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11 Rules for Essay Paragraph Structure (with Examples)

How do you structure a paragraph in an essay?

If you’re like the majority of my students, you might be getting your basic essay paragraph structure wrong and getting lower grades than you could!

In this article, I outline the 11 key steps to writing a perfect paragraph. But, this isn’t your normal ‘how to write an essay’ article. Rather, I’ll try to give you some insight into exactly what teachers look out for when they’re grading essays and figuring out what grade to give them.

You can navigate each issue below, or scroll down to read them all:

1. Paragraphs must be at least four sentences long 2. But, at most seven sentences long 3. Your paragraph must be Left-Aligned 4. You need a topic sentence 5 . Next, you need an explanation sentence 6. You need to include an example 7. You need to include citations 8. All paragraphs need to be relevant to the marking criteria 9. Only include one key idea per paragraph 10. Keep sentences short 11. Keep quotes short

Paragraph structure is one of the most important elements of getting essay writing right .

As I cover in my Ultimate Guide to Writing an Essay Plan , paragraphs are the heart and soul of your essay.

However, I find most of my students have either:

• forgotten how to write paragraphs properly,
• gotten lazy, or
• never learned it in the first place!

Paragraphs in essay writing are different from paragraphs in other written genres .

In fact, the paragraphs that you are reading now would not help your grades in an essay.

That’s because I’m writing in journalistic style, where paragraph conventions are vastly different.

For those of you coming from journalism or creative writing, you might find you need to re-learn paragraph writing if you want to write well-structured essay paragraphs to get top grades.

Below are eleven reasons your paragraphs are losing marks, and what to do about it!

Essay Paragraph Structure Rules

1. your paragraphs must be at least 4 sentences long.

In journalism and blog writing, a one-sentence paragraph is great. It’s short, to-the-point, and helps guide your reader. For essay paragraph structure, one-sentence paragraphs suck.

A one-sentence essay paragraph sends an instant signal to your teacher that you don’t have much to say on an issue.

A short paragraph signifies that you know something – but not much about it. A one-sentence paragraph lacks detail, depth and insight.

Many students come to me and ask, “what does ‘add depth’ mean?” It’s one of the most common pieces of feedback you’ll see written on the margins of your essay.

Personally, I think ‘add depth’ is bad feedback because it’s a short and vague comment. But, here’s what it means: You’ve not explained your point enough!

If you’re writing one-, two- or three-sentence essay paragraphs, you’re costing yourself marks.

Always aim for at least four sentences per paragraph in your essays.

This doesn’t mean that you should add ‘fluff’ or ‘padding’ sentences.

Make sure you don’t:

a) repeat what you said in different words, or b) write something just because you need another sentence in there.

But, you need to do some research and find something insightful to add to that two-sentence paragraph if you want to ace your essay.

Check out Points 5 and 6 for some advice on what to add to that short paragraph to add ‘depth’ to your paragraph and start moving to the top of the class.

• How to Make an Essay Longer
• How to Make an Essay Shorter

2. Your Paragraphs must not be more than 7 Sentences Long

Okay, so I just told you to aim for at least four sentences per paragraph. So, what’s the longest your paragraph should be?

Seven sentences. That’s a maximum.

So, here’s the rule:

Between four and seven sentences is the sweet spot that you need to aim for in every single paragraph.

Here’s why your paragraphs shouldn’t be longer than seven sentences:

1. It shows you can organize your thoughts. You need to show your teacher that you’ve broken up your key ideas into manageable segments of text (see point 10)

2. It makes your work easier to read.   You need your writing to be easily readable to make it easy for your teacher to give you good grades. Make your essay easy to read and you’ll get higher marks every time.

One of the most important ways you can make your work easier to read is by writing paragraphs that are less than six sentences long.

3. It prevents teacher frustration. Teachers are just like you. When they see a big block of text their eyes glaze over. They get frustrated, lost, their mind wanders … and you lose marks.

To prevent teacher frustration, you need to ensure there’s plenty of white space in your essay. It’s about showing them that the piece is clearly structured into one key idea per ‘chunk’ of text.

Often, you might find that your writing contains tautologies and other turns of phrase that can be shortened for clarity.

3. Your Paragraph must be Left-Aligned

Turn off ‘Justified’ text and: Never. Turn. It. On. Again.

Justified text is where the words are stretched out to make the paragraph look like a square. It turns the writing into a block. Don’t do it. You will lose marks, I promise you! Win the psychological game with your teacher: left-align your text.

A good essay paragraph is never ‘justified’.

I’m going to repeat this, because it’s important: to prevent your essay from looking like a big block of muddy, hard-to-read text align your text to the left margin only.

You want white space on your page – and lots of it. White space helps your reader scan through your work. It also prevents it from looking like big blocks of text.

You want your reader reading vertically as much as possible: scanning, browsing, and quickly looking through for evidence you’ve engaged with the big ideas.

The justified text doesn’t help you do that. Justified text makes your writing look like a big, lumpy block of text that your reader doesn’t want to read.

What’s wrong with Center-Aligned Text?

While I’m at it, never, ever, center-align your text either. Center-aligned text is impossible to skim-read. Your teacher wants to be able to quickly scan down the left margin to get the headline information in your paragraph.

Not many people center-align text, but it’s worth repeating: never, ever center-align your essays.

Don’t annoy your reader. Left align your text.

4. Your paragraphs must have a Topic Sentence

The first sentence of an essay paragraph is called the topic sentence. This is one of the most important sentences in the correct essay paragraph structure style.

The topic sentence should convey exactly what key idea you’re going to cover in your paragraph.

Too often, students don’t let their reader know what the key idea of the paragraph is until several sentences in.

You must show what the paragraph is about in the first sentence.

You never, ever want to keep your reader in suspense. Essays are not like creative writing. Tell them straight away what the paragraph is about. In fact, if you can, do it in the first half of the first sentence .

I’ll remind you again: make it easy to grade your work. Your teacher is reading through your work trying to determine what grade to give you. They’re probably going to mark 20 assignments in one sitting. They have no interest in storytelling or creativity. They just want to know how much you know! State what the paragraph is about immediately and move on.

Suggested: Best Words to Start a Paragraph

Ideal Essay Paragraph Structure Example: Writing a Topic Sentence If your paragraph is about how climate change is endangering polar bears, say it immediately : “Climate change is endangering polar bears.” should be your first sentence in your paragraph. Take a look at first sentence of each of the four paragraphs above this one. You can see from the first sentence of each paragraph that the paragraphs discuss:

When editing your work, read each paragraph and try to distil what the one key idea is in your paragraph. Ensure that this key idea is mentioned in the first sentence .

