Writing Book 7 · Lesson 29

Explanatory — Draft the middle

Each body paragraph makes one point and attributes its support.

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: “Where did this come from, and could my reader find it?”

Remember

State it, prove it, and say where the proof came from.

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