What should a paragraph be in a novel?

[miyako73]

I'm stuck to this idea. I don't know if it's right. I've been thinking that a good paragraph in a novel should be a story in itself or should be meaty like a flash fiction almost. Is it a good thinking?

Below is my example. What has been bogging me though is that it is laborious if I stick to it.


Eva, two years older than I, showed up with her boyfriend, Maru, the flashy son of a well-known politician. She could have been a brilliant lawyer, but my mother had her take Home Economics to prepare her for domestic life. Yes, her name was from the biblical Eve, and our mother stuck to her literal interpretation that my sister should concentrate on becoming a dutiful wife to her future husband and a doting mother to their children. I pitied my sister who read the Supreme Court’s rulings only as a pastime. Spending four years to learn how to set a table, fix a master bed, or dust off a wall was just a waste of everything, I thought, but my mother would not budge. When it came to my sisters, my father had no say. It was my mother who decided what was good for them and what they should do. To deride my mother and subtly show her disdain, Eva could only say Dura lex, sed lex—“The law is harsh, but it is the law.” My mother would dismiss her as someone speaking in tongues.

[hillwalker]

A paragraph usually needs an unifying theme or a particular setting or situation that is separate from what comes before or what follows. Longwinded paragraphs are difficult to navigate and can be just as effective when broken down into more manageable pieces that are linked.

So what's your paragraph about?

Superficially it's about your sister Eva. But you throw in details about the career she could have pursued, your mother's decision to domesticate her, your feelings towards her, how Eva learnt her craft, what your father had (or hadn't) to say about the situation, your mother's domination of family life, your sister's use of Latin and how your mother reacted...

It's a bit jerky - jumping back and forth between the main characters and the theme of a lost career.
It might be better if you first write a short paragraph about your mother and father - implying that mother made the rules when it came to which path each child should follow.
Then a new paragraph about how your sister fared.
Then a third about how you felt about her situation.
There's obviously room to explore each issue in more depth if you so wish, and even show more of your own reaction to these events, but that's not essential.

Short, single sentence paragraphs can be just as effective when they make a point.

H

[WolfLarsen]

I think you should do with the paragraph whatever you want to! It depends what you're writing. For example, I think Hillwalker's advice is excellent if you're writing a book on used car repair.

However, if you're getting creative you should do whatever you want with the paragraph. For example, I wrote a run-on sentence of 250,000 words with only one paragraph and no period. Later I cut it down to about 68,000 words. Still, the whole thing was one paragraph.

Please do whatever the hell you want! Why not experiment? Write one kind of paragraph for one story and a different kind of paragraph owith a different story! Or have all kinds of different paragraphs in the same work!

The main thing is not to have any rules – and the other thing is not to have any continuity – because continuity is boring. Sort of like eating the same thing every day. Wouldn't it drive you crazy to eat fish and chips every day or a hamburger every day – how boring!

So have all different kinds of paragraphs!

Unless of course you're writing a book on used car repair. Then follow the Hillwalker's advice.

[hillwalker]

I think you should do with the paragraph whatever you want to! It depends what you're writing. For example, I think Hillwalker's advice is excellent if you're writing a book on used car repair.

Good to see you're still trolling on here. Such a sad waste of 'talent'.

H

[miyako73]

I think a little bit of experiment is fine. If a piece of literature assiduously reminds me that its author is being experimental, I easily lose interest. My wish is to write a novel in which content and story and structure and style are equally impressive and faultless, and not sounding contrived and strenuous--at least to me.

[DocHeart]

For example, I wrote a run-on sentence of 250,000 words with only one paragraph and no period. Later I cut it down to about 68,000 words. Still, the whole thing was one paragraph.



I wouldn't read that if I was in prison and your paragraph was the only reading material available, *and* my muscular and central nervous systems were damaged to the point of being unable to scratch myself or masturbate, *and* I was suffering from chronic and incurable insomnia.

Miyako,

I would call the paragraph you cite quite dense. Sometimes this kind of density is essential, as in cases where you need to compact things so that they fit inside a word limit, or if you need to give the reader some background on a minor character. But I imagine reading a 300-page novel consisting of, say, 1,000 paragraphs like the one you've written here: it would be damn difficult. Rewarding, perhaps, but would I ever get a break long enough to stop reading each sentence twice and finally become absorbed?

Balance is key, I suppose, not quite unlike serving someone a sumptuous 12-course meal. You would alternate between light and rich dishes, keeping the latter to a minimum.

Just my two cents :)

Best,
DH

[Paulclem]

I think you should do with the paragraph whatever you want to! It depends what you're writing. For example, I think Hillwalker's advice is excellent if you're writing a book on used car repair.

However, if you're getting creative you should do whatever you want with the paragraph. For example, I wrote a run-on sentence of 250,000 words with only one paragraph and no period. Later I cut it down to about 68,000 words. Still, the whole thing was one paragraph.

Please do whatever the hell you want! Why not experiment? Write one kind of paragraph for one story and a different kind of paragraph owith a different story! Or have all kinds of different paragraphs in the same work!

The main thing is not to have any rules – and the other thing is not to have any continuity – because continuity is boring. Sort of like eating the same thing every day. Wouldn't it drive you crazy to eat fish and chips every day or a hamburger every day – how boring!

So have all different kinds of paragraphs!

Unless of course you're writing a book on used car repair. Then follow the Hillwalker's advice.

Will Self's recent entry into the Booker prize is a modernist book. Umbrella is written in a similar way to what you describe, Wolf. In the article - link below - it is described as "old school modernist".

David Peace has written a book called "The Damned United" about a football team - Leeds United - which was briefly managed by Brian Clough, who enjoyed great success with Nottingham Forest.What's interesting about the book is its stream of consciousness approach through Brian Clough, which also switches from his experience at Leeds and his much more successful stint at Derby.

The whole playing with paragraphs thing has been done. I reckon it hardly matters so long as the form chosen by the author contributes to the narrative and ideas in the book.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/aug/19/umbrella-will-self-review

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/jul/18/the-damned-united-david-peace