By Lori Freeland

Whether you’re starting your novel or you’re shoulder-deep in revisions, snacks, and wine, knowing when to hit Enter can take your writing from meh to manuscript-ready.

Paragraphs aren’t just for spacing. They’re for storytelling. A single line break can shift focus, change pacing, or land an emotional hit. The right paragraph tells the reader where to breathe, what to feel, and when to pay attention.

Used well, paragraphing isn’t just structure. It’s voice. It’s rhythm. It’s power. So how do you know when to actually hit Enter? Let’s break it down.

The Art of White Space

Reading a giant paragraph that goes on forever—sometimes pages!—feels like trying to find your black SUV in a parking garage full of black SUVs. Exhausting. Disorienting. And honestly? Many readers won’t even try. They’ll skim and miss potentially important information or some great prose.

Here’s the secret: The words might be the same, but how you break them up changes everything.

White space is more than just aesthetics. It’s a psychological trick that tells your reader, “Hey, this isn’t hard. It’s fun.” Without white space, even great writing feels dense. With it, your story flows. And your reader stays engaged.

A rule of thumb is 4-6 sentences depending on how long they are and what you’re trying to say.

Here’s a visual example:

The Strength of a Stand-Alone Sentence

Stand-alone sentences scream “Notice me!” Use them to set something off, get the reader’s attention, build tension or emotion, highlight a change in story or character direction, or deliver a punchline you’ve been setting up in the scene or story.

The Rule of Clarity

Keep a character’s speech, actions, body language, expressions, and thoughts together unless it gets too long. This makes it easier for the reader to know who’s speaking and doing the action.  

Out with the old. In with the new. The rule used to be new speaker = new paragraph. But that doesn’t give you ideal clarity. The better rule is change of focus = new paragraph.

• Change of Speaker

While we’re expanding the paragraphing rules, the old still stands. Every time someone different has dialogue, you need to paragraph.

Example:

“I’ll be back by curfew.” My sister breezes past, repeating the lie she’s told me all week.

“You know liars go to hell, right?” Aidan calls her out when I don’t.

“Be sure to save me a seat up front.” She shoves her phone into the back pocket of her dark gray jeans and tugs up the hood of her black sweatshirt.

• Different Characters Performing Actions Without Dialogue

Example:

Jerry slammed his hands on the table.

Paul whirled around.

• Change of Physical Focus

This can be inside to outside, to another room, or to another person.

Example:

Outside, the SUV inched forward.

Unease slithered through my gut. I tugged my phone from the waistband of my candy-cane flannels and rubbed my thumb across the dark screen. I could call Dad. But if I ruined the last day of the only vacation he and my mother had taken in ten years, she’d make me pay for the next five.

• Dealing with Dialogue

Readers should never have to guess who’s talking.

• Simple tags can be your friends

“Said” is invisible magic that works when you need something quick. It also helps differentiate when you have a fast back-and-forth between two characters. And you don’t need to keep using it once you’ve established who’s first in the exchange. However, if the conversation goes on a while with no other “speaker” cues, you’ll need to stick it in every so often.

Example:

“I like you,” she said.

“You do?”

“I do.”

“Absolutely.”

“Why?” he asked.

• Beware the adverb parade
  

Example:

“I have to have that candy bar,” I whined loudly.
“Fine!” Ella angrily cried.

Your editor’s soul just died a little. It’s better to show how someone’s speaking than to slap on these kinds of descriptions.

Example:

“I have to have that candy bar.” I dragged the last word out like it might change her mind.

“Fine!” Ella’s voice was sharp enough to cut glass. “Take it.”

• Use action beats

Make the action do double duty and tell the reader who’s speaking.

Example:

“I have to have that candy bar.” I clutched it to my chest.  

“Fine! Take it.” Ella threw up her hands and stalked away.

• Try internal thought

This only works for your point-of-view character because we, as the reader, can only be in one person’s head at a time.

Example:

“Stay.” It’s sounds like I’m begging. Maybe I am.

Leaning into the car, Claire throws my backpack into the passenger seat. “Matt needs me.”

Right. Whatever. Because apparently, I don’t. “Just go then.”

*A note about punctuation.

• Use quotation marks for what people say out loud, NOT what they’re thinking.

Example:

“Hey, let’s catch that movie.” (dialogue)

We should catch that movie. (internal thought)

Side Note: Avoid using words like thought and wondered when possible. They are filter words that pull the reader out of deep point-of-view.

Example:

I thought she looked pretty in that dress. / She looked pretty in that dress.

• Use a comma and a lowercase letter with a dialogue tag.

Example:

“I’m in,” she said.

• Use a period and a capital letter with everything else.

Example:

“I’m in.” She grabbed her bag. (action)

“Don’t do that.” Her voice rose. (dialogue cue that’s not a tag like said)

“Sure. I can do that.” Not gonna happen. (internal thought)

• Use an em dash for interruptions.

Example (cutting someone off):

“I just think—”
“Don’t think,” she snapped.

Example (interrupting dialogue in the middle):

Old school: (commas)
“I think,” she said, “you should go.”

New School: (em dashes)
“I think”—she looked away—“you should go.”

Note that the em dashes go OUTSIDE of the parentheses, and you don’t use a comma.

(Two hyphens + no space before next word = em dash magic.)

Final Thoughts

With smart paragraphing, your story has room to breathe and so does the reader. Paragraph with purpose. Because clean, intentional writing doesn’t just keep readers reading—it keeps them feeling. And that’s the goal, right?

What’s your paragraphing pet peeve or your favorite line-break power move? Drop it in the comments!

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About Lori

Lori Freeland wrote her first story at age five. It wasn’t good, but it left her with the belief that everyone has a story to tell. An author, editor, and writing coach, she writes everything from articles to novels, has taught at conferences across the country, and helped many new writers find their voices. A mood reader, she loves happy endings, thrills and chills, unexpected twists, and anything a little weird—as long as it has a touch of romance. When she’s not curled up on the couch with her husband and her dog drinking too much coffee, you can find her messing with the lives of the imaginary people living inside her head.

lorifreeland.com (young adult & contemporary romance fiction) 

lafreeland.com (inspirational blog & resources for writers) 

The Accidental Boyfriend was an Amazon #1 New Release, a ReaderViews Bronze Award Winner, and a Publisher’s Weekly BookLife Prize Finalist.

Jess is everything Gabe wants. Gabe is everything Jess doesn’t know she needs. After celebrity heartthrob Gabe unknowingly hijacks homeschooled Jess’s first kiss, he decides she could be the perfect decoy to throw off the paparazzi. If he can convince her to play his girlfriend of the week. Keeping the impossible promise he made his mom depends on it. Only Jess isn’t about to be anyone’s fangirl and wants nothing to with TV's hottest hairball or his Hollywood ego.

Header photo - Tom Hermans - Unsplash