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: Re: How long should each paragraph be in fiction writing? In high school and even college most students are told to aim for around 5-6 sentences per paragraph. I am now trying to write fiction,
My personal rule of thumb is that if a paragraph reaches 100 words, I should think about either trimming it down or breaking it into two, lest I end up with a wall of text. That's just a guideline, though, not something I rigidly obey. Aside from that, I don't think there are any hard-and-fast rules about paragraph length. A paragraph should be as long or as short as it needs to be, whether that's two sentences or six.
The best example I can think of is the opening paragraph of the climactic chapter of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. It's only one sentence and three words long, but it says everything that needs to be said:
It was Quirrell.
If that opening paragraph had been a five-sentence description of Quirrell standing in front of the Mirror of Erised, I don't think it would have had half the impact. Very short paragraphs are perfect for those sorts of "wham" moments, as long as you're not over-using them.
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