User:EDFan12345/Writing Guide
Hello, I'm EDFan12345, one of the older members of the wiki. The massive amount of text that follows is a collection of things I've learnt about writing through the tutelage of others and my own stupid trial and error. It is not meant to be the ur-text on writing fiction, but it details my experiences and the practices and techniques I've found useful in writing my own stuff. You may disagree with me about plots or paragraphs or even dialogue punctuation, but all I ask is that you disagree intelligently. If this guide inspires you to think carefully about the words you put down on the page and about the art of writing, then I've done my job.
And maybe you'll get a chuckle out of some of it as well.
Color Code[edit]
I’m going to be brightening this document with some colored text, because I really like colours.
- Black text: ordinary writing
- Green: examples of correct writing
- Red: examples of incorrect writing
- Gold: golden rules
- Other colors are a surprise!
Punctuation[edit]
A lot of what makes a work of fiction (or any piece of writing) good is subjective. This section is not. Learn these rules, and live by them. Treat them like your firstborn. Only break them when you fully understand them, and absolutely have to.
As for the evolution of language… well, I can see the merit and importance of that, but there's a difference between language evolving and you being too lazy to express yourself in a clear and readable manner. Again, learn the rules before breaking them.
Paragraphing[edit]
New writers often have a bad habit of clumping all of their text into one or two paragraphs, likely because they don't entirely understand the purpose of paragraphing, and they think it makes their writing look really long and impressive or something.
I will be the first to admit that I probably use too many paragraphs, but it's better to do that than to use too few. Paragraphs enhance readability, and if your work's not readable, no-one's going to read it!
Paragraphs don't have to be a certain minimum or maximum length. A single sentence can be its own paragraph. A paragraph can also, technically, be as many sentences long as you want, but you'll usually find that it’s time to start a new one when you get past seven or eight.
The general idea is this:
One idea per paragraph.
The first paragraph of this section was about the paragraphing habits of new writers. The second was about my own possible shortcomings in regards to paragraphing. The third one was about paragraph length. This one is a summary of all the paragraphs that have come before.
Ice-cream is very tasty. My favorite flavor is vanilla, and I never put anything on it, because you should never put anything on good ice-cream.
Now that I'm done talking about ice-cream, I've started a new paragraph to talk about something else. There are no hard and fast rules about where to begin or end a paragraph, but you should get the hang of it with enough practice and enough reading.
Dialogue[edit]
Now, this is a tricky one. There are two accepted types of dialogue on this wiki: paragraph and script.
Script is easy. Just put the speaker, followed by a colon, and then their line. For example:
Penguin 1: I sure do love Ice-cream! Vanilla is my favorite.
Penguin 2: I agree, but I prefer chocolate.
Paragraph dialogue is where it gets tricky. The golden rule for this is:
The most important rule of dialogue is this:
New speaker, new paragraph
For example:
"I sure do love Ice-cream!" Penguin 1 said "Vanilla is my favorite."
"I agree," Penguin 2 replied "but I prefer chocolate."
But never:
"I sure do love Ice-cream!" Penguin 1 said "Vanilla is my favorite." "I agree," Penguin 2 replied "but I prefer chocolate."
When writing multi-paragraph dialogue, each new paragraph should start with an open quotation mark, like so:
“New writers often have a bad habit of clumping all of their text into one or two paragraphs, likely because they don’t entirely understand the purpose of paragraphing, and they think it makes their writing look really long and impressive or something.
“I will be the first to admit that I probably use too many paragraphs, but it’s better to do that than to use too few. Paragraphs enhance readability, and if your work’s not readable, no-one’s going to read it!
“Paragraphs don’t have to be a certain minimum or maximum length. A single sentence can be its own paragraph. A paragraph can also, technically, be as many sentences long as you want, but you’ll usually find that it’s time to start a new one when you get past seven or eight.”
It makes my “programmer’s incomplete parenthesis” sense tingle, but that’s the way it’s supposed to be done. I guess the open quotations serve as a reminder to the reader that the dialogue from the previous paragraph is still going on.
