Creating music

“I love music. It’s freedom.” - Ice Cube

When I read something I love, I copy it and paste it in an Evernote folder labeled “Stuff to read again and again.”

Here’s one of my favorite passages I’ve saved in that folder.

This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The sound of it drones. It’s like a stuck record. The ear demands some variety.

Now listen. I vary the sentence length, and I create music.

Music.

The writing sings. It has a pleasant rhythm, a lilt, a harmony. I use short sentences. And I use sentences of medium length.

And sometimes, when I am certain the reader is rested, I will engage him with a sentence of considerable length, a sentence that burns with energy and builds with all the impetus of a crescendo, the roll of the drums, the crash of the cymbals– sounds that say listen to this, it is important.”

- Gary Provost, Writing Instructor and author of Make Your Words Work