A US Copy Editor's Perspective: Paragraph Lengths

In General

As already discussed in an earlier post, vary your paragraph lengths. Variety is one of the six basic human needs. So mix it up. Long sentences are more appropriate for languid musings. Same for paragraphs. Whereas short, snappy dialogue makes for a faster-moving scene.

For dialogue, keep each speaker's words in their own paragraph. So if Bob and Sue are having an argument, keep Bob's slings segregated in one before you switch to Sue's retorts.

This works with silent dialogue, such as a nod or a thumbs-up, but also for action responses. You have Bob calling Sue some not-so-nice names. Then the paragraph switches to Sue, throwing whatever at Bob. She hasn't said a word, but her retaliation deserves its own paragraph. Again, switching back to Bob, we hit the Enter key so we have him cursing, dodging projectiles, within his own paragraph. Repeat as necessary.

When typing narrative text, keep one subject matter from another by paragraph breaks. There's a natural rhythm to these structures. And proper transitions help with the shift from one to the next. If you don't have the innate gift, go pull down a book by one of your favorite authors and study it.

Physical Books

I've read from several sources that readers like to see white space, supposedly lots of it, on a page of a printed book. That white space makes them read on, keeping those pages turning. Yet, on the flip side, I picked up two random books, one by Nora Roberts, one by her alias, J. D. Robb, and both didn't have much white space. Maybe these two were anomalies. Just saying...

Regardless this white space occurs when you paragraph. If you have a bunch of one-line dialogue sequences going on, then there will be lots of white space.

Think about when reading at night. As I get sleepy, I thumb ahead to see how many more pages I need to read before coming to the next chapter break, a logical stopping point (ignoring any hooks at the end). Ten pages of dense wording takes longer to read than ten pages with abundant white space. I take that into consideration. However, if I am too tired and there are too many pages to go, like fifteen, I stop right where I am in the book.

E-Books

But when we get into e-books, the parameters change. You have no idea what device your reader will be viewing your novel on. It could be as big as a computer screen or as little as a cell phone screen.

Keeping all that in mind, you should avoid long paragraphs.

"If your vocation isn’t a vacation, then quit, leap, change careers."

Denise Barker, Author, Blogger, Copy Editor
Books that Build Character(s)

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http://denisebarkerauthor.blogspot.com/

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http://bit.ly/AMAZONDeniseBarkerEbooks

http://bit.ly/BNDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/SMASHWORDSDeniseBarkerEBooks

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What lies behind you and what lies in front of you pales in comparison to what lies inside of you. Ralph Waldo Emerson
When you give someone a book, you don’t give him just paper, ink, and glue.  You give him the possibility of a whole new life. Christopher Morley
The best inheritance you can leave your kids is an example of how to live a full and meaningful life. Dan Zadra

Indie-Publishing Tips re Amazon and Barnes & Noble e-Book Uploads

Having just uploaded my fourth nonfiction to Amazon, this process is fresher in my mind.  Here's some random tips to share with any newbie Indie-publishing authors reading my blog.

For the home page of the Kindle Boards, see:  http://www.kindleboards.com/index.php (cut and paste in your browser).

Or click on it within my Favorite Links on the right-hand sidebar. 

1.  When you upload your cover JPEG to Amazon, it is blurred.  Do not stress out.  The published thumbnail found on the Amazon website a day or so later is much better.  Except for my last one.  It could be because this is the lightest background cover I've ever used (a fleshy peach-colored tone) or it could be because my new printer/scanner has a default setting that is not dense enough with pictures to capture a really good, pixel-rich JPEG.  I've uploaded my new improved cover with a title utilizing bigger text that I hope fixes the readability factor once live on Amazon in a couple days.  Will let you know.

2.  My first three e-books were author-oriented so I posted them on Kindle Boards Book Bazaar where all the other authors toot their horns about their new e-releases.  Here's that process in a nutshell:  once you have your initial post up, you must wait for the Administrator's okay before you respond to anything (if I remember the rules correctly that I read half a year ago).  Then you are only allowed to hit Reply once a week (if initial post was on Thursday, then every Thursday thereafter) which moves your Post up to position #1 on page #1.  Unless you get a message from an interested viewer, then you get to Reply to each of those.  BUT ONLY AFTER THE MODERATOR GIVES YOU THE THUMBS-UP.

