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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DinoInDisguise" data-source="post: 9767050" data-attributes="member: 7045806">I think the way I'd recommend is a bit different. I'd actually alternate the staccato prose of the technical writing, and the longer flowing prose often used. If you alternate the two, short-long-short-long you can actually give your writing, and your spoken word, a rhythm. You can do this in different cadences such as, short-short-long, or short-long-long. Each one will convey a different feeling. If you do it well, your writing or speaking will have a sing-song like cadence to it.This has benefits in how your writing and spoken word are read or heard.<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">You can create emphasis. A short sentence after a long one stands out. It's more effective than an exclamation point in many ways.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">You can control the pacing. Short sentences speed things up; long sentences slow things down. Alternating lets you subtly manipulate how the audience perceives the text or speech. They will remember a short phrase after a long one, more than they will remember the long one. If you use all one or the other, you will bore the audience, just like a TTRPG game with bad pacing would.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">You can create tension or drama. Long sentences can immerse, short ones can shock, clarify, or deliver humor. It's a good way to land a joke, go long-long-short, with the short being the punch line. You can do the same in rhetorical writing to make points land harder.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Done well it increases engagement by keeping the audience's attention. It does this much like a song does. It gives the words a pull, or force behind them that moves the audience forward. This can make disengaging feel awkward.</li> </ol>So really we should vary the length of our sentences to maximize the effectiveness of what we say or write. Look back on the great speakers of the last hundred years. You will see exactly this. Long flowing sentences, followed by short, punchy sentences.EDIT:For demonstration purposes, an example;You might notice the tension of the writing escalates at the end, just as the tension of the scene portrayed does. That's one of the effects you can give with just a bit of variety. Hope that helps.</blockquote>

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