\nThe guys drove us into suburban communes, with tinted window views of endless apartment blocks as my sight-seeing. We pulled up at a backstreet dive restaurant. Le Centaure, blazed the red awning. Bag Man shuttled us inside past a cooking spit, past a thirtysomething manager guy with a mop of hair and scowl like he\u2019d pre-branded us philistines, down past gloomy basement seating, past a dusty wine cellar, and into a super-damp tunnel carved through limestone. Next thing, we were ushered into a sealed-off bomb shelter and handed glasses of red wine. Electronica jazz pulsed from a DJ station. Impeccably dressed ladies chatted with tuxedoed and uniformed men of a certain age, everyone sampling hors d\u2019oeuvres. A dozen hi-res posters of paintings and sketches ringed the shelter. Hired muscle hovered, as if to complete the dictionary illustration for hot art sale.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
You don’t need much set-up here. The POV, Clio, and her boss are being driven through suburban Paris to what she’d assumed would be an auction house. The paragraph could’ve read something almost direct as that and still convey the facts. The short version probably doesn’t capture the visuals (apartment blocks, dive restaurants, gloomy basement, etc.), which make for atmosphere. There are other sensory appeals: music (ear), wine and hors d’ouevres (taste), limestone (touch), dampness (touch–and smell maybe). A short version wouldn’t have shown that this was a journey, that it took time, that unexpected stimuli bombarded Clio as sh<\/span>e winds up not at Christie’s but a dank bomb shelter. <\/span><\/p>\nBut those are tactics. Here’s the strategy: no two sentences in a row have the same structure. If you ever read that in my work, that was a style choice or else my exhaustion. I won’t have it, not a wooden or sameness sound.<\/p>\n
Caution: This works for narrative passages. In dialogue, a character speaks in, well, character, which could mean a consistent way of speaking. Characters also shouldn’t be giving speeches–a topic for another time.<\/p>\n
Take that paragraph again:<\/p>\n
\n- Standard sentence with right-branch preposition (effectively a participle);<\/li>\n
- Short and sweet;<\/li>\n
- Short but with an odd subject — Clio is still processing surprise;<\/li>\n
- A sprawl of a sentence with right-branch phrases showing the stages to her trek;<\/li>\n
- Standard sentence with left branch intro;<\/li>\n
- Short beat sentence;<\/li>\n
- Compound sentence, with ending participial phrase;<\/li>\n
- Standard sentence;<\/li>\n
- Standard sentence, with metaphorical punch line.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Look, this is not a perfect paragraph. It does its job, though. With style. Long paragraphs like this are mini-stories in their own right. Same goes for paragraph sequences broken up for emphasis or against blocky text. Events in question should travel a distance, and things should end on the most powerful emotional or action note or open question. Here, “hot art sale.”<\/p>\n
That’s it. That’s the strategy. How narrative sentences vary will depend on the humor or seriousness, the action underway, the narrator’s lens…and the writer. Here fiction allows you your art. Some fun, too. More fun than an endless subject\/verb train. <\/p>\n
So, 7 fiction stories in the world? Whatever number feels irrelevant. However many types live in theory, there are as many ways to write a story–to style it–as there are us writers.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Depending on who you ask, only 7 core fiction stories exist in the world. Rags to Riches, Voyage and Return, so forth. Everything else written later is riffing off that universal idea handed down. 7 seems a harsh estimate, but there’s no doubt that at some point our various stories have critical Venn Diagram overlap.… Continue reading Go With the Paragraph Flow<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[99,10,13,92],"tags":[176,9,97,175,63],"class_list":["post-1933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cathcart","category-crime-mystery-and-suspense","category-france","category-short-stories","tag-clio-cathcart","tag-crime-fiction","tag-france","tag-pandora","tag-sentences","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3CG0W-vb","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":245,"url":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/?p=245","url_meta":{"origin":1933,"position":0},"title":"Behind the Short Story: “Whorling”","author":"rtmcontrol","date":"February 14, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Albert Einstein--you know,\u00a0he of\u00a0the supercomputer brain--once dished out this observation on the universe: \"Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love.\" Well said, but only half said.\u00a0Sure, gravity doesn't make people weak-kneed in love, but some force does, internal or external.