The Cadence of Writing

I was trying to explain to a writer friend about the importance of cadence in writing. Her paragraphs were coming off a little choppy, so I suggested reading it out loud and listening to the flow. Wherever it sounds a bit off or trips you up, that's what you need to fix.

It reminds me a little of listening to music. You can't always pinpoint why something sounds right, but you can always pinpoint what sounds wrong. Every sentence, every paragraph, every scene and chapter has to have a flow and be easy on the "ear", imo, and if it doesn't have that then you've got a problem.

Of course, this is all subjective and what trips one person up might not trip up another. Still, I think there's a common ground to be had, and I find that reading my stuff out loud helps me catch a lot of problems right off the bat.