CHAPTER 13

Respect the Flow (or How to Use Transitions)

Flow is hard to achieve without effort. Flow is not ‘wasting time.’

—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Look up any website that sells posters of inspirational quotes and you will see that many have background pictures of flowing water. Humans naturally crave flow. Whether it’s because as some scholars have claimed that we all want to return to the sea, or we’ve been programmed to think of water as soothing, images of flowing water do seem soothing.

Flowing communication can also be soothing and satisfying, as long as it follows some rules. Mere gushing doesn’t flow; it overwhelms and makes the reader recoil. A huge burst of words, usually without paragraphing or punctuation, repels.

The Opposite of Flow, or How to Recognize What You Don’t Want

If you have ever driven a car with manual transmission, you will be familiar with the expression a slipped clutch. Manual transmission requires that the driver push in the clutch while changing the gears in the car; an automatic transition car, in contrast, does this transition for you. But when drivers learn to drive a car with manual transmission, they find a phenomenon happening all too often: it’s called the slipped clutch. That means that the driver can’t move the gears in time to sync with the clutch. This lack of sync usually results in a car that bounces up and down, jolting the occupants of the car.

This slipped clutch phenomena happens in writing as well. It occurs when the writer uses a construction that will jolt the reader, mainly because he doesn’t have the gear in place to continue his idea. When you drive the car, you need to have the gear in place to keep going forward. When you write a sentence, you need to have your idea in place to keep going forward.

But many things can mess up that smooth transition. And one of them is the inclusion of useless words and phrases that becomes the slipped clutches of writing. Let’s take a look at what that actually means. The first chief offender in the slipped clutch of writing and life is the phrase there is or there are. By starting a sentence with there is or there are, you slip the clutch. We’ve already talked about how these phrases disconnect the idea that you are writing about and therefore give the reader a chance to jump along and fall off the path.

Consider: There is a trash can in the corner of the room. Where is it? In the corner of the room. Do you need that there is? Most likely not; all it indicates is location. If you simply cut it, you have a stronger sentence, a clear sentence, and you keep your reader on the path. The trash can is in the corner of the room. By eliminating excess, we find simplicity. And in simplicity once again is clarity—along with a smooth ride.

In communication, transition tells the reader or listener what to be aware of next. Like pioneers hunting for the next signpost that tells us which way to go on the Oregon Trail, transitions allow others to follow our random ideas by establishing logical connections between sentences, paragraphs, and sections of our message.

Transitions also fuse together ideas to become one thought. By doing so, you enhance the experience for the receiver of the message. You give what is known as fluidity, or flow, to your communication. The opposite of flow is commonly called being choppy, or being abrupt. In this state, your receiver has to jump from ledge to ledge like some character in a Mario Brothers game, worried about how to connect to the next idea. In flow, she can float along, taking time to notice the details of your message and the nuances. She takes in more of the message since she doesn’t have to work so hard to try to put the individual thoughts into a cohesive whole.

A transition can be a simple word, sentence, phrase, or even a whole transitory paragraph. Whichever you choose, the transition device will in some manner either directly summarize or reflect what you have just said by reminding the reader in some manner of the previous content. It then will give a tiny preview of what is to come. In other words, transitions are great for helping you help audiences who aren’t exactly paying 100 percent attention. By using the transitory device, you rope them back to the subject at hand.

You can adapt transitory devices to suit whatever needs you have in making your writing flow. Want to use a word in one spot and then a phrase in another? Do it.

Convinced? As the old Ronco TV ads used to say, wait—there’s more.

Basic Transition, or Simple Words of Direction

The hardest part of adding transitions to your work is deciding on the logical relationship between the ideas. You have to take a step back and think, “How is this idea connected to the next?” Luckily, once you have done so, then you have a list of options from which to choose.

If you decide, for instance, that your ideas are connected logically by time, you can use such transitory devices between them as after, afterward, as a result, at last, before, currently during, earlier, immediately, later, meanwhile, now, previously, recently, simultaneously, subsequently, then, or while.

