The Ranting Truth

Paragraphs

OK, I'm going to start by saying, that I mean no harm, but I'm not the nicest person when I rant. With that being said, let me begin with the first subject I'm going to touch on. Paragraphs.

So annoying. You know what I'm talking about. When you find a book on wattpad that has such an amazing description and cool cover, that you get excited and want to read it. Then alas, you hit that 'Begin Reading' button and your eyes start screaming, telling you to look away because it hurts too much. All you see are big blabs of writing, with no paragraphs. Or, you see the potential, but the paragraphs are still too long and you want to continue on, but you just...can't.

Paragraphs are our friends people, they help our eyes out. They keep us from going permanently cross eyed from reading things that are smashed together. They keep us from going crazy every time we take a break from reading something and then aren't able to find the place we left off. They keep us from attacking the person who wrote the story, when we can't figure out who's talking, because everything is just there, together, laughing at us because we get lost, while drinking tea.

When I first started writing, I would just write full pages without paragraphs, because that's what my teachers taught me. With them being smart and all, I didn't want to go against them. But soon, I found it annoying, because I couldn't keep up with where I left off. That's when I talked to one of my favorite teachers and she taught me about paragraphs. She told me that it was better to have paragraphs because it was easier one the eyes.

After that, I went to her with my stories and she would grade them in her free time (She was a relative, so she gave me extra help. Never the correct answers, but explanations that helped me.) and show me exactly what I did wrong. It helped me with my paragraph portions and the way I structured them. I went from full pages with no paragraphs, to ten sentences a paragraph, then seven and five is where I stopped. Sometimes I'll have more than five, but it depends.

Another thing to touch on with paragraphs, are the fact that you should always start a new one, when someone speaks. I'll give you an example of everything I've just talked about now.

Example #1: The Wrong Way

Elizabeth jumped in surprise when her boyfriend walked into his bedroom, as she was snooping through his things. She whipped around, her eyes wide, as he walked toward her. She gulped, scared of what he might do. He wasn't the nicest person when angry, in fact he was unbearable when he was angry. "Jace, please don't be mad. I was just, I was curious. You never tell me anything about yourself, I just-" She was cut off, when he grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her toward the door. "I don't care what you were curious about and I don't care if I don't tell you anything! That doesn't give you the right to go through my things! They're mine!" He yelled, sending her a glare. She puffed out her bottom lip and narrowed her eyes, he wasn't going to get away with yelling at her like that again. "And," she said, taking a step toward him. "I don't care what I do to make you angry, you have no right yelling at me!" She screamed in return, turning on her heel and walking out of the room. She all but ran down the steps and swung open his front door, not even bothering to saw goodbye to his mom. She wasn't in the mood, it wasn't her fault he was late again, doing God knows what without her around. He was always like that, getting angry at her for the dumbest of things, as if she were a child who needed scolded. She wasn't a child and just because she was sheltered with rich parents while growing up, didn't give him the right to treat her like one. How would he like it, if she treated him like a hood rat, because he was out robbing old ladies at the age of thirteen, because he had no other way of getting money. He would be mad and he'd have the right to be. 

Do you see what I'm talking about? Are your eyes screaming and kicking and running buck wild because they hurt so much? Mine too. I mean, if you don't see a problem in writing like this, that's fine and dandy, but sometimes, it'll scare readers off. So be careful and maybe listen when sometime takes a few seconds from their minute to tell you that you need paragraphs or shorter paragraphs to make it easier on them.

Example #2: The Right Way

Elizabeth jumped in surprise when her boyfriend walked into his bedroom, as she was snooping through his things. She whipped around, her eyes wide, as he walked toward her. She gulped, scared of what he might do. He wasn't the nicest person when angry, in fact he was unbearable when he was angry. He could snap at any given moment, if mad enough.

"Jace, please don't be mad. I was just, I was curious. You never tell me anything about yourself, I just-" She was cut off, when he grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her toward the door. 

"I don't care what you were curious about and I don't care if I don't tell you anything! That doesn't give you the right to go through my things! They're mine!" He yelled, sending her a glare. She puffed out her bottom lip and narrowed her eyes, he wasn't going to get away with yelling at her like that again. 

"And," she said, taking a step toward him. "I don't care what I do to make you angry, you have no right yelling at me!" She screamed in return, turning on her heel and walking out of the room. 

She all but ran down the steps and swung open his front door, not even bothering to saw goodbye to his mom. She wasn't in the mood, it wasn't her fault he was late again, doing God knows what without her around. He was always like that, getting angry at her for the dumbest of things, as if she were a child who needed scolded.

She wasn't a child and just because she was sheltered with rich parents while growing up, didn't give him the right to treat her like one. How would he like it, if she treated him like a hood rat, because he was out robbing old ladies at the age of thirteen, because he had no other way of getting money. He would be mad and he'd have the right to be. 

Now, do you see what I'm trying to do here? Is that easier on your eyes? My eyes are thanking me right now, because I switched to something they could better see and wasn't as painful. No one is perfect and I'll be the first to admit that I'm not, but stories are only as good as their author, so don't get lazy and leave it as is. Edit and help your readers by giving them something that will go easy on the eyes.

I'm not busting your chops or anything and I'm not saying that just because I use paragraphs and some of you don't, means I'm a better writer. I'm just saying that it's annoying when my eyes feel like they're going to bleed. I usually stop reading when they feel like that and move on to the next book I find interesting.

So, when writing, keep in mind, that paragraphs are our friends.

What're your opinions? Do you guys feel the same way?