Levels of Writing: Paragraphs

The next unit or writing above sentences is the paragraph. I think that paragraphs are ill-defined because they have no standard definition. Phrases and sentences have concrete rules of construction, but paragraphs are mere groupings of sentences.

However, I believe that paragraphs do have a definition. A paragraph contains a progression of thought or action. In an essay, the first sentence sets forth an idea, the subsequent sentences show the reasoning behind that idea, and the final sentence either concludes the thought or sends the reader into the next thought.

In a story, a character is doing something, whether it be moving or interacting or looking around, and eventually does something else. If a character is looking around a room, you would spend a paragraph saying what the character sees. You start the next paragraph when a second character comes up and starts talking.

This is where paragraphs become subjective though. Suppose in this scene, the character is being thorough in his observations. If he spends three sentences looking at a book shelf, then a dresser, then three other items, putting it in one paragraph would be a major pain for the reader. That's when you need to realize that you are grouping by the wrong units. You need to zoom in further and give a paragraph to each item.

Paragraphs need a certain bite-sized quality to them. This was not always the case, but it is now. I think it is partly because of the influence of journalistic writing, where a paragraph has three sentences, and partly because of the general shift of our culture to get bored of anything within three sentences. When I write, I can feel when a paragraph is getting too long. That's when I look at what I wrote and see if I can change my groupings.

Now, although most of my paragraphs are three sentences long, that is not a requirement. There are times where I will have a paragraph that is twice the length of my others. I would like to split it, but I just can't. Every sentence needs to be there and it is all part of the same thought, so it can't be split logically.

I believe that the bite-sized nature of paragraphs adds one very positive quality to writing, though. It demands writers to be efficient and succinct. Go and read writing from 100 years ago. You have paragraphs that take a full page. They also could be simplified to a quarter of the length. Although paragraphs have a certain maximum weight to them, it is with good reason.

As a writer, you must learn to feel when a paragraph is too long. This will probably come best from reading, especially learning from bad examples. You must learn to see how to group ideas and actions so that they fit in a logical manner within the confines of a paragraph. When your paragraph is too long, but can't be split, you need to be able to write your ideas more efficiently.