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One of the most important punctuation marks goes about quietly, doing its job without any notice or fanfare. It’s also the oldest of all punctuation marks, dating back to ancient Greece. It’s used a thousand times in every book. As Noah Lukeman (A Dash of Style: The Art and Mastery of Punctuation, 2006) suggests, “…it alone can make or break a work.” What is it?
The paragraph break!
Once upon a time, reading was hard work. There was no punctuation, no white-space, no lower case letters. There was nothing to indicate when one thought ended and the next one began.
The pilcrow was the first punctuation mark. The word originated from the Greek paragraphos, (para=beside and graphos=to write). This led to the Old French, paragraph. This evolved into pelagraphe, and then to pelegreffe. Middle English transformed it into pylcrafte, and finally to pilcrow.
Around 200 AD, paragraphs were very loosely understood as a change in topic, speaker, or stanza. But there was no consistency in these markings. Initially, some used the letter K, for Kaput, which is Latin for head. By the 12th century, scribes began using C, for Capitulum, Latin for little head or chapter. This C evolved because of inconsistencies in handwriting. By late medieval time, the pilcrow was a very elaborate decoration in bright red ink inserted in between shapeless paragraphs.
Villanova, Rudimenta Grammaticæ. Published 1500 in Valencia (Spain).. Licensed under Public Domain
As printing technology improved, and whitespace was deemed valuable in the reading process, pilcrows were dropped down to indicate a new line. Eventually the pilcrows were abandoned, and the paragraph indent was born. It wasn’t until the mid-1800s that a standard method was devised to help organize paragraphs. Alexander Bain introduced the modern paragraph in 1866, defining it as a single unit of thought, and stressing the importance of an explicit topic sentence.
Just as a period divides sentences, a paragraph divides groups of sentences. But as the period is often hailed as the backbone of punctuation, the paragraph break is largely ignored.
The primary purpose of a paragraph is to define a theme, but there are no standard rules that dictate how that process plays out. Paragraphs tend to be organic, subject to the writer’s idiosyncrasies.
Some of us have quite a few idiosyncrasies. <See what I did there?
In a perfect world, a paragraph has a beginning, the main point stated in an explicit topic sentence. It has a middle, in which the writer elaborates on this one main point. And it has an ending, which wraps the entire package in a neat bow.
But the world isn’t perfect. Sometimes the writer places the topic sentence as the last line of a paragraph, playing “gotcha” like a punchline of a joke. Sometimes the topic sentence is a mere whisper, implied in the action. And then there’s the prankster, who places the topic sentence in the middle of a paragraph. Blink and you miss it.
morguefile.com
Further complicating the process, there is no designated length that defines a paragraph. I have some students who insist that a paragraph be five sentences, even when the concept is so complex, it demands more explanation. They call this being succinct, but when I ask them for clarification, it takes them several minutes to explain one sentence. I remind them, succinct does not mean short. Succinct means precise. Meanwhile, some students go to the opposite extreme. They turn in five-page essays that are three – and sometimes less -- very long paragraphs. Their ideas trample over each other, undistinguished from each another, in one stampeding brain dump. Both of these writer types reflect a common issue: they don’t understand, and therefore are not connected to, their own ideas. As Lukeman states, messy breaks reveal messy thinking.
The long and short of it (and all puns intended), paragraphs affect pacing, showing the reader how to approach the text. This is especially true in fiction. Short paragraphs tend to be action-oriented, focusing on moving the plot forward. Long paragraphs slow the action down, and tend to be reflective, either setting the stage for the next chase or revealing character. Too many short paragraphs strung together can wear the reader out. Too many long paragraphs put him to sleep.
So what do I do?
I begin with the basics. I tell my students, first, do your thinking. While everyone is entitled to an opinion, not every opinion is equally weighted. In fact, some are distorted, misinformed, and downright wrong. Next, organize your thinking. Only then can you write it down. I provide a fixed pattern that the beginning writer can easily manage: 1. Write an explicit topic sentence; 2. Elaborate, in which you explain what you mean by this point, and why is it important; 3. Validate, in which you use evidence to prove that your observations are valid; 4. Illustrate, in which you demonstrate with examples how your observations can be applied in real world time. I compare beginning writers to beginning musicians. Musicians need to learn the notes and play the scales -- over and over and over -- in order to master them. Once they master these notes, only then can they play around, making their own music, and writing their own symphony.
