Would This Be Confusing To The Reader

How can I write very long sentences without confusing my readers?

Honestly, in the modern world, the best thing to do is to not. What with the low attention spans of the click-away culture, people aren't so cool with tons of multiple clauses anymore. But if, for whatever reason, you decide that longer sentences are truly what you need to get your point across, just remember subject/verb/object.Subject: Alfonso AlbrightVerb: couldn’t believeobject: his bad luckEverything else you could add to the sentence is ‘extra’ and must belong to one of these key parts or to an extra addition to one of the key parts.Example 1:subject: Alfonso Albright, though heir to a fortune the size of the universe and otherwise gifted in numerous ways with attributes that even a god would kill for (bulging biceps being only one example, luscious hair being another),verb: couldn’t believeobject: his bad luck in the ‘tooth’ department.With proper punctuation, you could cram another sentence on the beginning of this one or after it, but that’s getting excessive. No one will read you if you do that.I like the way Jonathan Franzen does complex sentences. Read him for example, perhaps.

Can reading a lot of self-improvement books lead to confusion?

I have read around 800 books as of now. What I can tell you is that the more you read - the more your horizons will expand, the more you will understand, the more you think and the more you would be able to experiment and judge for yourself - what works or what doesn’t work.And believe me when I say this - as you read more - you will learn a lot more, question your older beliefs and understand there is so much more to know.Here are a few observations I have had reading those 800 books.Most of the information is repetitive and repackaged - more like old wine in a new bottleAll the authors have to sell their books. So they make grand claims, have amazing recommendations and position their book as “THE MUST HAVE BOOK”There is nothing new. Most of it is what you would have read or heard somewhere. However, if it is new - means you didn’t know this but this truth existed before.Many authors talk nonsense and rubbish. In fact many books on Diets, Spirituality, and spooky mumbo jumbo stuff like The Secret by Rhonda Byrne, The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle and Deepak Chopra should be thrown out, burnt and destroyedReading will only keep you informed. Thats it. It will do nothing to your life unless you ACT on the knowledge that is shared and WALK the steps stated consistently and regularly.So in my personal view - Read and Read as much as you can. Don’t worry about confusing yourself. I have yet to meet someone who has gotten confused by educating his mind with good things.Loy Machedo

How can I write the point of view of two character's without confusing the reader with who they're reading?

You should check the book "Mrs. Dalloway" and get inspired. That book indeed shifts point of view so smoothly and effortlessly.

Would you rather be poetic and melodious but a bit confusing in your writing or crystal clear and matter-of-fact in your writing?

As much as I like playing with words and pretending to be poetic, I have to say that clarity rules my writing. All the splendorous words in the world don’t mean jack if your reader has no clue what you’re trying to say.Here’s an example:The drapes were violaceous like the clouds at the end of a summer sunset.The curtains were purple.The fact that I had to Google “synonyms for purple” to find a fittingly melodious word says it all. If you as the writer have to Google what a word means before you use it, the reader might also have to Google it. I don’t know about you, but I’d stop reading a book if I had to keep Googling words every few paragraphs, or even every few pages. I’d probably stop writing a book if I had to Google half the words to make sure I was using them correctly, too.That’s not to say you can’t dress things up a bit. You don’t always have to come out and say that the curtains were purple. You can say that the curtains were the colour of lilacs in bloom. That still tells the reader that they’re purple, without being pretentious about it. However, if you’re the writer, ask yourself a few questions: is it important that the curtains are the colour of lilacs in bloom? Is just saying the curtains are purple sufficient to set the scene? Do we really need to know that the curtains are purple in the first place?If we don’t need to know that the curtains are the colour of lilacs in bloom, you can say that they’re purple. If we don’t really need to know that the curtains are purple at all, you can just leave the purple-ness of the curtains out. If the curtains are still doing something, like swaying in the wind, that’s fine, because that tells us it’s windy and that the window is open, but if we don’t need to know they’re purple, don’t tell us they’re purple. Don’t tell us that they’re violaceous or the colour of lilacs in bloom, either.Save your dressing-up for where it matters. Don’t waste it on the curtains.That’s my philosophy, anyway. I’m not always a matter-of-fact writer, but I put my metaphors and descriptive language where it counts. I never want my readers to be confused.If my curtains are violaceous and looking like a sunset, I need to do some editing. If your curtains are violaceous… you get the idea.