5 ways to put a little rhythm in your writing

This video is based on the blog below.

Hi, and welcome to the channel. 

I’m Dr Clare Lynch of the Doris & Bertie Writing School, and I’m on a mission to help you become a better, more confident, more persuasive writer.

Today I want to talk about writing with rhythm.

Rhythm is all about pace. It’s about keeping your audience reading. 

It’s about making your writing flow like music - and not tripping up your reader with clunky, hard-to-read prose.

There are many ways to put a little rhythm in your words.

In this video, I want to give you five things you can do today.

Starting with tip number one:

1. DON’T OVERUSE ADJECTIVES

(Or descriptive words?)

Too many descriptive words, especially if they’re squished together before a noun - or thing word, can make your text sound clumsy, slightly desperate, and impossible to read.

For example…

I recently read about an event billing itself as a programme of talks with “renowned local and international inspiring and creative architects” 

That’s five adjectives crammed into a tiny space:

• Renowned

• Local

• International

• Inspiring and 

• Creative

Phew! That was a lot of description to get through, wasn’t it? 

And to get through before we even learn who or what it is that’s being described a so renowned, local, International, Inspiring and Creative.

Would you actually have the energy to attend the event after ploughing through that congested sentence?

Every added descriptor is like a little verbal hurdle for your reader to jump. 

So don’t go overboard.

2. WATCH YOUR NOUNS

As with adjectives, a series of nouns - or thing words - coming one straight after the other will also interrupt the flow of your prose, killing your readability. 

And often, it’s easy to fix a long, turgid noun phrase by simply adding a preposition. 

Take a look at this phrase:

“our lung health promotion strategy” 

This is a real mouthful and those four nouns

• Lung

• Health

• Promotion and 

• Strategy 

Force the reader to hold a lot of information in her head before she gets to the actual thing the writer is talking about - a strategy. 

The phrase would be better as:

“our strategy for promoting lung health” 

In this example, we’ve actually added a word for clarity but sometimes, an overwordy noun phrase just needs shortening.

For example I recently came across an organisation that claimed to be committed to various 

“health promotion strategy action plans” 

That’s five uninterrupted nouns: 

• health 

• promotion 

• strategy 

• action and 

• plans

And most are unnecessary. 

Is the organisation strategising? Or planning? Or taking action? 

Whatever they’re doing they’re certainly not trying to sound pleasing to the ear.

It would be much clearer and easier on the ear to pick one - and make the whole thing less nouny. 

How about:

“Our strategy for promoting health”.

I guarantee the vast majority of readers would have got trapped and tripped up in that stodgy, noun-heavy bureaucratic language we’ve just seen about strategy action plans! 

But it’s something the writer could have avoided if they’d followed my tip number 3: 

3. READ YOUR WRITING ALOUD

Writing rhythmically is all about your ears – and the only way to hear if you’ve got the rhythm right is to hear it. 

When you read your words aloud, those unnecessary adjectives, those clunky groups of nouns, that looked OK on the page will scream out at you to be fixed.

4. END ON A LONG NOTE

Like a piece of writing, a piece of music is made up of phrases – shorter, distinct units that make sense individually as well as in the context of the whole piece. 

Here’s an example of a famous musical phrase.

[ode to joy]

Notice how that phrase felt whole because it ended on a long note.

Well, doing the same with written phrases can also add a sense of finality.

For example, when expressing a series of ideas, I tend to put the longest of the listed points at the end of the sentence. 

Take a look at this phrase, which I used earlier in this video:

“Too many adjectives before a noun can make your text sound clumsy, slightly desperate, and impossible to read.”

Here, each item in the list involves progressively more syllables than the last: 

“clumsy” has two syllables; 

“slightly desperate” has four, while 

“impossible to read” has five.

Re-order the ideas and the phrase sounds much less harmonious and flowing:

“Too many adjectives before a noun can make your text sound slightly desperate, impossible to read and clumsy.”

Because it ends on a long note, the first version sounds more satisfying. 

Knowing when to end on a long note (and when not to) is the sort of thing a competent writer does instinctively – and something less experienced writers don’t even notice. 

And, as with music, practice can help you develop a good ear.

In the meantime, keep an eye out for the lists in your writing - and make sure the longest note in the list comes last.

Did you notice in my list of reasons to avoid too many adjectives before a noun cited three effects:

It could make make your text sound: 

1. clumsy 

2. slightly desperate, and 

3. impossible to read.”

Well, that brings me onto my fifth tip for more rhythmic writing.

5. LIST THINGS IN THREES

Three is the magic number even when it comes to writing!

For example, the number three can really pack a punch when writing a memorable slogan.

As in:

"A Mars a day helps you work, rest and play" 

or the Olympic slogan...

"Faster, Higher, Stronger"

Writing in threes gives your work balance and rhythm. 

And most importantly it makes it easy for your reader to read!

It’s worth checking out my video titled “Rule of Thirds” to find out all you need to know about applying the number three to your writing. 

So that’s five tips for making your writing easier on the ear.

If you’ve enjoyed this video, be sure to give me a thumbs up, click that notification bell so you never miss a video, and share this video with your colleagues and friends. 

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