Focusing on the length of your sentences seems like a hard, daunting, and utterly boring task, and some, if not most in the time it will. But it can be vital in strengthening a piece. I myself don’t find myself thinking “is this too long? Too short? Where should each type go?” I often just write however long my sentence wishes itself to be. However, with Ms. Riordan’s assignments that make us annalyz why a sentence is shorter or longer than the rest( i always thought it was coincidence) made me realize it can give power to what you are saying.
One example would be ” The child skipped towards me, clutching in her right hand a pink pillow case embroidered with daisies that she swung in tie with each stop. Her dress was the color of sun and it mingled happily with the bright grass surrounding the house. She stopped two feet in front of me and stuck her free hand inside the sack, she tilted her head to one side with a questioning look and proceeded to pull out a severed head of an aging man with his eyes open, staring at me.
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Instead make it creepier by writing “The child skipped towards me, clutching in her right hand a pink pillow case embroidered with daisies that she swung in tie with each stop. Her dress was the color of sun and it mingled happily with the bright grass surrounding the house. She stopped two feet in front of me and stuck his free hand inside the sack and turned her head playfully to one side with a cheerful smile. She then pulled out from it a severed head. It’s hair had begun to gray, and the face to sagged, but the eyes remained open, taught with fear.”
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*Having that one short sentence gives the reader a good ol’ slap in the face that shocks them more than a longer sentence would because that was what they were expecting.
Syntax can be used to give readers feeling they weren’t even aware of the cause of. Long sentences create a daze, pulling the reader in and feeding them information at a slow pace. While short sentences force the reader to stop and think, create mystery, angst and dramatics by making the audience read faster in hopes to gain to gain more information than the scrapes being provided one at a time. Placement and length (though often over looked) can set deeper mood subconsciousness in your reader, a very mighty power indeed for it is almost invisible.
