Daily Writing Prompt #23

Varying sentence length

You may be familiar with this passage by Gary Provost:

“This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The sound of it drones. It’s like a stuck record. The ear demands some variety.

Now listen. I vary the sentence length, and I create music. Music. The writing sings. It has a pleasant rhythm, a lilt, a harmony. I use short sentences. And I use sentences of medium length. And sometimes when I am certain the reader is rested, I will engage him with a sentence of considerable length, a sentence that burns with energy and builds with all the impetus of a crescendo, the roll of the drums, the crash of the cymbals—sounds that say listen to this, it is important.

So write with a combination of short, medium, and long sentences. Create a sound that pleases the reader’s ear. Don’t just write words. Write music.”

Today let’s take that idea of varying sentence lengths and put our own spin on it.

Prompt: Write a monologue, poem, or reflection of varying sentence lengths where you/a character is giving a confession.

Reply to this email by end of day to share your writing. Then see what everyone else wrote (no names!) in tomorrow’s newsletter.

P.S. If you have ideas for writing prompts or resources you like to use for prompts, please share! Trying to replenish the well 🙂 

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Writing inspo of the day

The first draft is just you telling yourself the story.

Terry Pratchett