How to Make your Writing FLOW: Sentence Structure & Cadence

[@nicoledriscoll1984]

Thanks!

[@craigargo]

This is amazing. Do you coach or do critiques? I love the creative part of writing, but my prose seems clunky and I’m not sure I have the brain power to follow all of this. Do you have a service where you read something and point out why it’s not flowing well? Thanks!

[@coreyhuffman7607]

Hey, sorry it took so long for me to get back to you, I've been taking a bit of a break from KZbin while I finish writing an epic fantasy of my own. I should be coming out with a new video sometime in the near future where I'll take everyone through some of my own prose, and I expect I'll answer some of your questions therein. I don't currently have any official service where I coach or give critiques, although it's something I've certainly been thinking about doing, so if you're serious about improving your writing let me know! Send me an email: [e-mail].

[@jasonmacomber4020]

Another great lesson. Thank you!!!

[@LoverSlayer]

Stumbled upon this channel and this is so helpful even if English is not my first language. You should write a book on writing!

[@jessieguess9008]

Thank you for this VERY helpful video. I have been struggling with this and had no idea what it was called xD. I enjoyed your explanation, very easy to understand and follow.

[@coreyhuffman7607]

Thanks, Jessie. Glad I could help. Let me know if you ever have any questions. I tried to cover a lot in this video, but there's a great deal of subtlety to this topic 🙂.

[@jessieguess9008]

Subtlety, that's exactly what I am grappling with xD. An acquaintance of mine recently showed me how to read in a different way so that I can spot the peaks and valleys of writing which led me to the word cadence, which led me to your videos ^_^ and after watching your videos it all started to click a little more. I still have a long journey ahead of me but at least now I can see where I am going!

[@coreyhuffman7607]

@@jessieguess9008 a lot of writing (on the technical side of things) is about developing an intuition or "internal metronome" that keeps track of the rhythm and gives you a feel for what type of sentence should come next, and then jumping between writing descriptions, action, dialogue, introspection and exposition in whatever way best conveys the information you're trying to convey. The more you write, the better that intuition gets, and the less you have to think about it, so keep at it! The learning curve is steep (and sort of never-ending lol), but it's a very rewarding climb 🙂.

[@jessieguess9008]

@@coreyhuffman7607 yeah my issue is that my brain tries to jam so many things into one sentence, that and ADD xD. But I have grown so much in the last year, it's very exciting.

[@coreyhuffman7607]

@@jessieguess9008 glad to hear you're progressing well. Always feels good to look back and see how far you've come. If you're struggling with saying too much, you might find my video on "how to be concise" helpful: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d5amYamCedObfs0

[@eyramntamack3867]

You are literally heaven sent. I'm thankful for your existence. You are saving my butt right now

[@timmartin4261]

Dear Corey. Thank you so very much for this great lesson on a tricky subject. It was just what I needed, and will help me a great deal with the book I am writing. Your presentation is paced exactly right and completely engaging. By the way, I feel we are neighbours. I live in Minaki. WIth kind regards, Tim

[@coreyhuffman7607]

Thank you, Tim. I appreciate the kind words, and I'm glad you found the video helpful. Cadence is definitely a tricky subject, and I'm sure I'll circle back around to it in a future video, having learned a few new techniques myself since putting this video together. Striving for "the perfect rhythm" is sort of an endless pursuit as a writer haha. Minaki, eh? There's a road trip between us, but the forests and lakes of the Great White North have always been my stomping grounds 🙂.

[@dcle944]

⁠@@coreyhuffman7607please, please have that video soon. This is somewhat the only problem left that holds back my writing.

[@coreyhuffman7607]

@@dcle944 The next video I make on the writing style of George R R Martin will tackle a very foundational aspect of rhythm/cadence, and should help; namely, mixing the passive and active voices. Whether a sentence is passive or active has a huge impact on the sentence structure, so learning how/when to use both can help improve your flow.

[@jessieguess9008]

Been taking a break from writing, but now I am feeling the urge again. Checking out your videos again, but I still seem to be struggling with what to write about a scene. I have been focusing on writing only what can be seen, while avoiding info dumping or telling. Do you have any advice on knowing what to write particularly about a scene and in what order? Tricky for me even to explain it haha, I am going to dive into your videos next couple of days. Perhaps one of your vids already talk about this?

[@jessieguess9008]

actually I see some new vids! They might have what I am talking about in them. Going to check them out!

[@coreyhuffman7607]

I think I know what you mean, Jessie. As far as order goes, you have to establish a hierarchy of priority information. This means articulating to yourself the purpose of a given scene, and deciding what the reader needs to know first. Often times, scenes are written in the format: description of characters and/or setting, followed by action and/or dialogue involving said characters/setting, followed by Introspection and/or exposition. A scene also needs a conflict (no matter how small) to drive it along, so when it comes to what specifically to write about, it's best to relate your descriptions/insights to said conflict. Hope this helps. Let me know if you need any clarification.

[@jessieguess9008]

@Corey Huffman - Writer it does help. My focus for this week's writing. I'll try to give this organization a go and see if it helps. ^_^

[@dcle944]

@@jessieguess9008do you still need help? I think I can help you with it.

[@jessieguess9008]

I have made some strides since posting this comment. Thanks for the offer though!@@dcle944

[@madhupramod]

This is very helpful! Can you share this in a doc? I would love to have this as a reference

[@coreyhuffman7607]

Glad you found it useful! I assume you're referring to all the tables? If so, I'll see if I can add a document in the description of the video. I'll be updating them at some point too.

[@coreyhuffman7607]

There should now be a link to the pdf of the tables in the video description. You should be able to download it. If not, let me know and I'll try and fix it. Enjoy!

[@dcle944]

How would you suggest us practice this? What’s the best method?

[@coreyhuffman7607]

This is a difficult subject to teach, because there's no real systematic method to it. What you have to do is practice reorganizing the structure of your sentences, paying attention to which structures "sound better," and the more you write and read what you've written, the more you'll develop an intuitive sense of which types of sentences flow into one another. Paying close attention to the prose in the books you read will give you an idea as to the many styles.