her? When Mother called her name, it was usually to berate or punish her for something she might or might not have done. ————————— OR Emptying the pail’s contents into the alley—as nearly everyone did—she gave a sigh and took a moment to stare out into the world. Like most buildings in the city of BLANK, the orphanage didn’t have a yard or even a small plot of grass; instead, the building—like most—was surrounded by nothing more than brick-laden roads and stone buildings, leaving very little room for children to play or for any other recreational activities to occur. But even with all that in mind, emptying the mop bucket was BLANK favorite chore of the day, due to the complete tranquility of morning that appeared for just a short amount of time each day before the city’s rush hour. As she went to set the now empty pail underneath the kitchen’s cabinet, her mind began to race. For what reason did Mother want to see her? When Mother called her name, it was usually to berate or punish her for something she might or might not have done.
The second one. The first one is a basically paragraph a sentence. There's no sense of information belonging together, which makes it read like a list. A story should be composed of beats, which are not paragraphs but can be. Sometimes a beat consists of more than one paragraph. A beat is about connection. Think of it this way: Paragraphs give a sense of pacing, speeding up, slowing down, connecting a common thread among the narrative. Each time you pull a full stop, the reader's mind stops for a little bit, too. Put sentences that follow a train of thoughts together. Place a paragraph when you want the reader to connect to a similar but different topic.
Ok, I think I might understand? But like this here ---- Not far to the left of the immaculate mirror was a plain-looking door that led to a tiny, almost closet-like room. This small room acted as a private place for potential customers to try on clothes. Without asking, A pushed B up onto the raised platform in front of the mirror. A, felt quite embarrassed, even while fully clothed, as his eyes scanned over every inch of her petite frame. Her discomfort tripled as he pulled out a measuring tape and with great skill and speed measured her trembling body. ---- The first two sentence is a paragraph because it's talking about the room, but the third is talking about an action of the people, so it shouldn't be a part of the first paragraph? But should it be apart of the third paragraph? Or not? I don't know why this is confusing me so much >_<
As you keep going you'll start to develop a natural feel for scene beats, which are the natural places to break for a new paragraph. It's like, whenever one action is complete and the next one is beginning. Those points where you would pause for a moment if you were telling the story verbally, or where the action might hold for a moment in a movie before the next action begins. Read a book or a short story or 2 and pay attention to how it's done there. You can pick up a lot this way, and the majority of learning is done unintentionally like this. In the future, you really should fix the formatting on your paragraphs. There's almost always an issue when you paste something in that was written in a word processor, there will be weird line breaks that make it hard to see paragraphs the way you intended. If you want anybody to take your work seriously you need to take a moment to just fix those before posting. It's easy for such short segments, compared to what we have to do when we post a full chapter or 2 from a story, trust me!
This list is a good rule of thumb: With that said, you should definitely take Xoic’s advice to read. It’s one thing to see these bulletpoints in a list; it’s quite another to see them put into practice.
I think this might be my issue, as I read a lot of light novels which use single sentence paragraphs a lot. But in an American/novel setting it usually isn't that way...
Not far to the left of the immaculate mirror was a plain-lookingdoor that led to a tiny, almost closet-like room. This small room acted as a private place for potential customers to try on clothes. Without asking, A pushed B up onto the raised platform infront of the mirror. A, felt quite embarrassed, even while fully clothed, as his eyesscanned over every inch of her petite frame. Her discomfort tripled as he pulled out a measuring tape and with great skill and speed measured her trembling body. Like this? Is this what you meant?
Somewhere, a long way back in my journey through life (it might even have been when I took Advanced Expository Writing in college), I was taught that single-sentence paragraphs should be used only when absolutely necessary, and then only for special emphasis. Thinking about books I read, that seems to be the way most published authors work. Of course, quoted dialogue is a special case. Each time a different speaker is quoted, it gets a new paragraph -- even if a statement consists of only one word.
What about with thoughts? Like, She sat down on the couch and then contemplated what had happened at the party. Why was everyone being so weird... Why didn't they care.... Now should there be a new paragraph when the thoughts come? Or not? Having a really hard time finding any info on 'thoughts'
I would say no to a new paragraph. I can't cite any rule, but I would regard it the same as a spoken sentence: She entered the room and walked up to the first person she recognized. "What time does the real action start?" she asked.