But first, they have to learn the basics.
What do you think?
Bobbi Miller
0 Comments on Happy Punctuation Day! as of 9/21/2015 7:52:00 AM
You can see from the above illustration by Evi Gstottner that she loves fairytales and folktales. She graduated in 1992 from Byam Shaw School of Art in London and in 2009 she completed her MA in Children’s Book Illustration at the Anglia Ruskin University (Cambridge School of Art). Evi was featured on Illustrator Saturday. Here is the link: http://www.kathytemean.wordpress.com/2013/03/23/illustrator-saturday-evi-gstottner/
The goal of query letter is to elicit an invitation from an agent (or editor) to send in sample chapters or the whole manuscript.
A query letter is a ONE PAGE letter with three concise paragraphs: the hook, the mini-synopsis, and your writer’s biography.
Don’t stray, if you want to be taken seriously as a professional writer. Keep it simple. Stick to three paragraphs.
Paragraph One is called The Hook: A hook is a concise, one-sentence tagline for your book. It’s meant to hook your reader’s interest, and reel them in.
The first paragraph is your chance (perhaps your only chance) to grab the agent, since many agents will be immediately biased—for good or for bad—within a sentence or two.
If a writer queries via a referral, he will always begin with, “I am writing to you because your client, John Smith, recommended that I do so.” Thus an agent, whether he likes it or not, must take the first sentence seriously, if for no other reason than he risks offending an existing client check or editor. Please do not say this unless it is true. Agents will check and you don’t want to be embarrassed or have someone think you are not trustworthy.
If you haven’t been referred, you could still grab the agents attention with something personal., such as: ”I am writing to you because you represented TITLE by AUTHOR, and I feel my book is similar.”
What will this show?
1. That this is not a random query letter.
2. That you’re approaching him/her for a specific reason
3. That you’ve put a great deal of time and energy into researching the market
4. That you know who the agent represents, and the types of books they have sold.
5. It will put a positive association into the agents mind, as it will make him or her think of a book they sold.
6. It offers a comparison, allowing the agent to immediately grasp the type of book you’re writing and thus help they agent decide if they want to represent another like it.
7. It shows that you know the market, that you have an objective grasp of what your own book is about and where it fits within that market.
8. It indicates that you’ve put care into your writing.
Referencing one of his/her titles will help accomplish this. But don’t bluff. Noah says, ”If you don’t truly do the research, it will show. I’ve received many letters which referenced a book I sold, but when I read the rest of the query, I realized that their book was not at all similar; it was just a gimmick to get me to pay attention. When an agent realizes this, he will just be annoyed. So when referencing a book, make sure it is truly appropriate. But if you’ve done the research and query a truly appropriate agent and reference a truly appropriate title, then you are already off to a shining head start.”
Agent Query suggests using the when formula: “When such and such event happens, your main character—a descriptive adjective, age, professional occupation—must confront further conflict and triumph in his or her own special way. Sure, it’s a formula, but it’s a formula that works.”
Example: Bridges of Madison County
When Robert Kincaid drives through the heat and dust of an Iowa summer and turns into Francesca Johnson’s farm lane looking for directions, the world-class photographer and the Iowa farm wife are joined in an experience that will haunt them forever.
Note: Many writers use the “when” formula, so use it as a starting point. Write your basic hook and then spice it up with the “When. Noah says to keep your opening paragraph to one sentence, so if you add a when to the personal approach, make sure it is short.
Example: Non-”formulatic” fiction hook:
The Da Vinci Code A murder in the silent after-hour halls of the Louvre museum reveals a sinister plot to uncover a secret that has been protected by a clandestine society since the days of Christ.
Paragraph Two—Mini-synopsis:This is where boil down your entire novel into one paragraph and expand your hook. Put in the hard work of practicing and revising, until you get that paragraph to sing the same tune as your whole book. Read the back flap of books you like to get a feel for how to create a juicy paragraph.
Paragraph Three—Writer’s bio: Keep it short and related to writing. If your book revolves around a hospital and you are a nurse, then say that. If you have a published book, been published in some magazines, etc,, or won a writing contest or award, then let the agent know. if you’ve never been published, never won any awards, hold no writing degrees, and have no credentials to write your book, then don’t say it. This just gives you more space for Paragraph Two.
The Closing: Thank the agent for their time and consideration. Let the agent know you have the full manuscript available upon request. Note: Never query an agent unless you have written, revised, and finished your full manuscript.