(Note: if there’s more than one key idea in the paragraph, you may have a problem. See Point 9 below .)

The topic sentence is the most important sentence for getting your essay paragraph structure right. So, get your topic sentences right and you’re on the right track to a good essay paragraph.

5. You need an Explanation Sentence

All topic sentences need a follow-up explanation. The very first point on this page was that too often students write paragraphs that are too short. To add what is called ‘depth’ to a paragraph, you can come up with two types of follow-up sentences: explanations and examples.

Let’s take explanation sentences first.

Explanation sentences give additional detail. They often provide one of the following services:

Let’s go back to our example of a paragraph on Climate change endangering polar bears. If your topic sentence is “Climate change is endangering polar bears.”, then your follow-up explanation sentence is likely to explain how, why, where, or when. You could say:

Ideal Essay Paragraph Structure Example: Writing Explanation Sentences 1. How: “The warming atmosphere is melting the polar ice caps.” 2. Why: “The polar bears’ habitats are shrinking every single year.” 3. Where: “This is happening in the Antarctic ice caps near Greenland.” 4. When: “Scientists first noticed the ice caps were shrinking in 1978.”

You don’t have to provide all four of these options each time.

But, if you’re struggling to think of what to add to your paragraph to add depth, consider one of these four options for a good quality explanation sentence.

>>>RELATED ARTICLE: SHOULD YOU USE RHETORICAL QUESTIONS IN ESSAYS ?

6. Your need to Include an Example

Examples matter! They add detail. They also help to show that you genuinely understand the issue. They show that you don’t just understand a concept in the abstract; you also understand how things work in real life.

Example sentences have the added benefit of personalising an issue. For example, after saying “Polar bears’ habitats are shrinking”, you could note specific habitats, facts and figures, or even a specific story about a bear who was impacted.

Ideal Essay Paragraph Structure Example: Writing an ‘Example’ Sentence “For example, 770,000 square miles of Arctic Sea Ice has melted in the past four decades, leading Polar Bear populations to dwindle ( National Geographic, 2018 )

In fact, one of the most effective politicians of our times – Barrack Obama – was an expert at this technique. He would often provide examples of people who got sick because they didn’t have healthcare to sell Obamacare.

What effect did this have? It showed the real-world impact of his ideas. It humanised him, and got him elected president – twice!

Be like Obama. Provide examples. Often.

7. All Paragraphs need Citations

Provide a reference to an academic source in every single body paragraph in the essay. The only two paragraphs where you don’t need a reference is the introduction and conclusion .

Let me repeat: Paragraphs need at least one reference to a quality scholarly source .

Let me go even further:

Students who get the best marks provide two references to two different academic sources in every paragraph.

Two references in a paragraph show you’ve read widely, cross-checked your sources, and given the paragraph real thought.

It’s really important that these references link to academic sources, not random websites, blogs or YouTube videos. Check out our Seven Best types of Sources to Cite in Essays post to get advice on what sources to cite. Number 6 w ill surprise you!

Ideal Essay Paragraph Structure Example: In-Text Referencing in Paragraphs Usually, in-text referencing takes the format: (Author, YEAR), but check your school’s referencing formatting requirements carefully. The ‘Author’ section is the author’s last name only. Not their initials. Not their first name. Just their last name . My name is Chris Drew. First name Chris, last name Drew. If you were going to reference an academic article I wrote in 2019, you would reference it like this: (Drew, 2019).

Where do you place those two references?

Place the first reference at the end of the first half of the paragraph. Place the second reference at the end of the second half of the paragraph.

This spreads the references out and makes it look like all the points throughout the paragraph are backed up by your sources. The goal is to make it look like you’ve reference regularly when your teacher scans through your work.

Remember, teachers can look out for signposts that indicate you’ve followed academic conventions and mentioned the right key ideas.

Spreading your referencing through the paragraph helps to make it look like you’ve followed the academic convention of referencing sources regularly.

Here are some examples of how to reference twice in a paragraph:

• If your paragraph was six sentences long, you would place your first reference at the end of the third sentence and your second reference at the end of the sixth sentence.
• If your paragraph was five sentences long, I would recommend placing one at the end of the second sentence and one at the end of the fifth sentence.

You’ve just read one of the key secrets to winning top marks.

8. Every Paragraph must be relevant to the Marking Criteria

Every paragraph must win you marks. When you’re editing your work, check through the piece to see if every paragraph is relevant to the marking criteria.

For the British: In the British university system (I’m including Australia and New Zealand here – I’ve taught at universities in all three countries), you’ll usually have a ‘marking criteria’. It’s usually a list of between two and six key learning outcomes your teacher needs to use to come up with your score. Sometimes it’s called a:

• Marking criteria
• Marking rubric
• (Key) learning outcome
• Indicative content

Check your assignment guidance to see if this is present. If so, use this list of learning outcomes to guide what you write. If your paragraphs are irrelevant to these key points, delete the paragraph .

Paragraphs that don’t link to the marking criteria are pointless. They won’t win you marks.

For the Americans: If you don’t have a marking criteria / rubric / outcomes list, you’ll need to stick closely to the essay question or topic. This goes out to those of you in the North American system. North America (including USA and Canada here) is often less structured and the professor might just give you a topic to base your essay on.

If all you’ve got is the essay question / topic, go through each paragraph and make sure each paragraph is relevant to the topic.

For example, if your essay question / topic is on “The Effects of Climate Change on Polar Bears”,

• Don’t talk about anything that doesn’t have some connection to climate change and polar bears;
• Don’t talk about the environmental impact of oil spills in the Gulf of Carpentaria;
• Don’t talk about black bear habitats in British Columbia.
• Do talk about the effects of climate change on polar bears (and relevant related topics) in every single paragraph .

You may think ‘stay relevant’ is obvious advice, but at least 20% of all essays I mark go off on tangents and waste words.

Stay on topic in Every. Single. Paragraph. If you want to learn more about how to stay on topic, check out our essay planning guide .

9. Only have one Key Idea per Paragraph

One key idea for each paragraph. One key idea for each paragraph. One key idea for each paragraph.

Don’t forget!

Too often, a student starts a paragraph talking about one thing and ends it talking about something totally different. Don’t be that student.

