Writing
More White Space, Please
Tips for making your reader’s job easier
If you’ve been reading about writing here on Medium for awhile, you’ll see a common refrain:
Break up paragraphs. Use more white space. Write in shorter sentences.
Taken to the extreme, this advice can make your writing appear clunky. You’ll lose that beautiful flow that a reader can “hear” in their mind as they read.
So don’t butcher your work, look for ways to highlight it.
Bring out your voice by keeping the reader’s focus on what you say.
To do it, you probably need more white space than you realize.
What white space does
The brief pause it takes for the reader to finish one line and move to the next gives them time to digest that thought.
Think of the physicality of making that transition — the reader’s eyes jump to the next line, moving quickly and over a distance from the end of a paragraph back to the beginning of the next.
Use those milliseconds to your advantage.
Internet readers are known to skim, scanning quickly over the page. If you hit them with a block of text, they’ll likely gloss over the last half of the paragraph.
Efficient use of white space on a page draws the reader down the page, and helps with reader comprehension. Plus, the faster they’re moving through the piece, the further they’ll get.
Most people writing online content know this.
And best-selling genre fiction authors know this, too.
White space in novels
Literary fiction is beautiful. Pick up a well-written masterpiece, and it’s possible to swim in the descriptions and revel in the perfect analogies.
Yet how many students struggled through the classics?
People who love classics, like myself, must still concentrate to get through dense prose. Even I’m guilty of skimming.
Genre fiction doesn’t have to be fluff, but it does need to entertain. And most genre fiction readers don’t want to have to concentrate for their entertainment.
So if your goal is commercial or genre fiction, you must consider the reader.
Make it easy for your reader
Use white space to lead your reader through the story.
Force their eyes to sprint through an action scene.
Let white space increase the pace of character banter. As the reader’s eyes move through the page quickly, the back-and-forth between characters feels real and snappy.
Ever felt like you were racing through a scene and dying to know how it would end?
White space played a role.
Try this exercise: Time yourself reading through one page of classic literature. Then, time yourself reading a current bestseller (genre of your choice). See the difference? Readers feel that pace. They notice it.
Propel the reader from one page to the next, and your work will earn the coveted title of a “page-turner”.
White space is one tool to get you there.
Tips for creating more white space
If your goal is genre fiction, your editor will likely guide you toward creating more space on each page.
Think of the last bestseller you read. Even better, pick it up and flip through it.
Flip fast. Notice how few words are on each page as you go. Take note of how much dialogue is present, versus narrative. These elements create a book that is easy to read for the masses.
Here are a few tips to help you create that forward momentum:
Break up long paragraphs
One of the more frequent edits I perform is showing authors where they can start new paragraphs to break up blocks of text.
Any time the topic shifts, that’s a new paragraph.
Sounds simple, until you really get going as you write. It all fits together in your head in a logical progression, but you might have three ideas crammed in one paragraph.
So aim for only a handful of sentences — max — and look for where the paragraph starts to shift to a new idea.
Use shorter sentences
Along with shorter paragraphs, shorter sentences keep writing concise. No more meandering sentences with multiple commas (or even a semi-colon).
Those are great for some types of nonfiction and limited fiction, such as literary, but for genre fiction it’s all about telling story efficiently and quickly.
Remember, think of the reader. Don’t lose them with long sentences.
Switch out narrative for dialogue to give backstory
Instead of the protagonist sharing something that happened through narration, try having them tell another character. And have that other character interrupt with questions or comments to draw the story out of the protagonist.
When executed well, the reader won’t even notice they’re being fed backstory.
Dole it out piece-by-piece instead of all at once, and they’ll be there right along with you waiting for the next tidbit.
Break up long descriptions
It’s tempting to start a scene with a long paragraph establishing setting. First the reader is told the place, then the weather, then the different varieties of plants…
Those are great details and should be included, just not as a block of text in the beginning.
Instead, focus on what the reader needs to know to understand where they are.
Then take those other sensory details and sprinkle them throughout the rest of the first few pages.
Not only will that thin out the text at the beginning, but those details will serve as reminders to keep the reader grounded in the setting.
This isn’t to say that longer paragraphs are evil. If the reader just had a wild ride, a handful of sentences at a time can be a great way to give them a chance to catch their breath before you take them through the next action.
But be aware of how each paragraph and line functions.
Bestselling books are made of many elements, but one of the quickest ways to improve your writing (and reader satisfaction) is to focus on creating white space.
Give it a try! Pick a chapter from your current work-in-progress and rewrite it using the tips above to create more white space. You may find that was the key to taking your writing to the next level.
