Not sure your story is up to par? Need writer friends? Need critiques? Do it all in one place! Get paired with a member each week and pick up some new writing tips and skills :D
Join Bookworms United!
Read how to apply inside!
Hope you've all been well! I know some of you might be starting finals soon, so I wanted to wish all BUBC students luck! Study hard, okay?
Also, please let me know if you need a break. I know exams and final projects can be very stressful >.<
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
As always, feel free to leave any suggestions for the club and for the Question of the Week here! Or send me a DM if you're more comfortable with that.
After reading and commenting on 3 chapters of your partner's work . . .
On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate the reading flow? Were you completely immersed while reading? Or did things keep popping up and pulling you out of the story?
If you've asked for critiques before, I'm sure you've heard this term (reading flow) before. So . . .
What is reading flow? "Flow is a word used to describe writing that has logical structure and varied language within and between sentences and paragraphs."
"Reading in flow" can also be understood as that moment when a reader is completely immersed in the text, without interruptions, and can visualize scenes with great ease.
Great reading flow is often described as "seamless" and "poetic".
Bad reading flow can be described as "awkward", "choppy", and "wordy".
There is no tried and true way to get perfect reading flow (since it might be subjective at times), but we can avoid some things to make the prose flow better.
Here are some tips:
1. Spruce up grammar Grammar errors are the usual culprit when a reader is pulled out of a story. It's good to always double-check your work before posting.
You could also use an app like Grammarly which catches most mistakes. Also, make sure to fix mistakes as soon as someone points them out.
A few of the more common (and harder to catch) mistakes are comma splices, incorrect use of semi-colon, over-use of commas (I'm guilty of this one XD), and incorrect dialogue punctuation.
So, be sure to read up on those if you haven't heard of them before, so you can learn how to avoid them.
If you'd like me to discuss any of these terms in upcoming weeks, let me know!
2. Use varied sentence structure.
I could write a whole discussion about sentence structure alone, but we'll keep it simple this week.
Try not to begin sentences the same way in the same paragraph. Also, try to vary the sentence length to keep things interesting. For example, try not to do this:
Lillian crouched by the edge of the murky pond. She gazed upon her hazy reflection before ripples distorted it. She saw a hand shoot out of the water and grab her arm. She was dragged under the water before she could even scream.
Notice how the repetition of "She" kind of feels awkward and unnatural, and how all sentences are more or less the same length. This creates a repetitive feeling, which takes tension and suspense out of the scene.
It might be better to write something like:
Lillian crouched by the edge of the pond. Her eyes traveled over her hazy reflection. A calm sigh escaped her. She finally felt like she could relax. That is until her reflection was broken up by a myriad of ripples. A hand shot out of the water. It gripped her arm tight. And just like that . . . In barely a second . . . she was dragged under before she could even scream.
The key is to try and find a middle ground between "choppy" and "wordy". You don't want to stray too far in either of these directions.
A good place to start practicing good flow is to at least make sure you don't start sentences the same way too often. Go back and edit if you have to. At first, you might need to think it over for a while and force the writing out, but with practice and time, good writing flow will come naturally!
____________________________________
Remember that after reading and commenting on the 3 chapters of your fellow bookworm, you have to let me know you're finished, in the comment section of THIS chapter.