To ensure you’re focussing on one key idea in your paragraph, make sure you know what that key idea is. It should be mentioned in your topic sentence (see Point 3 ). Every other sentence in the paragraph adds depth to that one key idea.

If you’ve got sentences in your paragraph that are not relevant to the key idea in the paragraph, they don’t fit. They belong in another paragraph.

Go through all your paragraphs when editing your work and check to see if you’ve veered away from your paragraph’s key idea. If so, you might have two or even three key ideas in the one paragraph.

You’re going to have to get those additional key ideas, rip them out, and give them paragraphs of their own.

If you have more than one key idea in a paragraph you will lose marks. I promise you that.

The paragraphs will be too hard to read, your reader will get bogged down reading rather than scanning, and you’ll have lost grades.

10. Keep Sentences Short

If a sentence is too long it gets confusing. When the sentence is confusing, your reader will stop reading your work. They will stop reading the paragraph and move to the next one. They’ll have given up on your paragraph.

Short, snappy sentences are best.

Shorter sentences are easier to read and they make more sense. Too often, students think they have to use big, long, academic words to get the best marks. Wrong. Aim for clarity in every sentence in the paragraph. Your teacher will thank you for it.

The students who get the best marks write clear, short sentences.

When editing your draft, go through your essay and see if you can shorten your longest five sentences.

(To learn more about how to write the best quality sentences, see our page on Seven ways to Write Amazing Sentences .)

11. Keep Quotes Short

Eighty percent of university teachers hate quotes. That’s not an official figure. It’s my guestimate based on my many interactions in faculty lounges. Twenty percent don’t mind them, but chances are your teacher is one of the eight out of ten who hate quotes.

Teachers tend to be turned off by quotes because it makes it look like you don’t know how to say something on your own words.

Now that I’ve warned you, here’s how to use quotes properly:

Ideal Essay Paragraph Structure Example: How To Use Quotes in University-Level Essay Paragraphs 1. Your quote should be less than one sentence long. 2. Your quote should be less than one sentence long. 3. You should never start a sentence with a quote. 4. You should never end a paragraph with a quote. 5 . You should never use more than five quotes per essay. 6. Your quote should never be longer than one line in a paragraph.

The minute your teacher sees that your quote takes up a large chunk of your paragraph, you’ll have lost marks.

Your teacher will circle the quote, write a snarky comment in the margin, and not even bother to give you points for the key idea in the paragraph.

Avoid quotes, but if you really want to use them, follow those five rules above.

I’ve also provided additional pages outlining Seven tips on how to use Quotes if you want to delve deeper into how, when and where to use quotes in essays. Be warned: quoting in essays is harder than you thought.

Follow the advice above and you’ll be well on your way to getting top marks at university.

Writing essay paragraphs that are well structured takes time and practice. Don’t be too hard on yourself and keep on trying!

Below is a summary of our 11 key mistakes for structuring essay paragraphs and tips on how to avoid them.

I’ve also provided an easy-to-share infographic below that you can share on your favorite social networking site. Please share it if this article has helped you out!

11 Biggest Essay Paragraph Structure Mistakes you’re probably Making

1.  Your paragraphs are too short 2.  Your paragraphs are too long 3.  Your paragraph alignment is ‘Justified’ 4.  Your paragraphs are missing a topic sentence 5 .  Your paragraphs are missing an explanation sentence 6.  Your paragraphs are missing an example 7.  Your paragraphs are missing references 8.  Your paragraphs are not relevant to the marking criteria 9.  You’re trying to fit too many ideas into the one paragraph 10.  Your sentences are too long 11.  Your quotes are too long

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 5 Top Tips for Succeeding at University
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 50 Durable Goods Examples
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 100 Consumer Goods Examples
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 30 Globalization Pros and Cons

4 thoughts on “11 Rules for Essay Paragraph Structure (with Examples)”

Hello there. I noticed that throughout this article on Essay Writing, you keep on saying that the teacher won’t have time to go through the entire essay. Don’t you think this is a bit discouraging that with all the hard work and time put into your writing, to know that the teacher will not read through the entire paper?

Hi Clarence,

Thanks so much for your comment! I love to hear from readers on their thoughts.

Yes, I agree that it’s incredibly disheartening.

But, I also think students would appreciate hearing the truth.

Behind closed doors many / most university teachers are very open about the fact they ‘only have time to skim-read papers’. They regularly bring this up during heated faculty meetings about contract negotiations! I.e. in one university I worked at, we were allocated 45 minutes per 10,000 words – that’s just over 4 minutes per 1,000 word essay, and that’d include writing the feedback, too!

If students know the truth, they can better write their essays in a way that will get across the key points even from a ‘skim-read’.

I hope to write candidly on this website – i.e. some of this info will never be written on university blogs because universities want to hide these unfortunate truths from students.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Regards, Chris

This is wonderful and helpful, all I say is thank you very much. Because I learned a lot from this site, own by chris thank you Sir.

Thank you. This helped a lot.

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — William Hazlitt — Hate According To William Hazlitt

Hate According to William Hazlitt

• Categories: William Hazlitt

About this sample

Words: 810 |

Published: Sep 19, 2019

Words: 810 | Pages: 2 | 5 min read

Works Cited

• Hazlitt, W. (1826). On the pleasure of hating. In The complete works of William Hazlitt (Vol. 10, pp. 1-18). J. Templeman.
• Baumeister, R. F., Bratslavsky, E., Finkenauer, C., & Vohs, K. D. (2001). Bad is stronger than good. Review of General Psychology, 5(4), 323-370.
• Baron, R. A., & Richardson, D. R. (1994). Human aggression (2nd ed.). Plenum Press.
• Berkowitz, L. (1990). On the formation and regulation of anger and aggression: A cognitive-neoassociationistic analysis. American Psychologist, 45(4), 494-503.
• Bloom, P. (2013). Just babies: The origins of good and evil. Random House.
• Gross, J. J. (2001). Emotion regulation in adulthood: Timing is everything. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 10(6), 214-219.
• Leary, M. R., Tambor, E. S., Terdal, S. K., & Downs, D. L. (1995). Self-esteem as an interpersonal monitor: The sociometer hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68(3), 518-530.
• Pinker, S. (2011). The better angels of our nature: Why violence has declined. Penguin Books.
• Rottenberg, J., & Gross, J. J. (2007). Emotion and emotion regulation: A map for psychotherapy researchers. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 14(4), 323-328.
• Simon-Thomas, E. R., Keltner, D. J., Sauter, D. A., Sinicropi-Yao, L., & Abramson, A. (2009). The voice conveys specific emotions: Evidence from vocal burst displays. Emotion, 9(6), 838-846.

