EA: flow

I got this comment in a Google Doc, and strive for this to be my north star in essay writing.

"I'm finding each paragraph so rich with revelations, saying yes, I hadn't realized this, but I agree."

This comes from battle testing drafts with “flash feedback.” I ask readers to comment as precisely as they can with—effectively—good vs. bad. Then after

Could rules of poetry inform paragraphs?

Recently, I've been paying extra attention to topic sentences too, which are kind of like an extended version of a paragraph title. During one of the live sessions I wrote, "Clear topic sentences for insane paragraphs." A clear topic sentence helps frame the sentences ahead, and links the whole unit to the larger point of an essay.

When I’m zoned in on an essay, I’m barely thinking or logging. I wonder if tunnel vision is a natural consequence of flow, or if there’s value in taking 2 minutes off every 20 minutes.

On using ellipsis (“…”) in quotes: If your’e omitting a few words within the sentence, you can use … to omit. But if you’re omitting a sentence or more, you put brackets around your ellipsis […]. Seems like a subtle thing, but modifying quotes can be pretty important. So often, I see people dropping 200-300 words quotes, when really, they should be

Clear topic sentences > insane paragraphs.

One of my Essay Architecture patterns is “fabric” which is about sentence to sentence motion. It’s the most zoomed in pattern around structure. I think there are five sub-parts to this:

• CHAINS — In order to unpack an idea, you need to describe it and change your perspective on it over several sentences. This means you need to “carry” some object (ie

The last sentence of every paragraph benefits from an interline rhyme.

I’ve been noticing that paragraphs are stronger when they close on showing instead of telling. The power of closing on an image is that it requires reader visualization and interpretation. It’s active, it’s open-ended, and it creates a draw to the next paragraph in search of some kind of resolution.

Telling on the other hand is logical, revealing,