Arlene Writing Contest

AWC Tidbit-Sentence Variation

Hello, contestants! August is almost over. Which also means the first month of AWC goes with it! How is everyone doing on their entries? I hope you've all picked a prompt! I'm looking forward to what you write.

Only 4 days left of August's AWC!

If anyone has any questions at all, please do feel free to let me know in the comments. If you have any suggestions (i.e prizes, rules, prompts, etc.) feel free to let me know those as well! I love hearing from you all, to know who's all with me and to better the AWC.

Now, you may be wondering, "What is an AWC Tidbit?" I'm glad you asked (you did ask, right?). An AWC Tidbit is a piece of writing/editing advice I will offer a few times a month for the contest! This way, not only are you entering a contest, but you're getting valuable information and advice as well.

For this one, I will offer a tip for creating diverse sentences! When you write, be sure to make your paragraphs full of different flavors! This being your sentences are varied in length, punctuation, and the way they start. What I mean by that is try not to start every sentence in a story the same way.

Example: He was walking to the store one day. He wasn't sure if he'd have enough to pay for everything. He figured if he didn't, walking out with a few extra items wouldn't hurt anyone. He was the one who was suffering, after all.

Pretty bland and robotic, yeah? Let's mix it up a little and give it some spice!

Example: While walking to the store one afternoon, he pondered whether he'd have enough to cover the expenses of everything he needed. If he didn't, he figured sneaking out a few extra items with him wouldn't hurt anyone. He was the one suffering, after all.

There! That changes it up, and I'd say makes it much more readable and enjoyable (and, please don't follow the thinking pattern of this man! It is obviously not okay to sneak out a few extra items!).

And voila! I give to you the first ever AWC Tidbit. Any questions? Let me know in the comments! Also, I'd love to hear any questions you'd want answered in the next AWC Tidbit. It can be anything; grammatical, punctuation,story developing! You ask it, and I'll answer it! Until next time, fellow writers!

Happy writing!