My vote of thanks goes to the US Figure Skating Starting Skills Criterion but it hasn't taken much to make it slide over into Writing: How Goes IT?RATE THE FLOW OF YOUR WRITING IN
7 SLIPPERY CRITERIA:
Balance - with precision in sentence construction and especially through accurate comma placement,
Flow and effortless glide – avoid anything intrusive that makes for a choppy read (to avoid this, read aloud and listen to how the work sounds)
Cleanness and sureness of plot twists, edge of seat moments contrived in controlled steps and stages, turns (particularly in terms of character development , should be well signalled)
Power/energy and acceleration :)
Mastery of (multi-directional) time
Mastery of emotional content
One footed/ handed writing is not a required or transferable skill ;)
Transitions/Linking between paragraphs and chapters – showing brisk movement
Basically, Figure Skating's advice to writers seems to be avoid the stodge, keep it fast and controlled. Seems like wise advice.
I learned about brine solutions, the effects of temperature inside and outside the stadium, the surface of ice and the thickness of protective glass too - the things I learn for Blogposts!
