Three Quick Tips for Maintaining Consistent Tone in Your Writing

Brian A. Klems reports:

"Find a paragraph that sounds exactly the way you want to sound for this work, and tape it to your computer so that it’s always in front of you...Each time you’re about to return to the piece, spend 20 minutes reading the work of an author who writes in the tone you’re after...You might try taking this a step further by more closely examining the sentence rhythms and word choices and looking for ways to make them your own...[T]ry moving some of your best sentences, the ones with energy and just the right tone, up to the top of your document: 'I’m so looking forward to Christmas this year. It will be the only day in December not entirely consumed by children’s theater performances.' Could the piece begin this way? Experiment with moving equally strong sentences to the conclusion of your piece, for a cohesive ending."