{"id":26152,"date":"2021-03-25T01:00:35","date_gmt":"2021-03-25T05:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/?page_id=26152"},"modified":"2022-11-19T10:24:52","modified_gmt":"2022-11-19T14:24:52","slug":"quotes-on-using-rhythm-in-writing","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/writing-tips\/how-to-write-creative-content\/how-to-use-wordplay\/rhythm-in-writing\/quotes-on-using-rhythm-in-writing\/","title":{"rendered":"Quotes on using rhythm in writing"},"content":{"rendered":"

What writers and others say<\/h2>\n

\"Quotes

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\u201cI learned that from music: When to use a short sentence, when a long sentence, when a one-word sentence, when to break a paragraph. Songwriting is a verse, a chorus.\u201d<\/h5>\n
\u2014 Mitch Albom, nationally syndicated columnist for the Detroit Free Press<\/em> and author of Tuesdays with Morrie,<\/em> quoted in Poynter Report<\/em><\/h6>\n
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\u201cRepetition works in writing, but only if you intend it. The repetition of key words, phrases, and story elements creates a rhythm, a pace, a structure, a drumbeat that reinforces the central theme of the work.\u201d<\/h5>\n
\u2014 Roy Peter Clark, Poynter Institute senior scholar<\/h6>\n
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\u201cAt a certain point, the difference between music in music and music in words became elided in my mind. I became attentive to the sound of words and the rhythm of sentences in some way that I\u2019m not even aware of.\u201d<\/h5>\n
\u2014 E.L. Doctorow, novelist, in a National Public Radio interview<\/h6>\n
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\u201cPunctuate a thought with a one-sentence paragraph, a rim shot of emphasis in your musical arrangement of words.<\/em> Remember: Writing is both a visual and an aural experience.\u201d<\/h5>\n
\u2014 editors, Publications Management<\/em><\/h6>\n
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\u201cYour eighth-grade English teacher may be aghast, but sentence fragments can be a powerful tool in creating a rhythm all your own. Think of the fragment as a backbeat. Create a paragraph of quick, clipped sentences, a rat-a-tat-tat drumroll of words that create a beat in the reader\u2019s mind.\u201d<\/h5>\n
\u2014 editors, Publications Management<\/em><\/h6>\n
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“Speech is sound, and sounds that are rhythmic are usually pleasing. Studies have shown that applause during speeches is triggered more often by cadence than by content.”<\/h5>\n
\u2014 Rob Friedman, senior writer, Eli Lilly and Company<\/h6>\n
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\u201cWhen you want to move readers excitedly along, keep your sentences short and crisp. If you\u2019re describing a languid trip down a lazy river, however, allow your sentence lengths to match that slower pace.\u201d<\/h5>\n
\u2014 David A. Fryxell, former editor of Writer\u2019s Digest<\/em><\/h6>\n
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\u201cThere\u2019s a kind of ear music \u2026 a rhythmic synchronicity which creates a kind of heartbeat on the page.\u201d<\/h5>\n
\u2014 Allan Gurganus, author of The Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All<\/em><\/h6>\n
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\u201cPut your slogan in a beat that\u2019s easy to repeat.”<\/h5>\n
\u2014 Sam Horn, author of POP! Stand Out In Any Crowd<\/em><\/h6>\n
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\u201cMy editor, Marian Lizzi, told me she was always told to think of iambic meter as when we accent every other beat as in \u201cTa DUM, ta DUM, ta DUM, ta Dum, ta DUM, ta DUM.\u201d<\/h5>\n
\u2014 Sam Horn, author of POP! Stand Out In Any Crowd<\/em><\/h6>\n
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\u201cWhen I write, I read everything out loud to get the tight rhythm.\u201d<\/h5>\n
\u2014 Fran Lebowitz, humor columnist considered a \u201cmodern day Dorothy Parker\u201d<\/h6>\n
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\u201cRhythm is really important. All the great writers have it. Somewhere, in the inner ear, there has to be some music when you\u2019re writing.\u201d<\/h5>\n
\u2014 James Magnuson, author of eight novels, including The Hounds of Winter<\/em><\/h6>\n
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\u201cWriters are in the music business.\u201d<\/h5>\n
\u2014 Donald M. Murray, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist<\/h6>\n
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\u201cWe are lulled by the sway of a hammock, and we are excited by the beat of a drum.\u201d<\/h5>\n
\u2014 Louis Untermeyer, American poet and anthologist<\/h6>\n
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