In a guest post on Janice Hardy’s blog, Dario Ciriello discusses how punctuation can help you create a more flowing narrative, and how meter and rhyme factor into the most memorable prose.
“Here’s the thing: comma use in English is sometimes as much art as science,” Ciriello writes. Ciriello examines a piece of writing he edited for a friend, and his decision to omit an Oxford comma from a list. In that specific sentence, adding the comma, while grammatically correct, would sap the power out of the rhythm of the sentence by introducing a short pause at the end. In other words, the comma was textbook correct but artistically wrong.
Cirello suggests reading your work aloud to find your rhythms and places to improve your writing flow. He also recommends understanding poetic meter as a tool for strengthening your writing.
