Flow in Your Story

Welcome to Handy Hints. Today we will be looking at some of the most common ways students at the IWSC lose points from the flow section. Flow is all about readability and structure, so it’s a very important aspect of your writing. 

Our judges pointed out issues with paragraph structure, paragraphs in relation to dialogue and knowing when a new paragraph should begin. These errors can affect your flow in that specific paragraph but also the flow of the whole story.

Structure of a Paragraph

1. Topic Sentence – This is the sentence that defines what your paragraph is about. This is usually the first sentence/s.
2. Explanatory sentences – This is the meat of your paragraph. It explains and gives further detail and information on the topic.
3. Concluding sentence – This will summarise your points and bring the paragraph to a close.
4. Transitional sentence – This sentence will help to lead you into the next paragraph, ensuring that each paragraph flows into the next.

This structure will help you to know how much to include and when to end a paragraph. It can also help you to add more detail to the topic, as hitting ‘explanatory sentences’ will help you do this. These are not the only things to consider. When you have finished your chapter, reread it and consider the following:

1. Unity – Your paragraph should be unified. Anything that deviates from this single topic or takes away from this topic should be removed from the paragraph.
2. Order – Look at the organisation of your paragraph. Overall, the order should be logical, even if you choose not to sort it by importance or chronology. Think about the reader easily following your ideas.
3. Coherence – Is your paragraph understandable as a whole? Ensure that sentences flow to help the paragraph work overall. Look at the wording and your transition into the next paragraph. Consider your consistency of verb tense and point of view also.
4. Completeness – Will your reader get the point this paragraph is making? Do all sentences support the main idea? Is the main idea clear? If you don’t have enough to prove your point or show what you are saying, the paragraph is incomplete.

Example:

Red = Topic

Blue = Explanitory

Green = Conclusive

Purple = Transitional

Her words swam in his head for days. ‘Earn Me.’ It would never be enough. All the gold in the Malfoys’ Gringotts vault would never be enough. Every single star in the sky was inconsequential, insignificant, when it was compared to her. He felt hopeless. Earning Lily Evans was an impossible task. Severus Snape, however, was determined to try.

Paragraphs and Dialogue

When writing dialogue there are a number of things that can impact your flow. These are:

1. over-use and under-use of dialogue tags
2. over-use of “exciting” tags
3. paragraphs in dialogue

When considering dialogue it’s always best to make the that the hero. The words are coming directly from your character, so tags, punctuation and paragraphs should be able making this speech stand out from the narrative surrounding it.

DIALOGUE TAGS

If you don’t use these your reader can end up confused and not be able to follow who is talking. If you use too many then the dialogue tags, which should be almost invisible to the reader, will become more noticable. When using dialogue tags consider the following rules:

1. Use tags only when you have to tell the reader who is speaking
2. Use ‘said’ ‘asked’ ‘replied’ as much as possible, and use the dialogue and punctuation to show how something has said
3. Only use one tag per piece of dialogue

PARAGRAPHS

Paragraphs of dialogue have also caused a few students to lose points in the flow section. The above paragraph rules can apply to dialogue paragraphs, but there are other things to consider as well.

1. Always start a new paragraph for a new speaker
2. Dialogue for the same character should be in one paragraph.
3. Only split dialogue (of one character) into multiple paragraphs when
   1. There is more than one sentence of narrative between the same characters dialogue
   2. The dialogue continues for more than one paragraph
4. There should be no closing quotation marks on dialogue that is spread over more than one paragraph

REPETITIVENESS

When a writer constantly repeats themselves, a story will become monotonous, no matter how exciting a plot is. As a reader, we feel like we have ‘read this before’ and it will often stick out like a sore thumb. There are many ways that repeat ourselves:

1. Common words within a sentence/paragraph
2. Uncommon words within a one-shot or chapter
3. Ideas, phrases, and sentence repetition

Ideas, Phrases, and Sentences

Repetition can be a tool. It draws a reader’s attention to an idea, thought, word or sentence. This can help with underlining something that’s significant to your plot. If something isn’t important, it will only slow the story down. Try rereading your story and paying attention to any repetition that you use, does this add or take away from the plot? Does it slow the story down? Consider very carefully when using repetition as a tool.

Repeating Common Words

Common words that appear frequently in a story isn’t usually an issue. Many of these words are almost invisible because of how often they are used. It doesn’t always draw attention, however, it’s very possible to overuse them.

When a common word is repeated within a sentence or even frequently in a paragraph, it starts to stand out. This can cause a reader to feel a sense of déjà vu when reading. Sometimes I can find myself rereading portions of the story to make sure I haven’t missed something and understand what’s going on.

To rectify this, you can look for synonyms that say the same thing, but in a fresh way. You should always consider the tone of the word you will use instead. Choosing an overly sophisticated word that doesn’t fit the overall sound of the story can also impact the flow. You can also reword the sentence or paragraph to remove the repetition completely, but you should do what is best for the sentence, paragraph, and story as a whole. 

Repeating Uncommon Words

Words that are not commonplace stand out far more, and so they should be used sparingly. The reader is far more likely to notice this repetition. Even using a rare word a few times in a story can really stand out, and you should consider if this adds to the story or takes away from the flow of your story. 

Other Common Flow Deductions

1. A balance between Action, Dialogue, and Description
2. Transitions
3. Misuse of words
4. Over-complicated sentences