Writing Tools

[Spoiler alert: The examples used in this post give away some details of the latest Harry Potter novel.]

Writers, like basketball players, have their favorite moves. I think I've discovered one in the latest work of author J.K. Rowling. So, I'm about to use three brief examples from the last of the Harry Potter novels. Since they appear late in the book, you may want to revisit this post after you've finished "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."

But before you go, let me describe the writing tool: End a paragraph with a short, powerful, meaningful sentence.

Here's the first example:

"Like rain on a cold window, these thoughts pattered against the hard surface of the incontrovertible truth, which was that he must die. I must die. It must end."

Because this paragraph is so important, Rowling ends it not with one short sentence, but two. Each sentence is only three syllables long.

Here's another:

"Then Neville nearly walked into him. He was one half of a pair that was carrying a body in from the grounds. Harry glanced down and felt another dull blow to his stomach: Colin Creevey, though underage, must have sneaked back just as Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle had done. He was tiny in death."

And here's another:

"Harry said it as loudly as he could, with all the force he could muster: He did not want to sound afraid. The Resurrection Stone slipped from between his numb fingers, and out of the corner of his eyes he saw his parents, Sirius, and Lupin vanish as he stepped forward into the firelight. At that moment he felt that nobody mattered but Voldemort. It was just the two of them."

I have argued that Rowling has rarely written a memorable sentence. Her style is not her strength. Her gifts include vivid characterization, clever plots and a remarkable ability to create names. But this move of ending paragraphs with short, meaningful sentences works time and again. It must be powerful because Rowling saves it for special moments. Try it.