Sridhar Chandrasekaran said, on 3/24/2014 9:53:00 PM
Interesting and informative post. Each point you mentioned is noteworthy. thanks for sharing, I enjoyed reading your post.
Kathy Temean said, on 3/24/2014 9:56:00 PM
Sridhar,
Thanks for leaving a comment. I hope you are able to use it to write a query letter that gets many responses.
Kathy
Mieke Zamora-Mackay said, on 3/25/2014 7:00:00 AM
Thank you, Kathy for the posts this week. I am sure many writers are finding it very useful. We’re linking to them via the South Jersey Writers’ Group twitter, FB and G+. Thanks for the great information.
debi o'neille, writing against the wind said, on 3/25/2014 11:05:00 AM
I’ve bookmarked this article. Thanks for the great help!
Kathy Temean said, on 3/25/2014 12:48:00 PM
Mieke,
Great! I love to hear that the information is useful. And thanks for sharing it.
Kathy
Kathy Temean said, on 3/25/2014 12:49:00 PM
Debi,
My pleasure! Hope you stop back.
Kathy
Carol Federlin Baldwin said, on 3/25/2014 1:41:00 PM
Great blog. Off to my class wiki it goes!
joycemoyerhostetter said, on 3/26/2014 4:57:00 AM
Love how specific and useful this is, Kathy! Thanks so much.
We’ve been talking a lot about how to format your manuscript, so I bought The First Five Pages: A Writers Guide To Staying Out of the Rejection Pile by Noah Lukeman to see what other things might be good to share and already he has reminded me of things I forgot to mention to you that you should do before submitting.
He says, “There are no rules to assure great writing, but there are ways to avoid bad writing.” He also points out that agents and editors don’t read manuscripts to enjoy them; they read solely with the goal of getting through the pile, solely with an eye to dismiss a manuscript.
So obviously, we want to do everything to look good and make our first contact a professional one. We want to make sure our manuscripts do not signal carelessness, sloppiness, ignorance, or defiance of the industry’s standards; that the writer doesn’t care enough to do the minimum amount of research to make a manuscript industry presentable. An editor or agent will assume that the careless presentation continues in the manuscript.
Avoid rejection in the first few minutes by making sure your manuscript is presented properly:
Paper: 8 1/2 x 11 inch standard 20 pound bond white computer paper.
Text: 12 pt. Times New Roman font. Printed only on one side of the page.
Clean: Do not send out a manuscript that you have sent out to other agents or editors if it appears the slightest bit worn.
Eliminate: Make sure you do not send out a manuscripts filled with boldface, underlined, capitalized, or italicized words everywhere, unless you purposely want to drive the agent or editor crazy.
Printing: Do not try to squeeze the last drops of ink from your printer and send out dim/hard to see and please if anyone still has a dot-matrix printer, throw it out and buy an ink-jet or laser printer.
Spacing: Double spaced lines with 1 inch margins. New paragraphs should be indented and also dialog should always be indented. Make sure you indent enough spaces (8-10 spaces on my computer). Nothing is worse than trying to read a manuscript when the indentations are so slight it is easy to miss them. Leave a half of a page between chapters. Line breaks between paragraphs scream amateur.
Do Not Include: Artwork or illustrations throughout the pages. It screams amateur. You might feel that adding some clip art helps the editor or agent get a feel for what you book is really about, but it is not professional. If you text needs a picture to explain what is going on, then add an illustrator’s note. Try to keep them to a minimum.
If you are an illustrator and have written and illustrated your book and have a book dummy; make sure you mention this in your query and give a website link where they can visit to see your art. You might want develop a page on your website exclusively to give to editors/agents, so they could view it online. Never send in original art.
Rights: When you present a manuscript to an agent or editor you are offering all rights. Do not put “Copyright” on your manuscript. It makes you look paranoid and besides it is not necessary.
Avoid Overuse of: Question marks, exclamation points, and parentheses. The abundant use of foreign words or phrases. Noah also say to avoid the inappropriate use of fancy words; crude of vulgar language or images; graphic blood and sex, but most of all cliché. Doing this in the first five pages can lead to instant rejection.
I think this covers all of the instant cosmetic rejections. Hope this helps.
With many agents requesting queries and partials pasted into an email, formatting goes out the window, especially when sending from a Mac to PC computer. Any suggestions?
