KASIA RADZKA

Romantic Suspense and Thriller Author

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The Art & Craft of Sentence Writing

The Art & Craft of Sentence Writing

As writers, our job is to form sentences on a page. Put words together that make coherent sense and create a story that enthrals, entertains, inspires and at times, offends.

Sentences are powerful – both spoken and written. They can do as much good as they can do harm. Yet, quite often, we pay them little attention.

I would not call myself an expert on sentence writing. Sure, I can string a few words together, write a blog post or a book, but that by no means proves that I know what I’m doing.

There are millions more that can do it so much better.

While I’ll never be a literary genius, nor is that my aim, I do want my writing to improve, to grow stronger, so that as a result my books get better and attract a wider audience.

I don’t see a point of doing something if I don’t work towards improvement.

That’s all we can aim for as writers. It’s the only thing that we have some control over.

Joe Moran, in his book, “First You Write a Sentence”, is an expert.

The book is nothing that I expected. In fact, my initial thought was, how am I going to get through this?

Then I started with a sentence.

“First You Write a Sentence” is almost poetic. How he managed to entertain this concept for over two hundred pages is beyond my intellect. But each page was an enjoyable treat that taught me more about stringing words together than any other manual for writers I’ve come across – and I read as many as I can get my hands on.

the art of sentence writing

One key idea that I got from this book was layering. Each sentence needs to layer on top of the other. A cause and effect. An action and a reaction. Words together that create poetry in the mind rather than jarring the reader from the story. As writers we should know this but he explains it beautifully that it stays with you long after you’ve stopped reading.

“A sentence is a social animal; it feeds off its fellows to form higher units of sense…sentences do not really count until they come together and turn aphoristic isolation into forward motion.” (p161).

However, be warned, not every sentence can be the magical being in your writing. There is much room for mundane sentences in every story, acting as a breather to what came before and what may come after.

It’s about striking a balance that suits the story you are telling. Sometimes that’s the hardest thing of all.

For any writer, at any level, I highly recommend picking a copy of this beautiful book. Simple, poetic, inspiring…it makes you want to pick up your pen (or laptop) and start writing.

First You Write a Sentence: The Elements of Reading, Writing and Life by Joe Moran

Have you read, ‘First You Write a Sentence’? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Related: 3 Ways to Improve Your Writing