Write Smooth Transitions

Effective writers transition smoothly from one idea to the next, from one sentence to the next, from one paragraph to the next. Creating links between segments of your prose makes your writing logical for readers to follow. It also creates smooth writing that flows and is easy for readers to understand. These links can be words or phrases or repetition of sounds - anything that will signal to readers that you are now moving on to a new idea and it has a relationship to the idea you are moving from. Good transitions keep your writing from being awkward and abrupt. Transitions provide signs to your readers that guide them through your thinking processes in a way that makes sense to them. Without these transitions, your writing can seem disjointed and confusing. When you transition between different types of writing such as from a descriptive passage to a dialogue passage, transitional wording is especially important. The abrupt edges of the distinctions must be blended much like a painter would blend the edges of two adjoining colors of paint. This blending, or transitioning, creates a piece of writing that is a unified whole, made up of distinct parts, but having many parts that work together to create the desired effect. Writing smooth transitions will not only help your writing flow, it will strengthen your writing and provide critical guideposts for your readers to follow.