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Which Writing Rules Do Writers Hate?

American writer Jonathan Franzen attracted a lot of ire not long ago over a piece he penned for LitHub entitled ’10 Rules of Writing for Novelists.’

It’s his use of the word ‘rules’ that’s got everyone’s goat. If there’s one thing I’ve learned while studying the supposed rules of writing it’s that there aren’t any rules that can’t be broken.

Yes, there are basic laws of grammar, storytelling, dialogue, plot and the like, but beyond that, particularly when it comes to styles and approaches to writing prose , it’s all theory and preference.

Time and time again writers have broken established writing rules with brilliant effect. Franzen should have known better.

When somebody suggests a rule of writing, or a rule of writing a poem, for instance, I see it as their way of offering advice on the practices that have suited them best.

Is it arrogant to call them creative writing rules or writing rules for good writing? Probably.

If you’ve been in this game a while you’ve no doubt seen plenty of these lists. Elmore Leonard’s 10 rules of writing springs to mind. So too Strunk and White’s rules of writing. And, of course, George Orwell’s rules of writing.

The danger is for new writers, who in their sponge-like stage of absorption, can read misleading rules for writing a book, and then grow frustrated down the line when readers and editors tell them otherwise.

I suppose that’s a lesson in itself, one all writers have to learn— what may work for one writer may not work for another.

It was obvious that these so-called rules of writing espoused by Franzen had touched a nerve with many writers. I wanted to find out why exactly.

So I put the question to writers. I hosted polls over a couple of days in dozens of online writing groups on Facebook and received a total of 199 responses. Not a great sample size but there were lots of insightful comments too, so the exercise was a worthwhile one.

This is what I asked them:

What writing rules do you detest most? What writing rules do you find yourself breaking often? What writing rules do you not see the point of? Which writing rules do you regard as outdated and no longer relevant?

The Results

Since tables aren’t much fun, I made a little infographic. Just click below to download.

Select A Writing Rule

• Never use the passive voice
• Avoid excessive use of adjectives
• Never use an adverb
• Never start a sentence with…
• Show don’t tell
• Write everyday
• Avoid flashbacks
• Don’t info dump
• Avoid using ‘that’
• Don’t end sentences on a preposition

I’ve also recorded a podcast on this very subject for my fantasy writing podcast, The Fantasy Writers’ Toolshed . Listen on Spotify!

1. Never Use The Passive Voice

Sitting proudly at the peak is the rule against using the passive voice.

Going off my dealings with the passive voice, it can be a tricky area of grammar to fully understand, and that’s not the fault of writers.

Let’s see what writers had to say about it:

“Passive voice. I hate the generic “never use passive voice” advice, it’s such bull. Passive voice has a place, it’s just plain lazy to simply avoid it rather than learn it, it’s a tool like any other.” Anni Davison

“Passive voice is definitely the one I struggle with the most, I usually run my articles and books through Hemingway before submitting to try and cut some of it out. It just feels natural to write/talk that way.” Samantha Davis

“I argued with my teachers as a little kid over passive voice. I don’t subscribe to that “rule.” Never did. Who is anyone to tell a writer how to write and craft their own sentence? It’s insane and yes, sometimes it does sound better. Put down the red pen and just read and experience the story.” Laura Jones

“The one that is most troublesome for me is the “don’t ever use passive voice” rule, because it ultimately comes from a misunderstanding of what we use passive voice for in our language. The idea that “active voice” sentences are “active” and “passive voice” sentences are not is flawed. If I write “Jim threw the ball” or “the ball was thrown by Jim,” both sentences are equally active. Both show a ball being thrown. The main difference between the two sentences is the subject, and that is the critical point to consider. When an editor starts red-lining passive voice sentences in a paragraph, what they often end up doing is replacing a single subject for many, in turn making the passage more convoluted and harder to follow.” JM Williams

If you want even more help with this particular issue, check out my passive voice checker and converter here. It’s free to use and helps you identify passive sentences and then convert them into sentences that use the active voice. 

2. Avoid Excessive Use of Adjectives

This is one that’s bandied about quite a lot—refrain from using adjectives. They do you no good. Supposedly.

I’ve looked into this rule quite a bit and what I’ve come to learn is that it refers more to how adjectives are used.

Click here to discover more approaches and details on how to use adjectives.

3. Never Use An Adverb

Adverbs have a similar reputation to that of their cousin, the adjective. I’ve heard many a writer exclaim their annoyance at reading the advice on adverbs in Stephen King’s On Writing only to then read one of his novels and find his story peppered with them.

The answer, I believe, is the same as with adjectives. It’s how you use the adverb.

4. Never Start A Sentence With…

I don’t see this writers rule thrown about too often, yet it’s scored pretty high on the list. The suggestion ‘begin sentences with conjunctions’ ties into this too.

It’s a ‘rule’ I’m aware of, but having read so many fantastic and award-winning writers who break it consistently I’ve come to see it as obsolete. Bollocks to it. Start a sentence any way you want.

5. Show Don’t Tell

I expected this creative writing rule to score a little higher on the list due to the number of complaints I see about it. Like some of the other rules of writing noted above, it seems to be how you use it.

“People parrot “show don’t tell” nowadays, not seeming to realize that there are parts that SHOULD be told. Otherwise, one’s protagonists just grimace, tremble, shudder, flush and twitch their way through the entire story (which gets tiring as well as ludicrous). And sometimes there IS a third alternative to either ‘telling’ or ‘showing’ — subtext!” Marya Miller

““Show, don’t tell!” (Yes, they do always seem to be shouting when they spout these so-called rules.) I’ve seen some rather extreme examples of this: “Don’t tell us that his car is red; show us.” *rolls eyes* How are we supposed to do that when all we have are the words?” Thomas Weaver

Click Here To See The Best Show Don’t Tell Examples For Writers

6. Write Everyday

This is one that often gets bandied about. Most of the time it comes from those fortunate enough not to have to work 40+ hours a week.

The reality for many people is that there isn’t enough hours in the day to work and write. Some days anyway. There are always windows of opportunity, and it’s up to us to seize them.

So when you come across somebody saying you’ll never be a writer if you don’t write everyday, or if they tell you it’s how you become a good writer, remember it’s quality not quantity .

