Writing Tips

Paragraphing and Formatting (Updated 2024)

Okay, so every USA student knows the rules in school when writing a typed essay, correct? If you don't, then here's the main thing you need to know:

-Times New Roman font (Serif on Google Drive/Docs)

-12 point font

-Double spaced

-Enter and indent for new paragraph

Now that that is taken care of, I would like to tell you about how most paragraphs are formed. They are usually 3-9 sentences long, depending on your subject in an essay, it varies when writing a book. They have a topic sentence with at least two examples and supporting evidence. Again, this is used mostly for essays, but some of it can be applied to writing. Some paragraphs in story writing could be dialect, description of a setting, general fillers for progressing the story, or other important information that needs to be explained.

This is the typical formatting used also in manuscripts, whether on Google Drive or on Microsoft services.

BUT indents do not work here on Wattpad. So I'm going to point out how we can use this here on wattpad.

Now, paragraphs are very important in a story. No one wants to read a page where there's no new paragraph, it's annoying and confusing, especially with dialect.

Okay, now, who has this issue too when reading the example below?

"Hey, Freddy." Xavier said to his friend. "Yo, Xavier. Are you coming to Homecoming?" Freddy asked. "Yeah, just gotta see if Victoria wants to go." "So, you're only going to Homecoming with your girlfriend?" "That's mostly it." "Wow, lame."

Confusing, correct? It's much easier to write dialect by always hitting the enter button every time someone new speaks. It's easier for your readers to understand. Here's the edited version.

"Hey, Freddy." Xavier said to his friend.

"Yo, Xavier. Are you coming to Homecoming?" Freddy asked.

"Yeah, just gotta see if Victoria wants to go."

"So, you're only going to Homecoming with your girlfriend?"

"That's mostly it."

"Wow, lame."

See how much easier that is? It may not affect many of you because you're used to it, but it's crucial when writing a book. I made this mistake when I was really young, I didn't learn about this until I was in eighth grade, that was two years ago. The teacher corrected me on it after submitting my short story to her.

Paragraphs also are always focused on one main subject: A person, place, thing, idea, a past experience, etc. you can't conjoined the two unless they are both part of the main subject (ie: A man bought a new bike, Emma and Casey had a tragic incident at McDonalds, a duck chased around a little kid, etc.) Those are two things combined in one main subject. Here's an example of what one of those paragraphs would look like. Let's use the duck chasing child subject.

The little boy walked up to the duck at the edge of the pond, wanting to see the feathered animal up close. He shuffled quietly behind the duck, reaching his hand out to pet its tail. As soon as he touched it, the duck made a barbaric noise and spun around to bite at the little boy's fingers. He screamed and started to run, the duck following behind, wings spread out wide as it waddled after him in an attempt to get its revenge at the child.

This shows how the issue started and ended. It started off with the kid wanting to pet a duck. In the end, the duck had chased after him due to the child's fascination of the little duckie-pie (yes, I just made that up just because I can. XD)

The main subject was also near the end of the paragraph, and that is completely fine! The main subject in a paragraph can be in the beginning of it, middle, or end; but it can also be the entire paragraph depending on what the subject is on. It usually covers the entire paragraph when you're describing someone/something, or when you have to explain an event/situation/etc. The subject is very flexible when being placed in the paragraph, just make sure not to go off subject in the paragraph. Trust me, it's happened before.

I really can't think of anything else at the moment about paragraphs, I'll add more to this when I learn or remember more about paragraphs. It is late at night, and I just got done with marching band just a few hours ago, so, I'm tired.

I hope you enjoyed this lesson! :)