Before I defer to better sources, one last thing:
If someone is being addressed in dialogue, a comma should appear before their name.
"How are you, Penguin 1?"
"Would you like to visit, Penguin 2?"
"Get over here, Penguin 3!"
"That'll do, puffle, that'll do."
Periods, exclamation points, and question marks[edit]
A period is used to end an ordinary sentence. It can end sentences that aren't exciting and don’t have questions. Reaching the end of a paragraph is no excuse to leave off a full stop.
Are question marks used to end questions? Yes, yes they are. Can they be used for anything else? No, no they can't. I wonder why. The preceding sentence should not end in a question mark, because it doesn't ask a question. It merely states that I wonder why something is the way it is.
Exclamation marks are exciting and energetic! They're appropriate for shouty or enthusiastic dialogue! They can also be used in narration, but only very, very sparingly, or else it gets annoying!
One exclamation mark after a sentence is fine, as is one question mark. An exclamation mark followed by a question mark (“!?”) or vice versa (“?!”) is slightly less fine (called an interrobang) but has some support in certain circles. What is not fine, however, is ending a sentence in any more than one of these marks. Multiple exclamation marks don’t make your sentence more urgent or exciting; they just make you look like a tool.
Commas, semicolons, colons, dashes, and ellipses[edit]
Okay, this is a complicated topic, but it’s one that I think is vital knowledge for any writer. English is graced with so much wonderful punctuation, and yet most people barely move past using commas.
Commas are short pauses, used to break up sentences into logical chunks, but not used to conjoin separate sentences. You would think that this would be obvious, but one of the most common misuses of the comma is the dreaded comma splice.
Semicolons are sophisticated punctuation marks that make it okay to have comma splices; stick a dot on top of that comma and splice no more! Keep in mind, though, that writing needs variety; a variety of comma splices should be fixed in a variety of ways. The semicolon is the easiest way to fix them; it is not always the best.
Colons are a more directed form of semicolon. While two sentences conjoined by semicolons must be related in some way, the bit that comes after a colon must follow the logical flow started by the bit that precedes it. Chances are you won’t use too many colons: they usually get replaced by conjunctions.
Dash is best punctuation mark. It can be used in place of commas, semicolons, and colons! The dash is a great way to inject – or intersperse – exciting, abrupt little phrases into your sentences. But with great power comes great responsibility, and one must be careful not to overuse the versatile dash. Dashes are also useful in dialogue to show that a speaker has been cut o–
Ellipses should not be overused in fiction… their use in narration is often frowned on… because they are distracting… and also a cheap way to build suspense. They work better in dialogue, usually to signify the speaker trailing off… In addition, an ellipsis has exactly three (3) dots.
Dashes, hyphens and ellipses – a technical note[edit]
This is a hyphen: “-”. It’s used to join compound words (“eye-colour”) and compound modifiers (“over-propelled” pegasus).
This is an en dash: “–”. It’s a little-used punctuation mark employed to indicate ranges of values (“pages 40–45”), relationships (“Doctor–patient relationship”), and a number of other things.
This is an em dash: “—”. It’s used—without spaces—as the “dash” punctuation mark.
“But, EDFan,” you ask, “why haven't you been using unspaced em dashes? What’s with your spaced en dashes? Why are you lying to me?!”
The simple answer is that I prefer the way spaced en dashes look, and am not alone in this preference. The Chicago Manual of Style recommends unspaced em dashes, but “style guides outside of the US tend to diverge from this guidance”.
Some folk (such as The New York Times and Wired) even like to use — get this — a spaced em dash. Isn't typography something?
This is fiction, so use whichever one you like most, or use an unspaced em dash if you're American and a spaced en dash if you're not. Just be consistent.
The ellipsis is still more confusing. Depending on the style guide you follow, you could end up using it any of these ways:
Words . . . more words
Words…more words
Words … more words
Words… more words
The standard way of representing the ellipsis in electronic media, where we generally have to do without fancy typography and its associated array of different-sized spaces (and non-breaking ones), is the last option. Still, opinions are very divided on the ellipsis, so you can probably get away with whichever style you like best.
