Rhythm in your writing is one mark of a talented author. Rhythm in writing is defined as the way the words and sounds come together, usually to create a beat. (For example, long sentences might sound smoother but more rich and complex, and short sentences are snappier and easier to understand, and when these two types of sentences are combined, they can create an incredible rhythm to your writing.)
But equally as important is varying the types of sentences you use. The subject-verb-object sentence structure is the most basic and most commonly used sentence structure, but that can become grating to the reader if used too many times without variation.
So, what’s an author to do? Vary their sentences! Here are 8 ways to write sentences in your novel.
1. With a subject:
The subject-verb-object sentence structure is the most commonly used, basic sentence structure. Take a look at this example from Opposable by Kirk Hammond:
“I take another drag off my cigarette and pour what’s left of my beer down my throat.”
2. With a phrase:
A phrase is a group of words without a verb. Here’s an example from Matching Stars by Ronak Bhavsar:
“At the end of the day, what really matters between two people is their compassion for each other, respect for each other and simple logic that binds them together.”
3. With a clause:
A clause is a group of words with a verb, as Tanya S.M. Kennedy uses in her fantasy novel The Battle for Trimera:
“Stone dust swirled up around them as Lana cradled Pria to her chest.”
4. With an adverb:
An adverb modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. From Time Twisted by Kelly McIntire:
“Finally, the tunnel widened and the darkness gave way to the light.”
5. With an adjective:
An adjective describes a noun, as is the case here with Louisa’s Journey by Carol Otter:
“Rebuffed that a woman would question his bookkeeping skills, the teller donned the spectacles that he bought last week.”
6. With a gerund:
A gerund is the -ing form of the verb, like looking, making, or eating. From The Sacred Foot Murders by Steve Feins:
“Hacking into Fortune’s computer system, he found a trail of drugs, guns, and female trafficking.”
7. With an infinitive:
An infinitive is the base form of the verb: to look, to make, to eat. In this example from The World is Full of Assholes by JT Hackshaw:
“To avoid my brother, I walked down the back stairway, ran to the front door.”
8. With a correlative conjunction:
A correlative conjunction is two parts of a sentence that work together, like either . . . or, if . . . then, and whether . . . or. In many cases, the second “then” can be left off in an if-then conjunction. From An Adoring Spirit by Sharon Hughson:
“If Yeshua had come and healed Laz, [then] I would have never known this joy.”
Book editor Kristen Hamilton is the owner and sole employee of Kristen Corrects, Inc., where she provides manuscript editing services for traditionally and self-publishing authors. Several authors whose books she has edited have won awards and have topped Amazon’s best sellers lists.
Reading is Kristen’s passion, so when the workday is over, she can usually be found curled up with a good book alongside her four cats. She loves watching cat videos and scary movies, eating pizza, teaching herself French, and traveling, and she is likely planning her next vacation. She lives outside of Boise, ID.