General Writing Tips

[Adminbot]

Whenever you're writing a piece of work, it is always good to keep certain things in mind.

1) Grammar, spelling, and punctuation is key. Words spelled improperly, overuse of commas or run-on sentences, and poor sentence structure make it very hard to read things. Try to spell check your work and look it over before you post it.

2) Tense, voice, and mood should be kept consistent throughout your writing, unless you need to switch for a particular convention. It really becomes difficult to follow writing when it switches from active and passive every sentence, or if it goes from present tense to past tense to future tense then back to present tense. Voice is the most flexible, as there are reasons to switch from singular to plural, and vice-versa.

3) Quality over quantity. Some people think that all you have to do is write a whole lot. That isn't necessarily true. It might be the case that a lot of description is good to have, but if all the description is sub-par and thrown together poorly, it might as well not be there. Take the time to improve the quality of your posts rather than trying to type out ridiculously long posts. Now, if you can do both quality AND quantity, then you're just awesome.

4) When RPing, pay attention to what other posters have written. If your post has conflicting information to what another poster has written, confusion ensues and no one knows what is going on. Try to make sure your writing doesn't conflict with what others have already written.

5) Not every post has to be a masterpiece. A lot of writers get into the dilemma of trying to do amazing work in every single thing they write, and end up falling flat and into writer's block. That is never fun for anyone. The best writing comes when you don't have to force it. Try to pay attention to and manage what you write, but don't try to force yourself to write amazing works. Just write what you can and improve on it when you can.


Have writing tips and suggestions of your own? Feel free to post them here.

[Ryuuken]

Aye, I'm majoring in Creative Writing at my school, and there's a lot of things they have taught me over my 4 years at it.

1) Voice is a HUGE part of the dialogue. Whenever you write a dialogue, make sure you actually say it out loud to see if it sounds right. A lot of writers have good description and detail, but when it comes to dialogue, it becomes sketchy and unrealistic, kind of like the Power Rangers...or Yu-Gi-Oh. xP

2) Clutter. Clutter is another one of those writing terms that you don't hear very often. Basically, clutter is using a bunch of LONG and unneeded words to fit the description. You don't need a inside and out description of a computer in order to get the reader to know what's going on, all it does is bore them. Keep it short and simple, and get to the point. Of course, it is alright to use these words in a few ways, but basically, don't overdo it.

3) Show don't tell. The basis of good writing. Don't say "John is a nervous person. When in tough situations, he usually panics." Show this by having the character do something to show that emotion or personality trait.

Example: The walls crumbled beneath the might of the Sith Tank behind it. John reached for his gun, fingers trembling and sweat dripping from his brow...

Something along those lines would give us a clear hint that John is panicky and nervous.



That's all I got...maybe I'll think of more...haha.

[Deleted]

Here's an important detail you missed.

1) God-modding = Bad. If your character has yet to receive an injury, that's a sign.

[Ryuuken]

God-modding only works when you're fighting roaches...unless they're mammoth roaches...in that case... >_>