What makes a good sentence “good”?
There are multiple true answers to this question. A variety sentences can be “good” for very different—and sometimes contradictory—reasons.
I am not trying to offer any definitive answers in this email. I’m merely inviting you to think playfully with me for a while.
All good? Good.
This fall, I’ll be teaching a class at The Porch on The Art of a Good Sentence. I’m tickled pink to be doing this and also a little intimidated. “How am I going to find all the best sentences?” I’ve been fretting. “What if I miss some? Or worse, what if the examples I choose aren’t impressive enough?”
As you can I see, I easily fall prey to a certain idea about “good” sentences. Namely, that such sentences are undeniably impressive—the kind that stop you in your tracks and sear themselves into your memory.
Now, I like a memorable turn of phrase as much as anyone. There’s a reason we all love Mark Twain quotes, whether they’re authentic or apocryphal.
But stop, if you will, and consider this: what’s the good of a sentence that stops you from reading?
I can envision some circumstances where this effect is a mark of success. The end of a good novel, for example. If your story continues to live in your reader’s mind, it means that you’ve made a sincere human connection. They’re not done with your characters, or your plot, or your world, or whatever. You’ve written something they’ll remember for a long time.
However, let’s say you write a sentence that interrupts your reader in the middle of an essay. That effect may feel flattering—”Oh look, they’re taking me seriously!”—but what does it say about the rest of your essay? Was there any point in writing the rest of it?
I recognize that I’m overstating my point, but I think it’s a point worth overstating.
What I’ve come to believe is this: a “good” sentence is simply one that makes your reader want to read the next sentence.
That’s inherently less impressive. It means that your sentences won’t be earning any standing ovations. And yet, if you meet that criteria, what you read will be read.
And isn’t that the point of writing, anyway?