Paragraph Breaks

Why can't some whistle-blowing striped one come up with hard-rules about when to break it up?

a little referee action, with my son in the penalty box —

Paragraph-breaking was taught in grade three, elementary school, or then-abouts, for the purposes of writing book reports (do they still do those?) and assignments, and went something like: “when you change your subject, start another…”

Pick up a novel off your shelf published in the 1800s, another from mid-1900s, and a recent one, and the length of paragraphs will stand out; maybe we’re changing subjects more often now. But apparently white space has become a thing. Maybe with all the screens in front of us, we need to breathe when we read.

If you’re doing online nonfiction writing, short paragraphs are where it’s at… they say. Along with sub-titles and other paths to stream-line the read.

Let’s review what few rules there are and look at examples. Share yours too, and your questions.