It’s therefore unsurprising that this supposed writing rule scored so highly. 

7. Avoid Flashbacks

This is an interesting one to crop up on this list of the most hated rules of writing. Flashbacks are a common feature in many books, bestselling and popular ones too. And they can take a variety of forms, from full chapters to snippets of memories.

I’m going to say outright that I like a flashback—if done well.

Herein lies the issue. Badly done flashbacks can lose readers. If the story is progressing well, tension is high and characters engaging, the last thing any reader wants is to pull away from the narrative to dip back in time.

Flashbacks that info dump—we’ll come to this next—are oft complained about. They serve little purpose other than to shovel backstory forcefully down our gullets.

Flashbacks need to serve a purpose. An exploration of a character’s past. The revealing of a significant detail. In short, it ought to develop the story in some way. In order to go forwards, we have to go back.

8. Don’t Info Dump

Info dumping is a common complaint amongst readers—myself included—so it’s nice to see only a smattering of my fellow writers voting for it.

As things go, this is one of the good rules of writing. Info dumping is often lazy, with backstory delivered in unimaginative or uninteresting ways.

The typical example is a lengthy prologue that tells you the history of the world—like the opening to Lord of the Rings where Cate Blanchett is yabbering on for ages, only ten times worse.

Or you get the overly descriptive character details. Every facet of this person’s life is explained before they even say a word. You end up hating the poor prick before he even does anything.

What can be said in favour of informational dumpage? It’s necessary in parts of our stories. There are times when lots has happened and unanswered questions have built up. At that point, it’s time for a good old spilling of the beans around the fire. But be sure not to give all of it away too soon. Readers may get bored.

9. Avoid Using ‘That’

Linked to some of the writing rules above, to avoid using the word ‘that’ is again related to one of overuse. It’s not to say that it can never be used. Just not as much as we often do. The reality is, ‘that’ often has a place in many sentences.

‘That’ is necessary in some sentences, such as when a clause begins with particular subordinating conjunctions, like before, in addition to, and while. An example:

• He gave up saying that he would take out the dog.

A good way to cut out ‘that’ is to check sentences that contain it and see how they read without the word. If they sound natural and intelligible, you can probably cut it. Crucially, the meaning of the sentence shouldn’t alter. An example:

• I wished she would come home.

You could add ‘that’ in there, but it’s also unnecessary.

10. Don’t End Sentences On A Preposition

What is a preposition you may ask? It’s a word that governs and usually precedes a noun or pronoun that expresses a relation to another word or part in the clause. That might sound like flux capacitors to you, so here’s an example:

• The man in the field.
• The conductor on the train.

It’s not an error to end a sentence with a preposition word, like ‘in’, but it’s regarded as less formal. Perhaps fitting better in the realms of emails and texts. It’s also fine to use when the preposition forms part of an informal phrase. An example:

• A solid piece of kit like this is hard to come by

There’s rules?

Here’s an extra one for you. It scored quite highly and lots of people had something to say about it.

Yes, there are some rules , one of which is broken by this very suggestion. ‘There are rules?’

Let’s set the record straight, or as straight as it can be.

What do other writers think?

“I hate rules. Advice is cool. Learn tools and when, how, and why to use them. Strive to be a great writer and write with intention. But don’t let anybody tell you there is some set of rules that dictates good writing and separates it from that bad, ‘cos that’s just bullshit and it’s going to steer you wrong.” Kai Kiet Pieza

“I don’t think it was Franzen’s use of the word “rules” that annoyed people so much as the incredibly stupid advice he gave.” DL Mackenzie. In response, Janette Collins says:

“Honestly I do have a problem with the use of the word rules. Creativity should not be governed by rules.”

“[Franzen] penned this for The Guardian almost a decade ago. In that time he’s also published two novels, two collections of essays and a translation of Karl Kraus’ memoirs. So whether you choose to pour scorn on them or not, they certainly work for him.” Stevie Cherry.

“Know the rules so you know when and how to break them. Then break them with malice. That’s the best writing advice I’ve received.” Mary Caelsto-Lenker

“Thou MUST learn thy rules… that thou mayst know when they may be broken to the greatest effect.” Aaron Gallagher

“I before E except after C has been disproved by science. Outside of that, read Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style, Rules and guidelines are there to help us write. If they get in the way, let them slip. But if it feels or reads wrong, perhaps a look at the ‘rules’ will help.” Frank Booker

“I liked all 10 rules. If you can’t get over the word “rules” that’s your own problem (not you specifically OP). They’re obviously meant as guidelines, and they’re good and useful guidelines to follow unless you know how and why you’re breaking them.” Bobby Lee

“The 10 rules are exactly what I have learned over the years. None of them are always true, and bending them is a lot of fun. Part of the art of writing is knowing about them and understanding why these guidelines exist, working with them when it helps the prose, and knowing when you don’t have to listen.” Katharine Southworth

More Tools and Guides On The Rules of Writing

Thank you so much for checking out this research piece on the most hated rules of writing. I’ve found the process insightful and I hope you have too.

Below you can find links to some more writing tools and writing guides you may find useful.

• Orwellian Prose
• Showing Instead of Telling
• Writing tips
• How to write romance scenes
• How to format a manuscript
• Mental health in fantasy books
• 8 ways to kickstart your writing career
• What is characterization?
• How to write strong female characters
• How to edit
• What is StoryOrigin?
• How to plot a story
• What is passive voice?
• 4 ways to begin writing a novel
• How to plan a story
• How to plan a novel
• Tips on Grammar Punctuation and Style – a guide by Harvard University
• Tips On Improving Your Writing – a Guide by the Berkley Student Learning Centre
• Writing For The Web – Some useful tips on writing by the UK government

Writing Rules FAQ

This question often relates to George Orwell’s rules of writing, which are: 1. Never use a metaphor, simile or another figure of speech which you see often in print. 2. Avoid long words where short ones suffice. 3. If it’s possible to cut out a word, always do so. 4. Avoid using the passive voice where you can use the active. 5. Avoid complex and jargonistic words if you can think of an everyday equivalent. These rules were first mentioned in Orwell’s essay, Politics and the English Language

Good writing is, above all, clear and widely understandable. If most people cannot make sense of the information you’re trying to convey, the writing becomes redundant. Short and concise sentences can help you achieve clarity, as well as avoiding jargonistic words.