Grammar[edit]
If I haven't lost you in the sea of words yet, good. This is the most important part of any writing. Grammar is the backbone, ribcage, and shoulder blades of any literary work, be it fiction or non-fiction. I won't go into every last detail about English grammar, just notable parts that I commonly see messed up.
Tense[edit]
There are five tenses you need to worry about:
Present
I run.
Present perfect
I am running.
Past
I ran.
Past perfect
I had run.
Future
I will run.
99% of stories are written in the past tense. You get the occasional present tense story (Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash is the only published one I can think of off-hand), but new writers are encouraged not to fiddle with that sort of thing until they've spent some quality time with traditional, past-tense writing. I don't know of any notable stories (fiction or otherwise) written in future tense.
A mistake most new writers make quite a bit is tense inconsistency. Their stories will contain a ridiculous assortment of past tense and present tense verbs, and generally not because they're daring metafictional pieces about time-travel. Tense mess ups like this are usually easy fixes, so just read through your story a few times to make sure no unintended time travelling occurs.
A more subtle and also harder-to-explain error is the mixing of the past and past perfect tenses. In my experience, mistakes of this sort are usually made by non-native English speakers.
Style[edit]
And now we get into the subjective part of my little guide – the part where I'm going to tell you a bit about how I write, what I like to read in the writing of others, and what little affectations I absolutely hate to see in any writing ever. It’s all opinions from here on in, but I like to think that I've substantiated most of them.
See how I started that first sentence with an “and”? While your schoolteachers may have drummed the incorrectness of doing so into your little heads, there is actually no language rule that says you aren't allowed to start a sentence with the word “and” (or the word “but”, for that matter). However, this doesn't mean that your teachers were completely insane, or that they made up rules to torment you with.
But I don't think that they should have been quite so harsh on you. And anyway, doesn't English already have enough rules? And starting sentences with “and” works nicely sometimes; there are cases – mostly in dialogue – where it feels natural. But it only works if it isn't overused.
This little debate highlights the difference between grammar and style. Being a good little writer and following the rules of grammar, punctuation, and spelling doesn't get you a gold star – it should be something writers do automatically, before even considering letting others look at their work. And even if your work is entirely grammatically correct, it may still be confusing or irritating to read.
Developing a good style is about learning how to manipulate the way you write to convey the ideas, feelings and worlds that you want to in a way that is clear and makes the reader want to read more. Unlike with grammar, there are no specific rules and systems that will guarantee you do things right every time, but there are a number of hints that can get you started.
Purple Prose[edit]
Florid prose is very difficult to pull off. Any writer who wishes to write beautiful descriptive paragraphs and clever metaphors needs to have a large, nuanced vocabulary and the ability to visualize things very clearly. If you find yourself reaching for a thesaurus more than once, using words like “limpid” or “gossamer” for the way they sound alone, or wondering if your passage just broke the laws of physics, stay well away.
Being a good writer isn't about using big words or writing long-winded descriptions of scenery. If you've read some Charles Dickens or Jane Austen, good for you, but remember, the former got paid per word. That style of writing is just that: a specific style, not the Holy Grail of wordsmithery that all authors should seek to emulate.
Personally speaking, my eyes tend to skim long descriptive passages anyway. In most circumstances, it's best to give the reader just enough description to help them visualise the important stuff, and/or to evoke a specific atmosphere. Excessive description is just boring.
Start out by writing like you speak – it's what I do. Writing like you speak is the best way to avoid using unfamiliar words you may not fully understand, or making complex sentences with more clauses than you can handle. Obviously, that doesn't mean you should use obscure slang or um and ah in text as you might in conversation, but don’t fall into the trap of thinking that big words and flowery sentences are necessary for writing.
Don't dismiss florid prose, though. Being able to put a vivid picture in your reader’s mind is an amazing skill that you can use to create all kinds of atmospheric effects, and leave a lasting impression. The key thing is just to visualize what you’re describing clearly, make sure there’s a good reason for the reader to care, and use words you’re familiar with.
