The writing style that will make me stop reading

There’s a certain writing style that I’ve seen become more and more common recently. I saw it on Medium and I see it here on Substack, too.

You’ve seen it.

I know you have.

Entire articles made up of single-line paragraphs.

Some no more than a few words.

The ones where every line tries to look you right in the eye…

… or maybe slightly askance.

Every line trying to make its own impact instead of working with the whole.

It’s a real chore to read, isn’t it? Imagine an entire article of this, accompanied by the kind of stress-inducing cover art that looks like an A.I. fever dream.

Every time I see this, I suspect that the author is trying to replicate the feel of one of those motivational videos filled with quick cuts and a narrator speaking directly into the camera from different angles and in different settings for each sentence. Those videos are either trying too hard to keep the audience’s attention or trying to cover production issues. This writing style gives the same impression.

I won’t claim to be an expert in writing. I have some experience; I’ve run a website for 25 years and published a few books although my earlier writing was a bit cringe-worthy. I had the information but didn’t know how to present it well to the reader. I did the opposite of what I’m talking about here - long paragraphs packed with information and the occasional screenshot to break up the text.

Lists of instructions to follow? Nah. Examples? Forget it. Eventually, I learned. I got the feedback I needed and cared enough to listen. I wasn’t writing for my own amusement; I really wanted to make the information available for other people to benefit from so I learned to present things in a way that people could access. I’m sure I still have things to learn.

For the comfort of the reader, paragraphs should generally be between three and five lines. That lets the reader get into the flow of your thoughts without the herky-jerky feeling of stopping after every line and struggling to connect what are presented as separate thoughts.

A sixth line is okay, if necessary, but I’d start glancing over the text for places where a break could be inserted or where the wordiness could be reduced. A seventh line is probably rambling and an eighth line is, as the Book of Armaments would say, right out.

Less than three lines and the effect of whatever thought you’re presenting better deserve its own paragraph.

Because when I see more than a few lines of this, I stop reading.

If I see it’s a habit with an author, I unsubscribe.

So, please, stop it.