Writing One Sentence Paragraphs -- Trending in Free stories posted Everywhere.

[ConansWitchBaby]

You know you guys can just write an email to the Jap companies for a clarification right? Instead of championing for, or, hiding behind obliviousness.

 

[FleecedSheep]

Might be jumping in a bit late here, but...

I mean, I can kind of see what you're saying, but I think you're also making a bit of an assumption. Yes, it's very much monkey see, monkey do, in regard to just how many MTL stories there are. People read them and think that's how a story is supposed to be written, but I'm also aware, at least, here in the USA reading scores have tanked over the last decade. A lot of new graduates from universities can barely read at the first-grade level. That's how bad it has gotten. So, a lot of what you're seeing might be a result of that.

People copy what works, that is always how it goes, even if it's not right. Standard format for research papers has been all but forgotten, and it's not like anyone knows cursive anymore. Like how vocabulary changes or shifts with the times, how one word can have a drastically different meaning compared to it originally had. Like Goon used to be a word coined for a hired thug.

I can imagine a lot of your anger comes about from, if what you said is true, being in the publishing scene yourself. Having exacting standards or knowing that a story needs to meet a certain criterion before it can be accepted, only to see a flood of stories that miss the mark by a mile. Well, I'd be pretty upset myself if I kept seeing, or getting stories like that. Worse still if a story has a decent hook and plot but is ruined by a fundamental misunderstanding on how writing should work. At least, professionally speaking.

As a reader myself, and a writer, well, I don't much care. I don't really have any skin in the game, and I don't want to concern myself with how other people write their stories. As a reader, if I don't like something, I'll drop it. Like, run-on paragraphs, or where a chapter is all one block of text. As a writer, well, again, I'm too focused on my own work to critique others, usually. Especially when my own flaws are likely worse.

I think, if this post was supposed to be a clarion call to action, or even just a post calling out the general decline in writing quality. I think if either was to be true, a different tact might have been better. Still, I can understand and even see your frustration. If everything became slop that was intolerable to read, well, at least I can write my own stories. Though, admittedly, not everyone has that luxury.

 

[StenDuring]

This whole rant feels pretentious, hypocrite, and nonsensical and it shows a clear lack of perspective. There is no true and only way of writing a novel, short or small paragraphs can create tension in the narration with several pauses to create something more emotionally moving than just a giant block of text. It is also what's usually prefered by READERS THEMSELVES when reading in phones, which is how 99% of our audience now reads our novels (and how I do it).
Simpler grammar is easy and quick to read, which is what these authors aim for, not because they're copying badly machine translated novels, you ignoramus. Writing simple and quick chapters is how webnovels are usually designed, a chapter composed of 10 blocks of text that cover the entire phone screen is not what they want.
As someone who enjoys both traditional literature books and also web novels, I understand both of them have their own charm, but if you're writing for a webnovel, short paragraphs will come in more handy than larger, more annoying paragraphs, especially when there's a story featuring multiple characters, each one speaking with one another, you cannot just write their dialogues in a single paragraph, can you? each dialogue comes in a different paragraph or you're going to write a confusing mess.
Also, most readers will call out the overly detailed descriptions as FILLER, and they will call out the Author for writing giant blocks of text that dont advance the plot at all. They want THINGS TO HAPPEN, not you to descrive every minute detail in a 500 word paragraph.
Before you make these rants acting like you're a proffesional in the field, think a little about what other people think about it, especially the vast majority of readers.

There are some of us who prefer to write for those who have retained something approaching reading comprehension. If your attention span fails to cover more than one line at a time, that still doesn't mean a paragraph is equivalent to one line.

Just live with it -- ten pages of one line paragraphs only shows a distressing lack of writing ability.

 

[Valmond]

I get what you are saying, on one end. Yeah, a lot of badly translated books. No doubt about that.

As for the paragraph thing, most people read on their phones.

When taken from the view of a phone, the words are a lot more per sentence. It isn’t like a paper book.

As such, it is a lot easier to get lost on the page. On top of this, the current generation has the attention span of a rat.

In short, it is about adapting or getting left behind. I’ve had to compromise on a lot of stuff, but the only thing I did not budge on. Is the way I write.

Plus, language evolves over time. As a result, certain things are accepted.

In the end, bad translations or not. It is what draws attention, so that’s what is put out. There is just one thing more as well, when it comes to creative writing, that’s when things differ.

There is a certain way to write professional papers, and then there are many ways to write a story. At one point it was strict, but as the craft expanded, it became a matter of what one is willing to do with the tools they have.

Aside from well, bad translations. The field incredibly varies, but it does have more of a hold for more simplistic story telling I will say. However, that isn’t the only thing it accepts.

There is an audience for anything out there, you just gotta find them. Whatever extra is brought on is a bonus. If you want to hit it large, then bending to the expectations is the way to do so, until the next trend.

No need to throw insults. Like if writing romance being heavy on details is important. Another thread suggested that 30000 words is what it takes to establish a character. So with a main character and a love interest and a 100k word budget then more than half the paragraphs should be focused on those two

“And then they banged.”

Welp, this is ready to be published.

Hits publish.
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Also, it doesn’t take 30k words to establish a character. I have no idea who gave that advice.