But before we delve in, you need to know that one of the most common problems some writers have is that they can't engage their readers' attention. Every sentence starts with "The ..." or "I ..." and if you start every sentence with the same word, every sentence will have the same structure and you probably know what that leads to, don't you?
Yeah, right! Your readers' eyes glaze over, they start to fidget, they look for any excuse to stop reading, and then escape. Let's face it, there's just one word to describe that sort of writing ... Boring!
The solution is easy.
Just start each sentence with a different part of speech, like this:
Adjective: Strange as it seemed at the time…
Adverb: Presently, the crowd parted to reveal…
Noun: Spectators flocked to the…
Verb: Flushed with success he…
Preposition: Beneath her calm exterior…
Do you see the possibilities?
And do you begin to see how this one little tip will help you write better sentences? Of course you do.
No doubt you're starting to see how simple it is to write well – when you know how!
But we're not done with you…
Let's take a short passage from a novel and see how the author does it in practice.
Below, you have the opening three paragraphs from Tom Clancy's Patriot Games. Openings are meant to be interesting and captivating, so you can continue reading, and in the opening scene in Patriot Games, it's a sunny day in Londontown…
"Ryan was nearly killed twice in half an hour. He left the taxi a few blocks short of his destination. It was a fine, clear day, the sun already low in the blue sky. Ryan had been sitting for hours in a series of straight-back wooden chairs, and he wanted to walk a bit to work the kinks out. Traffic was relatively light on the streets and sidewalks. That surprised him, but he looked forward to the evening rush hour. Clearly these streets had not been laid out with automobiles in mind, and he was sure that the afternoon chaos would be something to behold. Jack's first impression of London was that it would be a fine town to walk in, and he moved at his usual brisk pace, unchanged since his stint in the Marine Corps, marking time unconsciously by tapping the edge of his clipboard against his leg.
"Just short of the corner the traffic disappeared, and he moved to cross the street early. He automatically looked left, right, then left again as he had since childhood, and stepped off the curb –
"And was nearly crushed by a two-story red bus that screeched past him with a bare two feet to spare."
You can see how he varies the beginnings of the sentences, starting with nouns and names, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions – even a conjunction!
If you're a beginning writer, note these shifts as you read what good writers have written. Soon enough you'll be doing it unconsciously yourself in your writing.
