One thought – one paragraph

A paragraph of 15 lines is almost always several thoughts glued together. The reader stumbles, loses the thread, closes the text. And you wonder why views and read-through rates are low.

Here is an example of a "mush paragraph" about Fight Club:

"Fincher made a film based on Palahniuk's novel, and it has many interesting themes – male identity crisis, consumer society, doppelgangers, and all this is presented through very unusual editing and cinematography, and Edward Norton and Brad Pitt played their roles excellently, creating a complex duo that keeps the viewer throughout the film."

That's four thoughts in one block. Let's cut the fragment into logical pieces:

1) "Fight Club is a film about male identity crisis wrapped in a thriller about violence."

2) "The editing in Fincher's film is sharper and more precise than a scalpel: every cut slightly quickens the pulse, even when nothing happens on screen."

3) "Norton and Pitt exist in the same frame as opposite poles – and it is this tension that keeps the viewer for two hours of screen time."

Now we see three clear thoughts, each formatted separately. Each of them can now be expanded into a full paragraph of a couple of coherent sentences.

I recommend starting a paragraph with a thesis (main idea) and ending with a conclusion or a detail that reinforces it.

The optimal paragraph is 3–5 sentences. Got more than 7? Most likely, there are already two thoughts living there, or you've indulged in verbosity.

Life hack: read only the first sentences of each paragraph in a row. If you get a coherent retelling of the text, your structure works.

#EditorTips@the_rrated