\u00a0Einstein didn't\u00a0name the cause\u00a0because he didn't know it. No\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cathcart"","block_context":{"text":"Cathcart","link":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/?cat=99"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2545,"url":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/?p=2545","url_meta":{"origin":1933,"position":1},"title":"2023, A Funny Sort of Year","author":"rtmcontrol","date":"December 27, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"We all beat our drums about what's important to us. Humor is important to me, in life and in writing. Not surprisingly then, a drum I beat when talking writing is the serious business of humor. To write with humor's lens is to load more rocks into the burden sack,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Awards and Honors"","block_context":{"text":"Awards and Honors","link":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/?cat=14"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/robertmangeot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Slide3.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/robertmangeot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Slide3.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/robertmangeot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Slide3.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/robertmangeot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Slide3.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":436,"url":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/?p=436","url_meta":{"origin":1933,"position":2},"title":"Behind: “Death or Taxes”","author":"rtmcontrol","date":"August 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Behind the Writing Scenes of \"Death or Taxes,\" published in the July '14 issue of Mysterical-E. Summer 2011: it was that purplish state of dawn.\u00a0My eyes flew open.\u00a0My breath caught in my throat. Inspiration had come. It was ready to bubble out, like it or not. And I liked it.\u00a0In\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Crime, Mystery & Suspense"","block_context":{"text":"Crime, Mystery & Suspense","link":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/?cat=10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":383,"url":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/?p=383","url_meta":{"origin":1933,"position":3},"title":"Behind The Short Story: “Aix to Grind”","author":"rtmcontrol","date":"June 7, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Yes, I was in Aix-en-Provence, and sure, I was studying a\u00a0Picasso in\u00a0a museum's\u00a0first room, only a token velvet rope between me and it, and okay, I even thought, \u201cman, this is how many million euro hanging how many steps from the door?\u201d But no, I wasn\u2019t casing the joint. I\u2019m\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Crime, Mystery & Suspense"","block_context":{"text":"Crime, Mystery & Suspense","link":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/?cat=10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/robertmangeot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/AHMSEPT2014web.jpg?fit=300%2C439&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":968,"url":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/?p=968","url_meta":{"origin":1933,"position":4},"title":"Derringer-ered!","author":"rtmcontrol","date":"April 13, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm incredibly proud\u00a0 that last year's\u00a0\"The Cumberland Package\"\u00a0(AHMM, May 2016) has been named a finalist for the Short Mystery Fiction Society's Derringer Awards.\u00a0 I mean, like busting-at-seams proud. Of being named, because the crime\u00a0space these days is terrific in\u00a0its voice\u00a0and depth. The\u00a0stuff that leaves me vibrating explores\u00a0in stark terms\u00a0human nature\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Crime, Mystery & Suspense"","block_context":{"text":"Crime, Mystery & Suspense","link":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/?cat=10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1329,"url":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/?p=1329","url_meta":{"origin":1933,"position":5},"title":"When Consequences Are Skunk Apes: “Problems Aren’t Stop Signs”","author":"rtmcontrol","date":"September 2, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I like writing about problems. As in, you know, their problematic nature. It's the stuff of a great story. And I had this idea for a writing challenge: take one self-inflicted problem and make every next sentence add a specific complication. Why, transgression zero\u2019s blowback would mount and mount and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Crime, Mystery & Suspense"","block_context":{"text":"Crime, Mystery & Suspense","link":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/?cat=10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/robertmangeot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Mystery-Weekly-0918-Problems-231x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1933"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1943,"href":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1933\/revisions\/1943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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Depending on who you ask, only 7 core fiction stories exist in the world. Rags to Riches, Voyage and Return, so forth. Everything else written later is riffing off that universal idea handed down. 7 seems a harsh estimate, but there’s no doubt that at some point our various stories have critical Venn Diagram overlap. We’re jazzing such things up our own ways.<\/p>\n