I eyed Fourth Wing, by Rebecca Yarros, in the Audible store for over a month. When I finally read three of the sample chapters in the Kindle store, I knew my only regret would be that six weeks of waiting.
Three days of reading only proved me right.
On my first read-through of the opening, my real world vanished. I was pure tension and imagination. By the end of the first scene I had a solid grasp on character, genre, and the feel of her world
I had to know how Mrs. Yarros did it. Because while her story and voice are uniquely her own, I believe we can learn much from studying the patterns that help best-sellers grab readers— especially so-distractible modern readers.
What follows is my analysis of the first ten paragraphs of Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros, emphasizing her use of physical details. It includes:
A somewhat objective BREAKDOWN of each paragraph at a sentence level.
A more analytical PATTERNS section looks at repetitions in structure, function, and physical details.
An OPINION section returns to the passage as a whole—especially the heavy-lifting Yarros does with physical details.
Then it is YOUR TURN to share your thoughts in the Comments and read others' views.
Something you will NOT find below is a copy of the original text. Instead, the button-box below can take you to the Kindle store page on Amazon.
At the date of this writing, the free sample for Fourth Wing contained four chapters—far more text than this post examines.
Ready? Here we go…
BREAKDOWN
Paragraph 1: Conscription Day is…
Length: 2 sentences.
Functions: Ground in time. Introduce stakes.
Physical Details: Second sentence.
Sentence 1: introduces timing and broad stakes.
Sentence 2: Uses the mention of a lovely sunrise to narrow down timing, introduce personal stakes, and establish point of view.
Paragraph 2: I tighten the…
Length: 3 sentences.
Functions: Introduce immediate surroundings and action. Return to stakes.
Physical Details: First sentence. Second sentence.
Sentence 1: Uses small actions to introduce first an object, then a physical challenge involving that object. It moves through an immediate setting. This sentence then broadens the setting to introduce a wider location that has personal meaning for the POV character. The details chosen squarely suggest a classically fantasy medieval setting. The details also imply that life-and-death struggles will happen.
Sentence 2: Uses an active physical detail to show her interacting with the immediate setting as she struggles toward her initial goal. Names the initial destination.
Sentence 3: Adds details to both the object and the immediate location within the context of the immediate backstory. A quick hint of characterization.
Paragraph 3: I am so…
Length: 3 words.
Functions: Characterize. Reaction by protagonist.
Physical Details: None.
Sentence 1: Ties together the details of the first two paragraphs with a strong character-driven thought.
Paragraph 4: The thousands of…
Length: 3 sentences.
Functions: Widen setting. Expand on protagonist’s predicament. Reinforce stakes.
Physical Details: First sentence.
Sentence 1: Opens with a physical image set in the distance. Follows with abstract descriptors.
Sentence 2: Narrows down on part of this image with world-building details.
Sentence 3: Returns to protagonist and her predicament. Adds time context.
Paragraph 5: The expressionless guards…
Length: 2 sentences.
Functions: Expand on immediate setting. Expand on the protagonist’s predicament. Reinforce stakes.
Physical Details: First sentence.
Sentence 1: Adds people to the protagonist’s immediate setting. Does this while incorporating action and character.
Sentence 2: Returns to the present and carries the reader to the near-future.
Paragraph 6: Basgiath War College…
Length: 1 sentence.
Functions: Characterize setting. Introduce character information.
Physical Details: None.
Sentence 1: Names a setting and gives it character. Introduces soon-to-be relevant character information.
Paragraph 7: Every Navarrian officer…
Length: 3 sentences.
Functions: Widen scope. Name a pending threat in the protagonist’s predicament.
Physical Details: First sentence.
Sentence 1: Introduces backstory international politics.
Sentence 2: Repeats stakes. Returns to a protagonist trait that is an obstacle.
Sentence 3: Introduces power position of dragons. Establishes them as a danger to the protagonist.
Paragraph 8: You’re sending her…
Length: 3 sentences.
Functions: Introduce endangered ally.
Physical Details: First sentence.
Sentence 1: Introduces a potentially powerful ally. Establishes that something’s wrong— but not what.
Sentence 2: Reveals that the ally is in immediate danger— and hints at a second danger to the ally.
Sentence 3: Names the ally.
Paragraph 9: There’s a muffled…
Length: 1 sentence.