Tracey said, on 3/10/2014 6:49:00 AM
Barbara, I think when you get a request to paste copy into an email, you don’t have to worry about the formatting. The requesting agent/editor expects that it may be a hot mess. They just don’t want the worry of getting a virus from an attachment.
Wendy Greenley said, on 3/10/2014 7:09:00 AM
I’ve read all the picture books but need to get back on the MG and YA fiction wagon! I feel like I’ve been reading a lot, but haven’t read these. A first world problem is too many good books to read.
Barbara Gold said, on 3/10/2014 7:16:00 AM
Thanks, Tracey. From what I’ve been reading when sending sample writing in the body of an email, choose Plain Text rather than Rich Text format. Less issues on the receiving end.
teresarobeson said, on 3/10/2014 8:36:00 AM
I’ve read this Noah Lukeman book; it has solid advice, much like all his other books.
Doris said, on 3/10/2014 10:35:00 AM
Excellent information. Thank you!
Joanne Roberts (@BookishAmbition) said, on 3/11/2014 5:47:00 AM
Coincidentally, I read a few chapters of this book at the library while waiting for my daughter yesterday. Thanks for filling in some of the info I didn’t get to read.
The sketch before the painting. The color version can be seen on my blog via my website LIVE SKETCHBOOK or at Image Kind where you can also buy prints of the color version. http://MikeCressy.imagekind.com/
0 Comments on Bee-Zerk Butterfly as of 9/7/2007 4:45:00 PM
When I was growing up, I read Paul de Kruif’s book Microbe Hunters so many times that I still remember some pages by heart. Two chapters in that book are devoted to Pasteur. The second is called “Pasteur and the Mad Dog.” A book about great word hunters would similarly enthrall the young and the old. Think of the chapters: “Jacob Grimm and an Enchanted Castle of Roots” (Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm did not only collect folk tales: they, especially Jacob, were the founders of comparative philology), “Wedgwood beyond Porcelain” (etymologist Hensleigh Wedgwood was related to the porcelain makers but had nothing to do with cups and plates), “Walter Skeat at Home and on the Skating Rink,” a spoof on the analogy of Jean-Jacque Brousson’s memoirs Anatole France en pantoufles (the author of our best etymological dictionary happened to be an excellent skater, and outside the university, folks at Cambridge knew him mainly in that capacity), “Frank Takes His Chance” (about Frank Chance, one of the most sagacious English etymologists of the second half of the 19th century), “James A.H. Murray: The Man Who Was Monday-to-Monday”—what a field for a fertile mind, what a joy for an inquisitive reader! In any book on word hunters, some space should clearly be allotted to the Swiss linguist Wilhelm Oehl. Thus, “Wilhelm Oehl and the Butterfly.” (more…)
Remember I said I wanted to be a butterfly on a flower at your daughter's wedding? I've found the perfect dress! Incredible isn't it? Dress by Luly Yang Couture in Seattle with the perfect slingbacks, photograph taken by velogirl. Ok, so it might be a bit flashy for the wedding but I'll be in camoflague won't I? :)
WOW, what an amazing dress! Are you going to buy it????
Laureline said, on 6/14/2007 1:09:00 PM
Maggie!! I just now saw this post! (I was completely offline for days and days before the wedding.) What a fabulous dress and I can just see it on you! Maybe I did....was that YOU?? ;D. Xoxo, L
We’ve been talking a lot about how to format your manuscript, so I bought The First Five Pages: A Writers Guide To Staying Out of the Rejection Pile by Noah Lukeman to see what other things might be good to share and already he has reminded me of things I forgot to mention to you that you should do before submitting. 
Interesting and informative post. Each point you mentioned is noteworthy. thanks for sharing, I enjoyed reading your post.
Sridhar,
Thanks for leaving a comment. I hope you are able to use it to write a query letter that gets many responses.
Kathy
Thank you, Kathy for the posts this week. I am sure many writers are finding it very useful. We’re linking to them via the South Jersey Writers’ Group twitter, FB and G+. Thanks for the great information.
I’ve bookmarked this article. Thanks for the great help!
Mieke,
Great! I love to hear that the information is useful. And thanks for sharing it.
Kathy
Debi,
My pleasure! Hope you stop back.
Kathy
Great blog. Off to my class wiki it goes!
Love how specific and useful this is, Kathy! Thanks so much.