#I don't need No long paragraphs I need VARIATION. INTENTION. STYLE.

[essektheylyss]

I am TIRED of hearing the whole "there is NO reason a paragraph shouldn't be more than four lines" writing critique. If Ursula Le Guin can write an asshole psychiatrist monologuing for a page and a half straight, it is FINE, actually.

You can have characters monologue, you can have a long bit of description, you can give exposition in chunks—the issue is when there's no PURPOSE to it and it's treated as a prerequisite dump of information rather than a curated telling.

As long as you're making choices about language and what is being conveyed so that it's relevant and matches the style, it's fine.

#I read body work by melissa febos yesterday and she was like 'unpopular opinion: every single thing in a piece of writing is a choice' #and I was like 'oh my god. a woman after my own heart.' #this is my DEEPEST HELD writing opinion #and also it's fine if you are NOT looking that specifically at every comma but like. #on a larger level you gotta understand why you're doing what you're doing cuz if it implies something you don't want it to? #you gotta be able to understand if that choice is more important to you than the secondary thing it implies #and like. I'm not interrogating every comma or individual word (and my aversion to editing is a flaw that I need to improve upon) #but like. where a paragraph ends is always a choice. always always always. probably the grammar thing I think about most actually. #often it is more of an instinct than conscious examination cuz I've been doing this a long time and there's a feel to it #but I know WHY a paragraph ended when and where it did. I can tell you exactly why if you asked! #and readability is one of the concerns there!!! but that is sure as FUCK not the only concern #nor is it necessarily the most important concern if there's a stylistic need that trumps it or must be balanced with it! and there often is #also. as an adhd person. if I have to hear that it's ableist to adhd people because 'they don't have that much of an attention span!' #I will throw the products of my twenty years worth of writing hyperfixation through your fucking window. #if it's BORING or I don't CARE or I'm TIRED then nO but in a BOOK THAT I AM WILLINGLY READING? shut the fuck uppppp #I don't need No long paragraphs I need VARIATION. INTENTION. STYLE. #I don't have enough attention span for your bullshit actually. #and my experience with adhd is NOT the only one but like. to use adhd to claim that as a stylistic choice is Bad is just. fuck you actually #like constant staccato paragraphs are actually usually WORSE for me cuz I cannot tell what's supposed to be emphasized. #I need the contrast so I know what gets the most weight. cuz NOT EVERYTHING SHOULD. there are LEVELS. #anyway I'll stop ranting in the tags but I was reading lathe of heaven and got mad about it all over again. #I didn't actually see this commentary today I just remembered it. with my so-terribly-short attention span. #so you can rip my long paragraphs out of my cold dead hands.