The best way to start a piece of creative writing is to sit your arse in the chair and write. Remove distractions and allow yourself to focus. It may help to start with planning. Create your characters, determine what they want and the conflicting obstacles that stand in their path to getting it. The act of planning often sparks ideas and inspiration, and before you know it, you’ll be a few hundred words in.

Examples of creative writing include novels, novellas, novelettes, short stories, flash fiction, microfiction, poetry, plays, scriptwriting, screenplays, essays, journals, blogs, reviews, memoirs, speeches, lectures and songs.

Creative writing is the process of producing written content which displays invention, imagination and often originality. It is often distinguished from the likes of journalistic and academic writing, which focuses on objective facts and information.

Creative writing has many benefits for our mental health and wellbeing. It can give us purpose and focus, a means to channel our energies into. It also enables us to complete projects, the process of which can deliver great satisfaction and confidence. Creative writing can also be therapeutic. It allows us to tackle and explore problems in a reflective and deeper manner.

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10 most hated household chores

• 13 Oct 2016

What’s your least favourite task? We put the question to our fabulous Better Homes and Gardens audience and these were the 'Top 10 most hated household tasks'.

1. Cleaning the bathroom

A recent study found staphylococcus bacteria in 26% of the bathtubs tested. Whilst  staph bacteria is common and in most cases doesn't cause any problems, if it enters the body, the bacteria might multiply, which could lead to an infection. So it pays to give your bathroom a good scrub! 

2. Cleaning the toilet

How germy is the toilet? According to a study conducted by the University of Arizona on household bacteria - it's very germy. So unfortunately, it just has to be done! The study revealed that when  flushing a toilet, it resembles a fireworks display. Bacteria such as E. coli and salmonella then goes flying through the air, landing on items such as the seat, the handle, and other surfaces nearby. 

3. Washing the dishes

Dirty plates left in the sink can serve as a breeding ground for illness-causing bacteria, including  E. coli  and salmonella. Additionally, this bacteria can spread from your hands to food!

4. Ironing clothes

According to an Australian Bureau of Statistics survey, Australian women still spend 5.8 times as much time on laundry and clothes tasks as men do. Blokes of Australia, it's time to step up! 

5. Laundry - hanging out the washing, folding clothes and putting them away.

6. Cleaning the windows

Ugh! There's nothing worse than spending all that time cleaning your windows, only to go back inside to look out through those freshly cleaned windows and all you see is....streaks. What's the secret to a streak-free window? According to some cleaning experts, it's a 50/50 vinegar-water solution, as it doesn't contain soap, which contributes to streaking. The other solution is to finish up using a  chamois or a microfiber cloth to minimise streaking. 

7. Cleaning the stovetop and oven

The Department of Health suggests cleaning the oven and stovetop once a month. When was the last time you gave your stovetop and oven a good clean?

One of the biggest mistakes people make when mopping, is not giving the floor a quick vacuum or sweep beforehand. By mopping without a quick sweep first, simply spreads dust and hair over the floor surface as you mop. And more so if you have pets inside the house. 

Okay. This is gross, but the simple truth is, dust is a combination of human skin cells, dust mite excrement, fabric fibers, dirt and debris from outside that has made its way inside. So that’s why it’s important to keep up the dusting. Regular dusting also reduces the chance of allergy and breathing problems.

10. Vacuuming

Are you guilty of pressing the rewind button for the cord on your vacuum cleaner with your foot and watching it reel in at the speed of sound? As satisfying as it is, by doing this, you could be damaging the cord, sending it off its track, resulting in unnecessary fees to fix it. To avoid this, hold the cord in your hand as you retract it.

And just for good measure, we also had ‘pairing socks’, ‘grocery shopping’, ‘cleaning out the kitty litter’ and ‘being an adult’.

All the chores that you hate to do can always be outsourced using Airtasker .

Access thousands of skilled people for your home & office tasks. From furniture assembly to data entry - hire a skilled Airtasker today .

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Sunrise alarm clock review: a multipurpose device that goes beyond just waking you up, don't let your holiday be ruined by a nicked wallet - invest in a crossbody bag, all winners, no fillers 32 thoughtful mother's day gifts she will really love, how the 5 things method makes cleaning less stressful, 6 convection heaters to keep you warm and toasty all winter long, dr harry: how to a stop schnauzer from barking so much, sick of holiday wardrobe woes these luggage organisation accessories will change that, invest in colourful, vibrant dumbbell sets and achieve your fitness goals at home, fire ants are now a threat to all of australia – here's what you should know, where to get flowers same-day delivered this mother's day, have elegant and charming dinner parties with one of these modern dining tables, adam and juliet transform a playroom into a terrific toddler's room, dr harry meets members of the riverina light horse troop, magazine subscription offer.

Are White Women Better Now?

What anti-racism workshops taught us

This article was featured in the One Story to Read Today newsletter. Sign up for it here .

W e had to correct her, and we knew how to do it by now. We would not sit quietly in our white-bodied privilege, nor would our corrections be given apologetically or packaged with niceties. There I was, one of about 30 people attending a four-day-long Zoom seminar called “The Toxic Trends of Whiteness,” hosted by the group Education for Racial Equity.

An older white woman whom I’ll call Stacy had confessed to the group that she was ashamed of being white, and that she hoped in her next life she wouldn’t be white anymore. This provided us with a major learning moment. One participant began by amping herself up, intoning the concepts we’d been taught over the past two days: “Grounding, rooting, removing Bubble Wrap.” Then she got into it. “What I heard you say about wanting to come back as a dark-skinned person in your next life was racist, because as white people we don’t have the luxury of trying on aspects of people of color.”

“Notice how challenging that was,” our facilitator, Carlin Quinn, said. “That’s what getting your reps in looks like.”

Another woman went next, explaining that Stacy seemed to see people of color as better or more desirable, that her statement was “an othering.” Quinn prompted her to sum it up in one sentence: “When you said that you wish you would come back in your next life as a dark-skinned person, I experienced that as racist because …”

“That was racist because it exoticized Black people.”

“Great,” Quinn said. She pushed for more from everyone, and more came. Stacy’s statement was romanticizing . It was extractive . It was erasing . Stacy sat very still. Eventually we finished. Stacy thanked everyone, her voice thin.

