Recently, author Tarryn Fisher (The Wives) said in a Q&A that being in the writing zone feels like a drumbeat, and I couldn’t agree more. I’ve often talked about rhythm as one of the most important elements in good writing and good storytelling. Poetry has a rhythm, music has a rhythm, and so does great storytelling.

   So how do you find that rhythm? It’s not as easy as hearing the beat of a song, but it should feel that way to your reader. There should be a cadence to your language—one that reflects the setting and genre you are writing—and to your pace. You can feel it when a one syllable word doesn’t maintain your flow, and you need a two-syllable word that means the same thing. You can feel it when a sentence needs to be connected with another sentence so the cadence of the paragraph isn’t too choppy.
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   You will find as you start getting words and paragraphs onto the page, that sometimes you will have a rhythm in one chapter and a different rhythm in another, depending on what is happening in the story. If your character has just received terrible news, and they are in shock, you are going to feel that in your word choice and your sentence structure. The language will be bare, sparse, abbreviated. You convey mood and devastation in what you don’t say too; your reader’s heart will synchronize to the beat you create.