“Oh my gosh hi! Marilynn greeted her best friend. They’d been friends for almost five years, and they had spent so much time together that they sometimes finished each other’s sentences! Wow, nice haircut,” Joanna said back. Did you get it yesterday? I saw you the day before, and you didn’t have it then.
. . .
Ok, let me break in here for a moment.
Was that fun to read? I bet it wasn’t.
There wasn’t any paragraph spacing there, causing it to be hard to understand! It gets worse when one long paragraph gets to be a page long . . .
I’ve tried to read stuff like this, and believe me, it can get really annoying! When the different speakers aren’t separated by paragraph breaks, it’s difficult to understand who’s saying what and why . . .
I’m not an editor or proofreader (I mean, this blog post had to be edited . . . 😂 ) But I know at least that much.
The proper way to write the beginning paragraph (using all the same words) would be as follows:
“Oh my gosh, hi!” Marilynn greeted her best friend. They’d been friends for almost five years, and they had spent so much time together that sometimes they finished each other’s sentences!
“Wow, nice haircut!” Joanna said back. “Did you get it yesterday? I saw you the day before, and you didn’t have it then.”
That’s a bit better, right? We’re not even going into whether this scene should even be in the finished story or not, but just the glimpse of that change will hopefully give you an idea of the write formatting (pun intended).
Some Pointers
What exactly is good paragraphing, you ask?
- When you have a super-long paragraph, try to break it up! Add paragraph breaks in places that make
Sense, not random spots in the sentence or thought. (Like what I just did… or rather, not like what I just did. 😂 )
- When you have dialogue, end the paragraph when one character is done speaking! If an action goes along with what they’re saying, put that in the SAME paragraph as the words they speak.
- Indent at each paragraph break—not by using the Tab key but by adjusting the indent on the top bar (called the Ruler) before you even begin typing. You can find the Ruler in Word (what I use) by clicking ‘View’ on the Ribbon and selecting ‘Ruler.’
Where This Fits
Ok, so why is it so important to have correct formatting, other than reading flow? When should we use it? Does anyone other than the reader care?
- If you want to publish your book, having it written with good formatting is one of the best ways to catch an agent’s/publisher’s eye. This will give you a better chance of being published through well-known companies and thus have a bigger audience faster than if you self-publish.
- Having correct formatting should be a habit. Every sentence and paragraph counts!
- If you hire a professional proofreader and/or editor, they will love you for having the biggest mistakes already taken care of. This includes grammar and spelling as well! My aunt is a proofreader and has told me of many times when she is sent a document that is just so bad that she feels like she’s just re-writing the whole story instead of checking on the smaller stuff.
So please, please, please use the correct formatting when writing—first time through. It will save a lot of headaches, not only for yourself but for everyone else who ends up reading your book!
God bless,
Janet! ✏️
(Also, I’m super sorry for publishing this a day late—a bunch of random things came up and I got super busy. 😂 At least now I have something to write about for Thursday’s post! 😉 )