Paragraph breaks. Everyone knows about them but doesn’t know how to use them. We’ve read multiple works by our friends and peers who do not know how to use paragraphs, so we wanted to help.
First things first. When multiple characters are speaking, a new paragraph always starts after each dialogue. For example:
“‘You,” I whispered, my chest heaving, ‘crushed my flowers.’
‘What was that?’ He stepped closer to me, his head bent low.
‘Those were my favorite flowers!’ I yelled.
He jumped in surprise. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘Is that all you can say?’ I asked, gaining my breathe back.”
The next type of paragraph breaks are when the action changes. Maybe your character is watching a movie and then they spill their popcorn. That would be different paragraphs. For example:
“I had to get away from that awkward conversation. I stopped by my locker before heading to my second hour class. The comforting black locker calmed my racing heart. I placed my backpack in there and grabbed my binder from it. If I ever lost this binder, I would be lost in school. It had everything I needed it in.
I shut my locker and basically ran up the stairs to my English classroom. I stood outside the classroom for a second so I could catch my breath. I didn’t want to sound like I rushed here when in reality I did.”
We hope this helps!
– Alexandrea and Brittney
The Writing Twins 