Transitions: write the sweet segue

Think about the rhythm of your writing. Does one idea flow smoothly from the next? Are short sentences mixed with longer ones? Are facts interwoven with descriptions? Have you repeated the same words over and over – or carefully chosen fresh, evocative phrases each time?

Writing is like dancing. Lead your partner – the reader – through the piece. Direct them gracefully, gently but firmly. And don’t trip over your own shoe laces: if you’re muddled while writing, it shows. Work and rework the tricky bits. Read them out loud. Sleep on them. Digest the material, the reshape it, until it flows as smoothly as the waltz.

Suave transitions add polish to your style. One dance step leads to another – not a frozen moment on the floor and complete change of pace (tango aside). Pay special attention to the endings and beginnings of your paragraphs. Are they linked together, bridging seamlessly from one idea to another?

Phrases like however, despite and on the contrary are useful, as are and, furthermore and similarly. Cause-and-effect relationships work well too: as a result, because, consequently . Don’t forget time transitions like the following evening, by afternoon, 200 years later, and their more subtle cousins leaves were falling when my train departed and my lamb chop grew cold, forgotten in the confusion. The most graceful transitions simply tweak an idea – or contrast it – from the previous sentence.

Art: Classical dance exhibition on a ball in the Prague Congress Center. Photo by Petr Novák via Wikimedia Commons.