TuesdayTips176

Getting The Write Rhythm

Welcome to this week's #TuesdayTip. This time I want to talk about introducing Rhythm to our writing.
One of my pleasures in recent years is hearing my books read aloud by my wonderful audio narrator, Malk Williams. A key part of the listening experience is hearing him add inflection and rhythm to my words.

As writers, one of the things we try hard to do is invoke emotion in our readers. Choosing the correct words and sentence structure, whether in prose or dialogue, can elevate a simple sentence such that it no longer simply states what is happening or what our characters are saying, but also makes the readers (or listeners ) feel what the characters are going through. Just this week, an extremely popular author, that I have read for a few years, actually had me crying for about thirty or so pages. That's pretty rare for me, and I am determined next time our paths cross to take them to one side and tell them. I am being deliberately circumspect about their identity, because I don't want to give away spoilers - fans of their series who haven't read the latest book may figure out what has happened in this book to evoke such an extreme reaction.

The rhythm of prose is key to evoking emotion. It is also a way to dictate the pace at which a passage is read, which again, feeds back into the reader's emotional experience. It can also act as cue to narrators when they read the book aloud.
There are several tricks that we as authors can use.
Looking first at dialogue.
You can use punctuation and simple formatting to help add flavour or rhythm to your dialogue. For example an ellipsis (...) indicates that a person has trailed off mid-sentence. An em break (an extra-long hyphen that I can't show you due to formatting issues with this blog) can show interrupted speech or speech that is abruptly cut off.

You can also emphasise individual words with italics.
For example:
Take the sentence "What do you want to do?" asked Warren. Out of context there are no cues to tell you how Warren speaks this sentence.
Now let's add some italics.

"What do you want to do?" asked Warren. The italics tell the reader to stress the word 'you'.
Alternatively.
"What do you want to do?" asked Warren. This time the italics stress a different word.
Or
"What do you want to do?"
"What do you want to do?"
"What do you want to do?"

Try reading aloud these five sentences and see how the addition of italics can change the meaning or intent of a simple sentence. A good narrator will also follow these cues.

The above tricks can be used in prose as well as dialogue.

Line breaks can introduce a tiny additional pause, which can again add emphasis to a sentence or increase dramatic tension..
For example:

He opened the report and felt a wave of disappointment. Their key suspect was already dead.

As opposed to:
He opened the report and felt a wave of disappointment.
Their key suspect was already dead.

That line break extends the natural pause at the end of the sentence, which adds an additional element of drama.

Things to avoid:
If you are writing a report, and want to highlight sections or attract a reader's attention, there are a plethora of useful options in Word and other word processors. Even email packages allow rich text these days, so you can format a message for clarity. It can be tempting to use those tools in your novels.
However, be mindful of your audience. Visually-impaired readers may struggle to differentiate between different formats, or find the text difficult to read. Blind readers using screen-reading software to read aloud messages may also struggle, since the software either omits or struggles with inconsistent and complex formatting. For this reason, many organisations, including HM Government and the Civil Service, have a strict set of guidelines about what formatting is acceptable, to ensure inclusivity.
Consider also the limitations of the format that your reader is using.
Using bold to emphasise text is usually acceptable, although I rarely see it in fiction, other than perhaps for chapter titles. You can also use different fonts - eg if your characters are having a text conversation. But most books (including eBooks on most dedicated eReaders) are just black text on a white background, and coloured ink increase printing costs, so avoid colour coding your text!

What other tricks have you seen that can add rhythm to a novel? Are there things that you think don't work?
As always, feel free to comment here or on social media.
Until next time,
Paul.
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If you are a writer with a tip to share, or fancy writing a fictional interview between you and one of your characters, please feel free to email me.