One of the writer’s biggest challenges is creating prose that both carries the story and takes on a life of its own. We’ve read many otherwise interesting novels that were slowed by plodding, lifeless sentences, including a number of beloved bestsellers.
In a post on the BookBaby blog, Michael Gallant suggests ways you can insert more rhythm into your writing. “Though the words we write are frozen on the page — physical or otherwise — meter, flow, and cadence make a huge difference between text that bores and text that grooves,” Gallant writes.
Gallant suggests writing without background music, and instead focus on the rhythm of your sentences. He also urges writers to consciously look for places to add variety in your sentence structure. “If I write a long sentence full of flowing adjectives and complex constructions, I’ll often inject a short, abrupt element just to provide contrast,” he says. “Similarly, if I create a sentence or paragraph that falls into rhythmic patterns of three (syllables, blunt words, or nearly anything else), I’ll follow it with something more aligned with a duple meter.”
He also suggests that writers listen to jazz or hip-hop when they’re not writing, to pick up on interesting rhythms and cadences. Inspiring speeches and Shakespeare soliloquies can also help you develop an ear for meter and flow. Finally, he also suggests that you read your work aloud – find the clunky parts and rewrite to render them more melodious.
