> More and more, the sentences I had in my head were like the sentences I loved in books: they began in one place and ended somewhere you hadn’t imagined them going, though, at each turn, idea seemed to follow idea perfectly naturally. The surprise at the end, as the thought completed itself, seemed wildly exciting: the whole sentence needed to be reëxperienced in this light; waves of unexpected revelations and insights resulted.

Verlyn Klinkenborg, author of Several Short Sentences About Writing, calls these “volunteer sentences.” You don’t follow them, you tame them. Take control of your writing.