Notice the difference that the transitions make in the paragraphs below:

John woke up late on Monday. His alarm had been set to a later time than usual. He had to hurry through dressing. He had to eat his breakfast. He dropped oatmeal on his tie. He missed his carpool.

Hear the choppiness? The same paragraph, this time with transitions, makes for a smoother ride:

John woke up late on Monday. Previously, his alarm had been set to a later time than usual. As a result, he had to hurry through dressing and simultaneously had to eat his breakfast. While doing so, he dropped oatmeal on his tie. Meanwhile, he missed his carpool.

Hear the difference? In the second, you can put yourself in John’s place and empathize with his situation. In the first, you just hear ideas.

If your logical connection is sequence, you can use such transitory devices as first, second, third and so on, finally, moreover, also, in addition, furthermore, next, then, or after. If your logical connection is example, you can use for example, for instance, in particular, specifically, or to illustrate.

If your logical connection is comparison or contrast, the transitory devices available to you include similarly, not only but also, in comparison, also, in the same way, just as, in the same manner, although, but, while, however, in contrast, on the other hand, in spite of, nevertheless, on the contrary, yet, still, and in contrast.

Have a cause and effect relationship? Use devices such as therefore, thus, as a result, consequently, or accordingly. If the logical relationship is that the second idea supports the first, use devices such as in addition, additionally, furthermore, also, equally important, moreover, and as well. (Good old and works here too, but use it sparingly.)

You can signal to your audience that you are summarizing or concluding a section by using such words as in conclusion, finally, to summarize, in summary, to conclude, or thus. Heck, you can even show position and place via transitions, as in beyond, before, behind, in front of, next to, alongside of, above, in back of, and nearby.

Adding transitions, my friends, is not only a cool thing to do for your audience. It’s actually a lot of fun.

Transitions Between Sentences

Using transitory words aren’t the only form of transition, however. Humans like clear and easy transition between ideas. We may think in a jumbled mess, hodgepodge of stuff lying in the middle of the box of our brains, but we don’t like inheriting someone else’s mess.

Part of the problem of being human is being able to organize all of that stuff and thought. Ellen Langer of Harvard has spent almost 40 years demonstrating in her research that most people don’t think; they react emotionally and call it thought. And, when they put that emotional reaction in front of someone else and call it communication, they are confused when it is misunderstood. That’s where having an idea of transition between sentences helps.

A good sentence is one distinct thought. The writer has taken the time to sort through, organize, and arrange thought into a manner in which someone else can see that thought quickly and clearly. One idea equals one thought.

The issue here is that most of us don’t put the appropriate points in the appropriate spots of the sentence. So when we think one sentence’s main thought is clear, we find that it isn’t always clear in structure. Observe:

Thousands of outdoor winter sports enthusiasts descend upon Aspen every winter.

The sentence seems clear, doesn’t it? But what we don’t know is what exactly the writer intended. Is he talking about Aspen in the winter? Just Aspen? The number of ski enthusiasts? Enthusiasts themselves? We don’t know where the writer is going with that idea, so the next step and logical thought is lost. Our brains stand without a map, no GPS inside, blindly waiting to see in the wilderness where the next possible path for thought might be.

But what if the main part of the thought to the sender is in that middle part of the sentence that the reader has just scanned? Then his message, his true thought, has been lost.

The reality is that while most of us are read in that Z formation, most of us write in a hunt and peck typewriter formation. (For those of you who have seen a typewriter only in a museum, the structure here was to write to the end of the far right of the device, whereupon manually or electrically, the carriage would loudly return, breaking the concentration and zooming back to the beginning of the next line on the left-hand side. Quite annoying for flow.)

We bury ideas and expect the reader to be able to pick up all the loose ends of things that we have scattered throughout our sentence. Here’s where transition can help. By using strong transition between sentences, organization comes riding to the rescue of clarity, and helps you make sure that your ideas are clear.

