Good stories are built from good sentences. The best plot in the world, the most interesting characters, fall apart if you don’t know how to string together a sentence. For over a year now, I’ve been in charge of selecting stories for publication in Savage Realms Monthly. The magazine is focused on sword and sorcery fiction and there’s no shortage of submissions. In fact, there are over a hundred in my in-box right now waiting to be read. What separates the stories we publish from the ones that get a polite rejection? It largely comes down to sentence structure.
How do you rise above the ranks of hopefuls and actually land that all important publishing contract?
There are a few simple tips and tricks for crafting sentences that I’d like to share with you over the next few articles. The first is what English professors and writing tutors call right branching sentences.
What the devil is a right branching sentence? Glad you asked.
A right branching sentence is one in which the subject and verb come first. Everything else flows after.
Gorbad clutched the lusty wench to his side while swinging his ensorcelled axe at a throng of blood thirsty pirates.
That is a right branching sentence and it reveals two things. First, it shows why I’ve never published a fantasy book. Second, you’ll notice the subject and verb come at the beginning of the sentence. Gorbad clutched. Gorbad the barbarian is the subject of the sentence and clutched is the action or verb. Everything that comes after is just filling in details for the reader. We see what he is clutching, va va voom, and what he’s swinging and why. But you could cut everything after the verb and still have a sentence. Gorbad clutched. Believe it or not, that’s a sentence. It’s got a subject and a verb. And that’s all you need. Gorbad clutched. The Wench screamed. Pirates charged. All good and proper sentences. Hell we could write an entire story that way.
I can hear you saying, “No self-respecting writer would rely on such simple sentence constructions. We are artists and must create poetry with every word!”
Many literary giants use right branching sentences almost exclusively. Don’t believe me? Pick up Hemingway. His work is full of simple subject/verb constructions. Ian Fleming, Mickey Spillane, Larry McMurtry, and J. K. Rowling all make heavy use of right branching sentences. They cover the gambit of fiction; from fantasy, to spy thriller, to western. And they all made boatloads of money.
You know who else uses simple subject/verb constructions in their writing? Me! I use them almost exclusively. Don’t believe me? Buy all my books and see for yourself. I dare you. Here’s a link: Get Noble Man.
But in all seriousness. I basically use right branching sentences for all my books and not a single fan has written to complain about my simple sentence structure.
In fact, I’d argue my simple style of writing is why I sell so many books. The average reader is not interested in wading through dense thickets of complex sentences. They want an easy to follow narrative. They’ve been working all day, they’re tired, and they just want to kick their feet up and enjoy an adventure tale.
Right branching sentences are easy to write and easy to read. It’s hard for the reader to get lost when the subject and verb are right there at the beginning of the sentence. It’s also a lot harder for you (the author) to screw up a right branching sentence.
Compound/complex sentences on the other hand, the kind new authors use because they think it makes them sound smart, are difficult to master. It takes time and a lot of practice.
If you’re looking to get published, or just improve your sentence construction, my advice is; learn to crawl before you try to walk. Start with simple subject/verb constructions and see how much better your fiction becomes. Once you’ve got the hang of those right branching sentences, we’ll start tackling some more complex sentence structures.
Gorbad clutched. The wench swooned. The barbarian grinned.
Go forth and do likewise!
Need help writing that all important first draft? Check out Crafting Fiction Volume 1: Hard Boiled Outlines.
