Learn the rules.
Brush up on your writing knowledge, on the ins and the outs of a good paragraph. I’d start here, here and here.
Read well.
There’s simply no way to get around this one.in order to make a good article you need to read more .If you are indeed what you eat, a well-strung sentence is a rack of lamb. Read plenty, read often. Get thee a library card. Try on the classics; abandon what doesn’t fit. (I have attempted Proust five times to no avail.) Familiarize yourself with technical writing; find beauty in the dishwasher manual, that understated joy of saying only what you mean and meaning only what you say.
Find an author to love, one who reveals the impossible to you, who shakes you by the shoulders a bit.
Next, break the rules.
Listen, Jenny Offill wrote one of the most compelling books about motherhood and ambition, yet the traditional “arc” is altogether nonexistent. It’s fragmented, drifty. (It’s wonderful.) Salinger’s Franny and Zooey is arguably plotless, yet remarkable still. Ray Bradbury was rumored to write his bestsellers in 9 days, stream-of-consciousness style. Cheryl Strayed took a mere advice column and transformed it into a living memoir.
What I’m saying is this: Get a little bit Lorrie Moore about it. Circle around, if you’d like. Poetry can be prose, and most certainly vice versa.
Throw in some weeds.
Resist the temptation to make each and every sentence beautiful. If your paragraph is a garden, throw in some weeds among the prettier blooms. Contrast is key. Surprises are good. Too many lullabies make for a sleepy reader.