Think of transition between sentences as a taut chain. A loose chain allows gaps. If you have a chain link bracelet, for example, you’ll have spaces between where one link hooks into the other. You’ll also have the risk of losing that bracelet as it flops and dangles on your wrist. That may be okay for a bracelet, but let’s say that you want to chain your bicycle outside the nearest coffee shop. The looser the chain, and the more open the space between links, the more likely someone can snip through one of the links and your bicycle won’t be there when you’re ready to leave with your latte.

You want your chain links to be taut and pull on each other; that gives you the greatest strength. Writing is no different; the links need to pull tightly. That means that unlike the typewriter hunt and peck structure, your writing has to be prepared for that reader who reads in the Z formation. In other words, the last word or two of the sentence must tightly cling to the beginning of the next. In that way, the sentence forms a strong chain.

In the previous sentence illustration, we can play in many ways to build stronger clarity and transition depending on what the writer’s main idea is.

Let’s go back to our sentence:

Thousands of outdoor winter enthusiasts descend upon Aspen every winter.

Ideally, to have flow, you need that taut chain. So your next sentence should refer to winter; because that is your last idea in the sentence, it is the indicator of where the idea is going. So you would write something that looks like this:

Thousands of outdoor winter sports enthusiasts descend upon Aspen every winter. During January and February, the ice carnivals, bonfires, and heavy snowfall create ideal conditions for all sorts of winter sports.

See how each winter is tightly connected to During January and February?

But what if the writer wants to focus on Aspen, not the winter? To achieve that flow, he has to adjust his transition:

Every winter, thousands of outdoor winter enthusiasts descend upon Aspen.

Now he can talk about Aspen, as in

Every winter, thousands of outdoor winter sports enthusiasts descend upon Aspen. The town, built to emulate a European village, contains both affordable and luxurious accommodations and restaurants, which draw tourists from all over the globe.

The main idea is outdoor winter enthusiasts? Again he has to change transition:

Every winter, Aspen plays host to thousands of outdoor winter sports enthusiasts. These skiers, snowboarders, ice skaters, and snowman fanatics congregate in Colorado’s premiere resort town.

And if the main idea is about the thousands? You know what to do by now: adjust the structure to adjust the flow.

Every winter, outdoor winter sports enthusiasts descend on Aspen by the thousands—58 percent of the 64.3 million tourists who visited the town in 2016 arrived between December 2015 and March 1, 2016.

Easy stuff.

Transition Between Paragraphs

If a sentence is an idea, then a paragraph is a group of similar ideas that all fall under the same main idea umbrella. The sentences, therefore, come together to convey one developed idea. And those developed ideas, what we call paragraphs, also have to contain signals to the reader; without those signals, the reader won’t know how you see that the ideas relate.

You can use the same transitory devices listed above for transition within paragraphs and to give transition between paragraphs in a longer work. Let’s say your first paragraph describes in detail the benefits of a local bakery/coffee shop where you regularly relax and work:

The Sunflour bakery has free wifi, plenty of electrical outlets to recharge your devices, and tables that sit slightly lower than standard—perfect for laptop users. One-chair tables circle the window area, which allow those who come to work as well as enjoy and have coffee to be relieved of the guilt of occupying a table meant for two or four. Large and bright lamps hang from the ceiling, providing plenty of light for writing projects or simply checking email. And all this ease is accompanied by the availability of fresh pastries, soups, and breads prepared in the open kitchen behind the counter.

But the place isn’t perfect, which is what you want to describe in detail in the next paragraph. So you use the device that fits your logical need:

However, working at the Sunflour can be difficult, mainly because it is also a popular place for children. Despite the relatively high cost of cookies, a steady stream of young children and boisterous teenagers occupies the bakery. And while each one of them seems to be noisy and energetic upon entering the store, once they take a look at the daily offerings, they also become more physical: hopping, dancing, and in some cases climbing up on the display case to get a better look.

Another strong way to create transitions between paragraphs is to have those good old topic sentences that you were told to create in an outline. If your main idea is that the Polaris 3-D printer is a good acquisition for your firm, then you can give transitions between your paragraphs by topic sentences:

To begin with, having this printer will allow us to create the specialty parts we need to repair the copier instead of having to order them.