3.  You need to create your "signature" within the Kindle Boards.  My signature is one thumbnail cover of each of my e-books (which when you click it, leads you right into Amazon's page for that particular book), followed by my name, and then one quote that I dearly love.  To do your initial Signature, go to Profile tab, then locate the left-hand box entitled "Modify Profile" then click on "Forum Profile Information" where you will fill in your data, choose a picture to go beside your name (I chose one of my book covers), and other things.  Then you need to create your signature by going up top and click on Link-Maker among the blue-gray words.  Type in your name in the search box to retrieve your Amazon offerings, choose each book to add a cover link in your signature, one at a time, and click on one, then move over to the right and choose a cover picture instead of just text.  Choose the size that is pretty much the thumbnail you see on Amazon.  That seems to be the right size allowable within the Kindle Boards.  Once your picture is seen, click on Select to get all the computer jargon necessary to pull up this book cover, copy it (Ctrl + C) and then bring your cursor back down to the Create Signature part and paste it (Ctrl + V) into the signature-creating box awaiting that info.  While still in that info-needing box, put in a Return (Enter), type in your author name followed by another Return/Enter, and any pithy quote or life reflection or your tagline you wish to be associated with.  HIT SAVE.  Or Update or whatever seals the deal.  That's it!  Yeah, I know.  A lot to remember.  And believe me, I still have to jog my brain every couple months when I need to update my Profile signature.  Hope this helps you.  I know it will help me the next time around.

4.  My newest e-book is a quotations collection so geared to a wider audience than just authors.  If you are producing such books, then we should all visit the Kindle Boards Writers' Cafe to chat with other authors.  Plus check out the Book Corner for reader discussions.  NOTE:  the only self-promotion site is the Book Bazaar. 

5.  You should read all the KB rules and regulations but I hope to share a few shortcuts here.

6.  There is also an email to send to within the KB for a shout-out of each of your new releases.  They do two listings:  one alphabetical and one by genre.  Pretty cool.  But again, the moderator must have posted a Reply to your initial Post before you can do this step.  It is found under the KB Book Bazaar as one of the always-at-the-top postings entitled:  Official Master List of KB Authors, found at http://www.kindleboards.com/index.php/topic,27178.0.html (cut and paste into your browser) or see quick link on my sidebar under Favorite Links.

7.  Also go to Introductions & Welcomes within the KB especially if you are a first-timer to the KB area.

8.  BE SURE to preview your text upload to fix any glitches:  too many returns, not enough returns, odd indents, odd fonts, run-ins, odd page breaks, etc.

9.  ONE BIG THING within Amazon:  use the Insert, Breaks, Page function for any page breaks between sections or chapters within your Microsoft Word document.  VERY IMPORTANT.

10.  FOR BARNES & NOBLE PUBIT! UPLOADS:  you still need to preview the upload as it will appear differently than the one you saw within Amazon.  Different software, I guess, produces different page layouts.  Other than that, you need to upload a JPEG cover with very stringent specifications.  The covers I upload to Amazon are not acceptable to B&N.  Here's the specs: 

Web Results

PubIt! FAQ and Support It walks you through creating an account, uploading your eBook file, cover image,  ... The sides must be between 750 pixels and 2000 pixels in length. ... pubit.barnesandnoble.com/pubit_app/bn?t=support
~~  I do that pixel reduction within GIMP (free art software), even without an instruction manual.  So it is easy for a newbie to navigate.  If memory serves, click on the Size tab once in GIMP2 and just change the pixel count to fall below 2000 pixels in both directions.  Easy peasy.

~ ~

For now, that is all I've got.  Enough to curdle the old brain cells, but not as much info as there is within the KB website, so I hope I've saved you some time and cut through to the kernels you need most.

On to day three of NaNoWriMo . . .