WRITING: Paragraph Breaks

Wow. Just learned something that maybe I knew but forgot or forgot that I knew: the importance of placement, of spacing, of a simple paragraph break.

Example:

“He said she just wanted a shoulder or money or something like that and that most likely she was pilled out or drunk. He said he’d take care of it and call her back.

Now he felt bad that he hadn’t.”

versus

“He said she just wanted a shoulder or money or something like that and that most likely she was pilled out or drunk. He said he’d take care of it and call her back. Now he felt bad that he hadn’t.”

This is the ending of today’s 100 Days story “Reaching Out a Hand” and while the paragraph is longer, I think these three sentences represent the point. In the first draft, there is an expectation of some monumental conclusion, drama, explanation based on the importance that a new paragraph instills in a reader. The simplicity here of the conclusion diffuses the impact of the ending. It doesn’t measure up to the build.

In the second case, what (so far) is the final version, It flows into the ending, does not require a pause for a punch line that falls flat. Before you know it, the story is done and that is the impact.