From Poynter’s Roy Peter Clark, who has a blog about writing:
[Spoiler alert: The
examples used in this post give away some details of the latest Harry Potter
novel.]
Writers, like basketball players, have their favorite
moves. I think I’ve discovered one in
the latest work of author J.K. Rowling. So, I’m about to use three brief examples from the last of the Harry
Potter novels. Since they appear late in the book, you may want to
revisit this post after you’ve finished “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.”
But before you go, let me describe the writing tool: End a paragraph with a short, powerful,
meaningful sentence.
Here’s the first example:
“Like rain on a cold window, these thoughts pattered against
the hard surface of the incontrovertible truth, which was that he must
die. I must die. It must end.”
Because this paragraph is so important, Rowling ends it not
with one short sentence, but two.
Each sentence is only three syllables long.
Here’s another:
“Then Neville nearly walked into him. He was one half of a pair that was carrying a
body in from the grounds. Harry glanced
down and felt another dull blow to his stomach:
Colin Creevey, though underage, must have sneaked back just as Malfoy,
Crabbe, and Goyle had done. He was tiny in death.”
And here’s another:
“Harry said it as loudly as he could, with all the force he
could muster: He did not want to sound
afraid. The Resurrection Stone slipped
from between his numb fingers, and out of the corner of his eyes he saw his
parents, Sirius, and Lupin vanish as he stepped forward into the firelight. At that moment he felt that nobody mattered
but Voldemort. It was just the two of
them.”
I have argued that Rowling has rarely written a memorable
sentence. Her style is not her strength. Her gifts include vivid
characterization,
clever plots and a remarkable ability to create names. But this move
of ending paragraphs with short, meaningful sentences works time and again. It must be powerful because Rowling saves it
for special moments. Try
it.
