Writing Book 4 · Lesson 32

Explanatory — Draft the middle

The middle of a paragraph supports the topic sentence and nothing else.

What it is

The middle is where the explaining actually happens, and it is built from your road map: one point becomes one paragraph, in the order you numbered. Each paragraph makes its point, then supports it. The most common failure is a paragraph that states a point and moves on without proving it.

Watch it built

1
Take point 2 from your road map.
the root comes first
2
Write the point as the paragraph's first sentence.
Before anything shows above the soil, the root grows down.
3
Add the support: how it works, and one example.
It has to, because the plant needs water before it needs light. In a bean, the root appears two days before the shoot.
Remember
One point per paragraph. State it, then prove it.
Ask yourself: “Does this sentence support my first one?”

Remember

Every sentence earns its place.

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