Well, my enemends (which I know doesn't have the same ring as frienemies. FU, I'm being clever), a paragraph is what keeps me from wanting to tie a noose and hang myself out of your workshop manuscripts.
Some basics:
If a new character starts talking, make a new paragraph. See how that worked. NEW --> NEW.
For instance, here's an example ripped from my headlines*:
"You always wear the bestest clothes, might I stalk you?" I blurted out. It was true, she was super stalk-worthy and my gay-boy-but-still-loves-chicks self ached with anticipation of what she'd wear next. "Just don't expect me to sashay!"
See, the problem here is that we can't be exactly sure who said the second line of dialog. Was it the stalk-worthy fashion-doll who is sure to know what sashaying is, and might even do it if I--err, I mean "I"--were to ask nicely? Or was the sashaying dialog coming from the guy who would like totes obv say sashay in regular conversions?
Well, technically, it would come from the not-exactly-a-gay-boy-heterosexual first speaker, because there wasn't a new paragraph. That's totally NOT how it happened, though, so to ensure the reader knows a NEW speaker has joined the wit-a-licious banter, a NEW paragraph should be used:
"You always wear the bestest clothes, might I stalk you?" I blurted out. It was true, she was super stalk-worthy and my gay-boy-but-still-loves-chicks self ached with anticipation of what she'd wear next.
"Just don't expect me to sashay!"
This also works with action. NEW action can often be best represented by a NEW paragraph.
A few exAMPLEs, ripened from my headlines*:
I tuned in the left dial, then the right, in the hopes of dialing Tokyo. Not getting a clear signal, I licked my fingers and continued my tuning, this time with a bit more force. A flinch and a squeal. She slapped my hands away with a sigh and pulled her shirt back down over her breasts. "These are not radio dials, and if they were, you wouldn't get a signal because the radio is very turned off right now!"
Problems? Anyone?
Well, first, as we learned before (right?) the dialog can be confusing because the 'I' that started the paragraph is possibly not the speaker that ends the paragraph. In fact it's not, that's not how it happened.
And, the flinch and squeal are a bit ambiguous. Is it the radio-breasted-woman flinch-squealing, or is the the poor chap that doesn't exactly know what to do with boobs (there are so many things to do, but dialing Tokyo shouldn't usually be one of them!). Because the reader doesn't get a paragraph change, they're likely to assume the flinch-squeal is coming as a continuation of the action that has already started, so from the dialer.
A new paragraph lets us in on the fact there's been a shift in action, and it's her action instead of his. By simply adding a new paragraph, we can avoid confusion and don't need to pepper our prose with too many qualifiers like "then the woman whose breasts he been tuning, flinched and squealed." See, a new paragraph tells us that. We're clued into the fact this action is of someone new, so don't need all that cumbersome clarifying.
The nice thing in this example is because a paragraph is cluing the reader into what would otherwise require qualifiers, we can get a way with a tiny moment of ambiguity that sets up the the 'gag' (the fact he's pretending a woman's boobs are a HAM radio, not the fact this sort of thing is gag-worthy). We'll know it's someone new that is reacting (REACTING!) and then when it becomes clear it's a woman, and those weren't radio dials at all, the full richness of the situation comes to light.
So we get:
I tuned in the left dial, then the right, in the hopes of dialing Tokyo. Not getting a clear signal, I licked my fingers and continued my tuning, this time with a bit more force.
A flinch and a squeal. She slapped my hands away with a sigh and pulled her shirt back down over her breasts. "These are not radio dials, and if they were, you wouldn't get a signal because this radio is very turned off right now!"
But, you might ask, would the dialog then need a new paragraph too? No way, hoe spray! Since there was no change in 'speaker' in the second paragraph, we don't need a new paragraph for the dialog. Furthermore... or would it be farthermore?! Farther/further always confused me!... the NEW ---> NEW rule can work between action and dialog too. The dialog isn't from a new character, it's from the same character that was acting, so, umm, like... what was the NEW ---> NEW rule again?
Whatev, just remember that if the same character is acting throughout a paragraph, then their dialog can stay in the same paragraph. Stylistically it won't always have to, but it can. And keep in mind, if you DO start a new paragraph, it will often indicate to the reader that a new acter is taking focus, so you may need to re-attribute the dialog. In our modified example:
I tuned in the left dial, then the right, in the hopes of dialing Tokyo. Not getting a clear signal, I licked my fingers and continued my tuning, this time with a bit more force.
A flinch and a squeal. She slapped my hands away with a sigh and pulled her shirt back down over her breasts.
"These are not radio dials, and if they were, you wouldn't get a signal because this radio is very turned off right now!"
This could mistakenly cue the reader into thinking the titty-dialer is the one speaking; only probable if he's insane and tweaking his own nipples (the insane part being talking to himself about it, nothing wrong with an occasional self-administered nipple tweak, gov-nuh). With this new paragraph, it may need new action or a dialog tag to re-establish that it's she who is still speaking, not him.
But, keeping the dialog immediately following her actions, we know it's the unfortunate titty-dialee, the woman, speaking. The paragraph moved the action on, shifting it from him to her, and as such the dialog then becomes an extension of her action. Why? Well, because that's the way God made us... and also, dialog IS action, rubes.
Now, what happens when you have a single character all by themselves as the only acter for pages on end. Well, first off, double check the pulse of your story, because it might be near death. Secondly, that's when you may want to separate series of actions. You don't just want one, huge paragraph going on for pages until someone new acts or speaks. When the character moves to a new action, or even a new train of thought, you can give a new paragraph. Oh, hey, that NEW --> NEW thing, NEW series of actions or thoughts by the same character could be indicated by a NEW paragraph.
No example. Just think about the different 'movements' or 'beats' (or that Latin term poets use that I can never recall) when you're trying to figure out where paragraphs should go when you character finds himself alone in the dark so there's nobody to talk to or take over the focus of the action. There are subtle shifts to new directions of thought, and often these are a good place for new paragraphs so we end up with a huge block of text we want to tie to our feet before hoping into a lake.
*by headlines I wanted to be clever and not imply news headlines, but the lines/wrinkes on my head, caused from the things that concern or occupy me, so it would seem as if these examples were taken very-absolutely-directly from real life experiences. You know what they say when you have to TRY to be clever, though... and if you do know, let me know, because I don't. Maybe something about getting the cleaver to sever the severely clever reveler?
But no, seriously, won't you sashay a little for me if I ask nicely?
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