Having the printer will also allow us to have greater control over the quality of these parts.

Finally, the printer costs only $5000 and the materials for a year’s worth of printing costs only $1000, while ordering parts has cost on average $3240 a year for the past three years.

Transitions keep the reader focused, clear as to where you are leading him. They also help you determine if you are indeed going where you want to go.

Unity and Repetition of Key Words Show
You Are on the Right Path

You can also create flow and transition by repeating key words or phrases (and their synonyms). If you are talking about the cost of a particular software, perhaps, you can repeat the name of the software, call it the software or plug-in, or call it by its name. You can refer to the cost as expense, expenditure, rate, fee, or even price.

As you use these keywords, however, be aware of all too common disease among writers: it’s called thesaurusitis. Some of the symptoms include the use of overlong words, half synonyms, and words that just jar against the simplicity of what could be otherwise clear communication. Thesaurusitis happens often when young people head off to college after they have learned many large words to take college entrance exams; if not checked and cured in college, this disease can flare up again as these young people move into a career, wherein they try to be taken seriously. It also attacks people who are more concerned about impressing rather than expressing, which can happen at any age.

This disease often hinders efforts to be both clear and professional. How? For instance, the writer may be talking about a cat. And to vary her words so that she doesn’t keep saying cat, she consults with a thesaurus. Used to be we had to buy a book called a thesaurus to find those words that seemed to be replacements for the word we were using; today we have all manners of online, readily available thesauri.

Having these tools so handy can be dangerous, however. Often we succumb to relying on them and not on our own good sense or knowledge of the language. And therefore, we lay ourselves open to catching Thesaurusitis. A thesaurus will give you as your choices for a replacement for cat words such as feline, creature, and animal. But with most thesauri, you will also get words such as tiger and panther. If you are writing about Fluffy the house cat, these words are inappropriate.

Because most of us know the difference between a tiger, a panther, and the ordinary shorthaired tabby, we don’t make the mistake of choosing the inappropriate word. But in a larger context, with words whose definitions we may not be totally sure of, we make many mistakes. To those who do know the difference in words, those mistakes glow in neon. The writer has indeed made an impression, but not one he’d like to have. Your best bet is to find a good dictionary of synonyms that will not only offer replacement words, but their definitions, their connotations, and explanations as to how they should be used. Did you know that a shriek, a scream, a holler, and a yell are not interchangeable? A good dictionary of synonym use will make those distinctions clear.

While J.R.R. Tolkein’s quote admonishes us that “Not all who wander are lost,” unfortunately most of us who wander when we write lose everyone else. By establishing the logical relationships between your ideas, you may very well see that the ideas are logically out of order. Noticing that is a good thing: better that you fix it and rearrange the order logically than have your reader think, “Where in the world is he going with this stuff?”

Think strategically as well. While you do want your headline up front, do you want your strongest point to also be up front? Logically, no. Once you have grabbed the reader’s attention, what you want to do is build a case. And that means that you start with the weakest argument and build to the strongest. Or you can start with the most familiar and build to the most innovative.

In essence, you want your message to capture the audience’s attention. Therefore, think about the audience (yes, we’re back to that again) and then build the story of your message to keep them interested. How you make your ideas relate logically determines how interested they will be. Take a moment to examine your organization; would you have a stronger logical relationship if you moved a few ideas around?

However, one just can’t decide, “Oh, I’ll just move the important words that I’m talking about the end of the sentence” and move on. Strong transition requires that you pitch the unnecessary. It requires that you take a good hard look at what’s important in your sentences, cut the unneeded, and then arrange so that the chain becomes taut.

In other words, the Zen principle of non-attachment plays a role here.

A good friend once said that she’d never detached from anything that didn’t leave her with long claw marks all over it. But you have to detach to see if the flow is clear. As Hindu Prince Gautama Siddharta, the founder of Buddhism, who lived around 563–483 B.C and whom we refer to as Buddha, is reported to have said,

Shape your mind to create a clear path. Only then can you offer—or find—enlightenment.