The seminar would culminate with a talk from Robin DiAngelo, the most prominent anti-racist educator working in America. I had signed up because I was curious about her teachings, which had suddenly become so popular. DiAngelo’s 2018 book, White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism , had been a best seller for years by the time I joined the toxic whiteness group in May 2021. But during the heat of the Black Lives Matter protests, her influence boomed. She was brought in to advise Democratic members of the House of Representatives. Coca-Cola, Disney, and Lockheed Martin sent their employees through DiAngelo-inspired diversity trainings; even the defense company Raytheon launched an anti-racism DEI program.

In the DiAngelo doctrine, the issue was not individual racists doing singular bad acts. All white people are racist, because racism is structural. To fix one’s inherent racism requires constant work, and it requires white people to talk about their whiteness. Seminars like hers exploded as anti-racism was shifted from a project of changing laws and fighting systems into a more psychological movement: something you did within yourself. It was therapeutic. It wasn’t about elevating others so much as about deconstructing yourself in hopes of eventually deconstructing the systems around you.

Read: Abolish DEI statements

Anti-racism courses are less popular today. This may in part be because more people have become willing to question the efficacy of corporate DEI programs, but it’s surely also because their lessons now show up everywhere. In March at UCLA Medical School, during a required course, a guest speaker had the first-year medical students kneel and pray to “Mama Earth” before saying that medicine was “white science,” as first reported by The Washington Free Beacon . The course I took was just a preview of what’s come to be expected in workplaces and schools all over the country.

DiAngelo and her fellow thinkers are right in many ways. The economic fallout of structural racism persists in this country—fallout from rules, for example, about where Black people could buy property, laws that for generations have influenced who is rich and who is poor. The laws may be gone, but plenty of racists are left. And the modern anti-racist movement is right that we all probably do have some racism and xenophobia in us. The battle of modernity and liberalism is fighting against our tribal natures and animal selves.

I went into the workshop skeptical that contemporary anti-racist ideology was helpful in that fight. I left exhausted and emotional and, honestly, moved. I left as the teachers would want me to leave: thinking a lot about race and my whiteness, the weight of my skin. But telling white people to think about how deeply white they are, telling them that their sense of objectivity and individualism are white, that they need to stop trying to change the world and focus more on changing themselves … well, I’m not sure that has the psychological impact the teachers are hoping it will, let alone that it will lead to any tangible improvement in the lives of people who aren’t white.

M uch of what I learned in “The Toxic Trends of Whiteness” concerned language. We are “white bodies,” Quinn explained, but everyone else is a “body of culture.” This is because white bodies don’t know a lot about themselves, whereas “bodies of culture know their history. Black bodies know.”

The course began with easy questions (names, what we do, what we love), and an icebreaker: What are you struggling with or grappling with related to your whiteness? We were told that our answers should be “as close to the bone as possible, as naked, as emotionally revealing.” We needed to feel uncomfortable.

One woman loved gardening. Another loved the sea. People said they felt exhausted by constantly trying to fight their white supremacy. A woman with a biracial child said she was scared that her whiteness could harm her child. Some expressed frustration. It was hard, one participant said, that after fighting the patriarchy for so long, white women were now “sort of being told to step aside.” She wanted to know how to do that without feeling resentment. The woman who loved gardening was afraid of “being a middle-aged white woman and being called a Karen.”

A woman who worked in nonprofits admitted that she was struggling to overcome her own skepticism. Quinn picked up on that: How did that skepticism show up? “Wanting to say, ‘Prove it.’ Are we sure that racism is the explanation for everything?”

John McWhorter: The dehumanizing condescension of White Fragility

She was nervous, and that was good, Quinn said: “It’s really an important gauge, an edginess of honesty and vulnerability—like where it kind of makes you want to throw up.”

One participant was a diversity, equity, and inclusion manager at a consulting firm, and she was struggling with how to help people of color while not taking up space as a white person. It was hard to center and decenter whiteness at the same time.

A woman from San Francisco had started crying before she even began speaking. “I’m here because I’m a racist. I’m here because my body has a trauma response to my own whiteness and other people’s whiteness.” A woman who loved her cats was struggling with “how to understand all the atrocities of being a white body.” Knowing that her very existence perpetuated whiteness made her feel like a drag on society. “The darkest place I go is thinking it would be better if I weren’t here. It would at least be one less person perpetuating these things.”

T he next day we heard from DiAngelo herself. Quinn introduced her as “transformative for white-bodied people across the world.” DiAngelo is quite pretty, and wore a mock turtleneck and black rectangular glasses. She started by telling us that she would use the term people of color , but also that some people of color found the term upsetting. She would therefore vary the terms she used, rotating through imperfect language. Sometimes people of color , other times racialized , to indicate that race is not innate and rather is something that has been done to someone. Sometimes she would use the acronym BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color), but she would then make a conscious grammatical mistake: “If I say ‘BIPOC,’ I find that’s a kind of harsh acronym. I usually add people at the end to humanize it a bit, even though grammatically that’s not correct,” she said.

Language is a tricky thing for the movement. The idea is that you should be open and raw when you speak, but you can get so much wrong. It’s no wonder that even Robin DiAngelo herself is worried. (At one point she recommended a book by Reni Eddo-Lodge—“a Black Brit,” DiAngelo said. For a moment she looked scared. “I hope that’s not an offensive term.” Quinn chimed in to say she thought it was okay, but DiAngelo looked introspective. “It sounds harsh. The Brit part sounded harsh.”)

DiAngelo wanted to remind us that she is white. She emphasized the wh —, giving the word a lushness and intensity. “I’m very clear today that I am wh ite, that I have a wh ite worldview. I have a wh ite frame of reference. I move through the world with a wh ite experience.”

She introduced some challenges. First was white people’s “lack of humility”: “If you are white and you have not devoted years, years—not that you read some books last summer—to sustained study, struggle, and work and practice and mistake making and relationship building, your opinions while you have them are necessarily uninformed and superficial.”

“Challenge No. 2 is the precious ideology of individualism, the idea that every one of us is unique and special.”

She prepared us for what would come next: “I will be generalizing about white people.” She was sharing her screen and showed us an image of middle-aged white women: “This is the classic board of a nonprofit.” She threw up a picture of high-school students in a local paper with the headline “Outstanding Freshmen Join Innovative Teacher-Education Program.” Almost all the teenagers were white. “This education program was not and could not have been innovative. Our educational system is probably one of the most efficient, effective mechanisms for the reproduction of racial inequality.” Lingering on the picture, she asked, “Do you feel the weight of that whiteness?”

