Aight bois, the long awaited rhythm and flow.
Think of rhythm as the beats per minute of a song and flow the transitions and smoothness between each notes. Now relate that to sentences and paragraphs.
----- Example
The assailants who saw how their target suddenly became heavily armed were brought to a stop. Many of them notice the characteristics of the blades. One of them fell on his rear in fright as he pointed towards Hiro shivering in distress as he did so.
----- Notes
Aight so a bunch of stuff is wrong with this boi that makes it dry af so let me yeet that around some so the rhythm and flow is emphasized.
----- Edited boi
The assailants halted their movements on a dime as their target armed himself from head to toe faster than they could breathe. Many of them noticed the characteristics of the blades. One of them fell on his rear in fright as he pointed towards Hiro shivering in distress as he did so.
----- Notes cont.
For those who want to use this edited version as a reference of what to do, keep in mind it's half edited rn. For it to be good, 2nd and 3rd sentences need to be redone and then changed a bit so it flows smoothly. ...the next example wrote itself.
Anyways, focusing on the rhythm which is most often presented as sentence length. You got a long first sentence with no commas, a very short second sentence, then a long third sentence. It's like going 30 mph in a car then 60 then 30 again.
BUUUUUT, rhythm is not just limited to sentence length, as a good writer can dictate the rate at which the reader reads by using commas. A great one uses both commas and periods.
----- Example
He took a left. He took a right. The bull on his heels, his toes tearing up the grass. A swerve to dodge the charge. Another le---struck through the heart with its horns.
----- Notes
Fast paced boi as is intended bc it's an action scene. The first two short sentences set the rhythm, then the 3rd sentence that's twice as long follows through with it because of the comma and how the content of the first and second half of that sentence piece together with both parts (this is more flow but ye).
The 4th sentence is a bit longer because the scene is about to end, then it ends with the boi getting impaled.
----- Example pt 2
He took a left, then a right. His pursuers hunted him through the alley ways, one turn apart from capture. The boi swerved to the left and hid, waiting for his pursuers to pass through the endless night.
----- Notes
Aight so I combined the first two sentences of bull boi and came up with this. Had to change the scenario around so the flow would be good and not distract from the rhythm. Kinda hard since they're closely related but ye.
Obligatory tangent done, moving on to analysis. The first sentence of alley boi is more relaxed than bull boi. Hence why I needed to change the entire action scene to be less life threatening to match the flow. It also lead to longer sentences after the 1st to match the rhythm.
Read through each example a few times so you can get a feel for how fast you're reading each sentence. That's the rhythm. The flow is how well it all fits together (some examples on terrible flow next chapter).
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Here's some dialogue examples of differing flow. I won't explain or analyze any of them to allow you peeps to try it on your own.
----- Example
"So... get on with it."
vs
"So, go on... Get on with it."
vs
"Go on, get on with it"
----- Another example
"Drop the donuts or I'll blow your face off." The air within the room stilled, the thief's muscle froze... all because of a single sentence from a hungry man.
vs
"Drop the donuts, or I'll blow your face off." The air within the room stilled, the thief's muscle froze... all because of a single sentence, from a hungry man.
vs
"Drop the donuts... or I'll blow your face off." The air within the room stilled, the thief's muscle froze. All because of a single sentence, from a very hungry man.
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All I'll say is that yes each sentence is different. Try to figure out which part each version emphasizes due to the shift in pacing and how fast the reader reads it.
Understanding flow and rhythm isn't something that you can force through practicing only, unless you feel like reading and writing for a few years. The best way is to analyze a great paragraph in something you read.
And that paragraph cannot be from any Webnovel books to be safe. There's maybe a handful, 50 at best, of great novels (so 8+/10) on here so ye. Go read some traditional books or that list that I recommended a few chaps back.
One more thing to note: The first step isn't starting to understand rhythm and flow, but building the insight to tell the differences between the subtleties of each of those examples. That means you're going beyond identifying the differences and actually understanding how and why they affect the sentences.
When you start to reproduce or play around with such things, that's when you take the first step to understanding rhythm and flow. For native english speakers, this is usually taught in late high school - college so ye.