2025-07-06   Long sentences resemble Philippe Petit’s tight‑rope walk: thrilling only when readers feel safe. Rhythm, readability metrics (Flesch/gunning‑fog) and strategic “in‑between space” keep the line taut without snapping.     | A | **Anomaly** – Writers want grand, legato sentences but keep losing reader breath (run‑ons, pretzel prose, over‑readability formulas). | | D | **Develops** – Treat long prose like a tight‑rope walk: give the reader “cavaletti” rest‑points (commas, cadence, oases of stability). Subject + verb early, then **cumulative sentence** architecture. | | G | **Grows (examples)** – Petit’s twin‑tower walk; Burt Lancaster & Tony Curtis in _Trapeze_; Rudolf Flesch readability math; Francis Christensen’s “generative rhetoric”; Joe Wright’s five‑minute Dunkirk tracking shot; appositives & absolutes; algorithmic readability. | | C | **Contribution** – Shows _Maxim #13_ at scale: sentence‑length variation as suspense‑release cycle; and deepens _Maxim #9_ (full‑stop = landing platform). | ### Example Ledger — Ch. 5 |#|Example|Purpose| |---|---|---| |1|Philippe Petit’s 1974 walk (kneel, lie down, 8 crossings)|Central controlling metaphor| |2|Film _Trapeze_ & circus stunts|What _not_ to do (show‑boating)| |3|Rudolf Flesch invents “gobbledygook” & readability tests|| |4|Francis Christensen → “cumulative sentence,” Senecan amble|| |5|Long noun‑phrase villains (“road next to the railway line…”)|| |6|Joe Wright’s _Atonement_ tracking shot as sentence analogue|| |7|Algorithms flagging >25‑word sentences; neural nets finishing prose|| |8|Appositives (“park bench … moment of stillness”), absolutes (“his stomach churning”)|| **Maxim placement – Ch. 5** |Maxim|Explicit locus| |---|---| |**#4**|Opening guidance: subject + main verb early (heart‑beat)| |**#9**|Cavalletti/full‑stop metaphor; Flesch’s breath pauses| |**#13**|Dunkirk tracking‑shot + cumulative‑sentence exercise|