From the September 2021 issue: Robin DiAngelo and the problem with anti-racist self-help

Another image. It was a white man. “I don’t know who that is,” she said. “I just Googled white guy , but most white people live segregated lives.”

When someone calls a white person out as racist, she told us, the white person will typically deny it. “Denying, arguing, withdrawing, crying. ‘I don’t understand.’ Seeking forgiveness. ‘I feel so bad, I feel so bad. Tell me you still love me.’” She paused. “Emotions are political. We need to build our stamina to endure some shame, some guilt,” she said. Quinn broke in to say that intentions are the province of the privileged. But consequences are the province of the subjugated.

Someone who has integrated an anti-racist perspective, DiAngelo told us, should be able to say: “I hold awareness of my whiteness in all settings, and it guides how I engage. I raise issues about racism over and over, both in public and in private … You want to go watch a movie with me? You’re going to get my analysis of how racism played in that movie. I have personal relationships and know the private lives of a range of people of color, including Black people. And there are also people of color in my life who I specifically ask to coach me, and I pay them for their time.”

I was surprised by this idea that I should pay Black friends and acquaintances by the hour to tutor me—it sounded a little offensive. But then I considered that if someone wanted me to come to their house and talk with them about their latent feelings of homophobia, I wouldn’t mind being Venmoed afterward.

When DiAngelo was done, Quinn asked if we had questions. Very few people did, and that was disappointing—the fact that white bodies had nothing to say about a profound presentation. Silence and self-consciousness were part of the problem. “People’s lives are on the line. This is life or death for bodies of culture.” We needed to work on handling criticism. If it made you shake, that was good.

One of the few men in the group said he felt uncomfortable being told to identify as a racist. Here he’d just been talking with all of his friends about not being racist. Now he was going to “say that I might have been wrong here.” He noticed he felt “resistance to saying ‘I’m racist.’”

Quinn understood; that was normal. He just needed to try again, say “I am a racist” and believe it. The man said: “I am racist.” What did he feel? He said he was trying not to fight it. Say it again. “I am racist.”

“Do you feel sadness or grief?”

“Sadness and grief feel true,” he said.

“That’s beautiful,” Quinn said.

Some members of the group were having a breakthrough. Stacy said she was “seeing them finally … Like, wow, are there moments when this white body chooses to see a body of culture when it isn’t dangerous for them?” One woman realized she was “a walking, talking node of white supremacy.” Another finally saw how vast whiteness was: “So vast and so, so big.”

F or a while , a dinner series called Race to Dinner for white women to talk about their racism was very popular, though now it seems a little try-hard. The hosts—Saira Rao and Regina Jackson—encourage women who have paid up to $625 a head to abandon any notion that they are not racist. At one point Rao, who is Indian American, and Jackson, who is Black, publicized the dinners with a simple message: “Dear white women: You cause immeasurable pain and damage to Black, Indigenous and brown women. We are here to sit down with you to candidly discuss how *exactly* you cause this pain and damage.”

One could also attend a workshop called “What’s Up With White Women? Unpacking Sexism and White Privilege Over Lunch,” hosted by the authors of What’s Up With White Women? Unpacking Sexism and White Privilege in Pursuit of Racial Justice (the authors are two white women). Or you could go to “Finding Freedom: White Women Taking On Our Own White Supremacy,” hosted by We Are Finding Freedom (a for-profit run by two white women). The National Association of Social Workers’ New York City chapter advertised a workshop called “Building White Women’s Capacity to Do Anti-racism Work” (hosted by the founder of U Power Change, who is a white woman).

So many of the workshops have been run by and aimed at white women. White women specifically seem very interested in these courses, perhaps because self-flagellation is seen as a classic female virtue. The hated archetype of the anti-racist movement is the Karen . No real equivalent exists for men. Maybe the heavily armed prepper comes close, but he’s not quite the same, in that a Karen is someone you’ll run into in a coffee shop, and a Karen is also someone who is disgusted with herself. Where another generation of white women worked to hate their bodies, my generation hates its “whiteness” (and I don’t mean skin color, necessarily, as this can also be your internalized whiteness). People are always demanding that women apologize for something and women seem to love doing it. Women will pay for the opportunity. We’ll thank you for it.

Tyler Austin Harper: I’m a black professor. You don’t need to bring that up.

After DiAngelo, I went to another course, “Foundations in Somatic Abolitionism.” That one was more about what my white flesh itself means and how to physically manifest anti-racism—“embodying anti-racism.” Those sessions were co-led by Resmaa Menakem, a therapist and the author of My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies .

Menakem stressed how important it was not to do his exercises with people of color, because it would wound them: “Do not have bodies of culture in a group of white bodies. White bodies with white bodies and bodies of culture with bodies of culture.”

The harm caused by processing your whiteness with a person of color had also been stressed in the previous course—the book DiAngelo had recommended by Reni Eddo-Lodge was called Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race . But at the same time, Quinn had said that we should talk with people of different races about our journey and let them guide us. It all seemed a bit contradictory.

One participant had a question for Menakem about community building. She was concerned because she had a mixed-race group of friends, and she wanted to be sure she wasn’t harming her Black friends by talking about this work.

“There’s no way you’re going to be able to keep Black women safe,” Menakem said. “If you’re talking about race, if race is part of the discussion, those Black women are going to get injured in the process.”

“That’s my worry,” she said. The problem was that she and her friends were actually already in “like, an anti-racism study group.” Menakem was definitive: “Don’t do that,” he said. “I don’t want white folks gazing at that process.”

A few years have passed since I was in these workshops, and I wonder if the other participants are “better” white people now. What would that even mean, exactly? Getting outside their ethnic tribe—or the opposite?

At one point Menakem intoned, “All white bodies cause racialized stress and wounding to bodies of culture. Everybody say it. ‘All white bodies cause racialized stress and wounding to bodies of culture.’” We said it, over and over again. I collapsed into it, thinking: I am careless; I am selfish; I do cause harm. The more we said it, the more it started to feel like a release. It felt so sad. But it also—and this seemed like a problem—felt good.

What if fighting for justice could just be a years-long confessional process and didn’t require doing anything tangible at all? What if I could defeat white supremacy from my lovely living room, over tea, with other white people? Personally I don’t think that’s how it works. I’m not sold. But maybe my whiteness has blinded me. The course wrapped up, and Menakem invited us all to an upcoming two-day workshop.

This essay is adapted from the forthcoming book, Morning After the Revolution: Dispatches from the Wrong Side of History.

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