Taking a Space Break
By Judythe Guarnera, High Desert Branch
In addition to writing tight—saying what you mean in as few words as possible—writing which meets the needs of a very busy reading population and also harried publishers, how the words spill out onto the page can also be critical. Remember the adage “It’s all about presentation.”
Those of us who’ve been around for a while tend to be entrenched in the old rules of grammar, despite a changing world. “I’ve often heard writers recite, “You begin a new paragraph only when a new person speaks, a new idea is presented, or there’s a change of scene.”
Following those guidelines can lead to a very lengthy paragraph, which can daunt readers to the point that they quit reading what you’ve written. It took me a while to recognize that I was rejecting books which, when opened, displayed page after page of dense text. I’m attracted to books with considerable white space.
This translates to shorter, less complex paragraphs, and results in my having a clearer understanding of what I’ve read. Sometimes, despite a cover and title that grab my attention, if I open the book and see dense blocks of text, I put it down.
As much as we want to keep our readers glued to our book, life interferes. Someone asks a question, or a noise distracts. The reader looks up from one of those long paragraphs and when they refocus on the page, they’ve lost their place and the search to find it can be annoying to say the least!
~Author Note: I know that my general audience includes those who have
crossed the equator, the mid-point in life—
you know 50+ years old. If I’m an example, my eyesight
challenges me and I’m easily upset when I can’t find my place.
Although I read more and more about the importance of white space, no one seems to address the problem of knowing when to break a paragraph; particularly when there is no scene break, new thought, or new person speaking.
That is, until, my friend and fellow writer, Charlie Perryess, offered a suggestion at a meeting recently.
Charlie explained that when he’s working on his novel, he thinks of it as though it were a play with scenes, and of course cameras. Some small movement occurs in the action on the stage, and the cameraman will change the angle of the camera ever so slightly to catch it.
Voila! Time for a new paragraph. Besides, studies indicate that readers’ eyes are drawn to white spaces, so if you want to catch their attention…
I’ve been working on creating more white space for a while now but felt unsure of my choices for a paragraph break, going mostly on instinct. After Charlie suggested the change in camera angle, I’m more confident about ‘taking a space break.’
After all, we all need a break sometimes and our readers will appreciate it when their eyes are drawn to the new and exciting murder mystery clue you offer, or when you put the book down to answer.
“Taking a Space Break” first ran in Imprints, the newsletter
of the Coastal Dunes Branch.