Functions: Transition immediate setting and immediate goal.
Physical Details: First sentence.
Sentence 1: Ties together the new action with the old action. Signals a pending change in goals.
Paragraph 10: She doesn’t stand…
Length: 2 sentences.
Functions: Resolve initial challenge. Reinforce stakes.
Physical Details: First sentence.
Sentence 1: Opens with an ally’s prediction of failure for the protagonist. The middle of the sentence uses interaction with setting to finish the location transition in a way that triggers a climax for the initial challenge. At the end of the sentence, the action underscores the ally’s pessimism at the start of this sentence.
Sentence 2: An attitude-loaded reaction from the protagonist.
Have you read "Fourth Wing" by Rebecca Yarros?
I have read or am reading it!
It is in my TBR list.
No, and no plans to do so.
Exactly ten paragraphs.
PATTERNS
Structure
The book starts with a challenge of climbing six flights of stairs while carrying a heavy backpack to reach the General’s office. In conflict terms, this is Person vs Environment.
21 total sentences.
1-3 sentences per paragraph.
9 of 10 paragraphs spent in the introductory location.
Function
8 paragraphs end with relevance to protagonist.
8 paragraphs introduce, expand, or return to personal stakes.
Thoughts are in italics. 2 sentences.
7 paragraphs contain backstory or world-building.
5 paragraphs show the protagonist in action.
Physical Details
Eight of the ten paragraphs have physical details. Of the other two paragraphs, both are a single sentence. One sentence, a 3-word internalized reaction, doubles as characterization. The other names the larger setting introduced in Paragraph 3 and treats the setting like a character in its own right.
Most images act as a “bridge” of sorts between physical grounding and more abstract grounding—usually backstory and world-building.
Generally, the physical images are fleeting. In the book’s opening, Yarros lingers on nothing. Important details that we revisit appear early.
Examples
Her “heavy canvas rucksack” from the start of the second paragraph, we soon learn weights thirty pounds. But we wait a long time to learn what’s inside it— and why she chose those items.
When first told we are in “the stone fortress I call home”, we learn only what matters to her immediate struggle and receive a hint about her first destination. More details arrive later.
“The thousands of twenty-year-olds waiting outside the gate…” will get detail later as she sees them from a distance and then begins meeting— and bonding with—a few of them.
OPINION
Elaborate world-building is common in fantasy. I’m used to happily wading through long doses of world-building with only bits of action tying the exposition together.
Fourth Wing started differently for me. Even though on a more careful read-through showed me a lot of world-building and physical description, I was barely conscious of any during my first reading.
Maybe it is the deadly stakes, introduced in the second sentence and hammered home in nearly every turn. Maybe it is that sentences are short, leaving generous amounts ofwhite space to carry me along as a reader.
I’m sure those helped.
But I think her handling of physical details had a lot to do with the quick flow.
Yarros doesn’t linger on any one place or description. Instead, she gives readers a glimpse at a time—glimpses that accumulate across the paragraphs to form a more vivid mental image.
Not only that, her descriptions do the heavy-lifting that craft books and teachers so recommend. She uses physical details to segue into stakes, establish genre, and carry the reader on to more abstract information.
I learned so much from—and enjoyed so much by—reading these first ten paragraphs of Fourth Wing. I’m learning even more as I continue through the novel and series.
YOUR TURN
So those are my thoughts on the first ten paragraphs from Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. I’ve shared a sentence-by-sentence breakdown of this selection and pointed out craft patterns I noticed—all with a focus on the use of physical details.
It’s your turn. You can weigh in under Comments and read other people’s views. It is never too late to learn something new or too late to give back.
You can respond with anything related to Fourth Wing or the craft of writing physical details. If you aren’t sure what to add, here’s four possible questions from me to you…but feel free to think outside of this list.
What did you notice as a reader when you read these paragraphs in Fourth Wing—either the first time or during a later reading?
Have you tried using a physical detail as a “bridge” of sorts, connecting the present story moment to some other time, place, or idea? What did you do and how did readers like it
If you read much fantasy, where do you think Fourth Wing sits on the spectrum of info-dumps? Imagine a scale of 0-5, from (0) No Info Given all the way to (5) Forward Movement Stopped.
What would you add to my breakdown or to the patterns that I mentioned?
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