Colors and Styles[edit]
I love colors, and bold and italic text are both great ways to emphasize things. And who doesn't love fonts (apart from Comic Sans, at least)? Non-linked underlines, on the other hand, belong in the 20th century.
As fun as these little flourishes are, fiction-writing has some specific conventions regarding which ones can be used, and what they should be used for. Keep in mind that most people read fiction as a form of escapism, and that strangely-formatted text can be a real immersion-killer.
In fiction, using italics for thoughts (formatted in the same way as speech, but without the quotation marks: I really like her hair, thought Penguin 3) and emphasized words is generally accepted, although some say that even this is bad practice. CAPS LOCK is sometimes used for shouting and onomatopoeia (which should also receive italics: SNAP! CRASH! BANG!)
A trend I've seen on other sites is the use of bold text for loud dialogue. It's not technically a correct use of boldface, but it’s probably easier to read than LONG PASSAGES OF CRUISE CONTROL FOR COOL. Of course, both ALL CAPS and bold can become crutches for weak writing, and they're best avoided in more serious works.
Colors don't have any conventional uses in fiction because hey, colored ink's expensive. Seeing as we're not constrained by that kind of physical limitation on the internet, it's something an experimental author can play around with.
"Don't you use your fancy mathematics on me!
"I grew up in South Pole City..."
Yay colors!
Characters[edit]
Characters are the fiction writer's most important tools. Characters are (usually) sentient beings that the reader (who is also (usually) a sentient being) can relate to. They have wants, fears and aspirations. It is the actions, reactions and interactions of characters that drive stories forward. I won't go into too much detail with these, as you probably already know.
Mary Sues[edit]
A Mary Sue (or Gary Stu) is a character who's likeable and perfect to the point where they're unrealistic and everything in the story or article they're in bends to their will and goes their way. Good characters fall in love with them or become their best friends, bad characters hate them obsessively, and everyone who opposes them is eventually proven to be wrong or bad.
Mary Sues are probably the most misunderstood thing in amateur writing (fanfiction and otherwise). Pretty much every character will be called a Mary Sue if you ask the right person about it, while others will defend obvious Sues to the death (usually ones of their own creation). I’ve seen everything from “Penguin 4 is a Mary-Sue because she’s the main character and is awesome” to “her name is eggoggy not mary su shes not perfect shes depressed nd she hurts kittens!!!”
A Mary Sue is defined by how the world reacts to her. You can have a weak, flawed character without any conventional Mary Sue markings still be a Mary Sue if you mishandle how she is treated by the world she lives in.
Do all the characters you like like your character? Do all the characters you dislike hate her? Does every character talk about your character and obsess over her at the expense of everything else going on in their lives? Are there any characters that don’t really care about your character? If she’s a Sue, the answers will be yes, yes, yes, and no.
The most important thing you can do to avoid making your character a Mary Sue is have other characters act realistically around her. They're not going to just become her best friend or fall in love with her if they've only just met her. They're not going to hate her with every fibre of their being and dedicate their lives to enacting vengeance on her either. That’s not how people work.
If your character is a real character, she will have a specific personality. And the thing about personalities is that sometimes they clash. Not everyone gets along just like that.
Considering the different personalities of many characters, it’s unlikely that every single one of them will take an instant liking to the character you've created. Someone might find her uncouth, or may find her too pretentious, or even think she’s a spy. Explore these reactions and relationships, and your stories and characters can only benefit.
All that said, it’s still a good idea to avoid common Mary Sue tropes like the ones listed in the footnote from earlier on. The problem with exotic names and special powers is one of justification. A realistic character can do the things she can do and is the way she is because of things that she’s done and choices that she’s made, not just because “it would be cool”.
Closing Statements[edit]
This guide is a thrown-together bunch of opinions and grammar rules I have made and learn't respectively in my short time as a guy who sometimes writes things for fun. The grammar section is probably the only place where some parts of this guide are unequivocally right.
Did I miss something? Do you have something to add? Either message me on my talk page or add it to the ==Additions== section of this page's talk page. I am going to keep updating this page with new tips and tricks for storytelling and article making, so check back often! That's all for me, folks! Happy writing! --User:EDFan12345
