Expressive Punctuation: Contrasting sentence lengths

A great way to add impact to your writing, to get people’s attention or to show them something is important, is to contrast the length of your sentences. Like this.

In this snippet, Walls is trying to show just how extreme something was, and she does it with a one-two punch: set up with a long sentence about what you'd think was normal, and then punch in with a short jab about how extreme the situation really was.