Patch Copeland

This beginner thread is for basic writing advice, as in people who are just getting into writing and haven’t been taught the basic “rules” of the craft. Please keep in mind that writing is subjective, and I’m just giving the tips that make the story cohesive to the reader. Plot, and world building soon to come :)

Dialogue is the written exchange between characters. We won’t be going over what makes dialogue good or dialogue tags in this thread, but rather how to do it properly.

I’ll try to keep this short, as the technical aspect of speech isn’t very difficult. 

 When writing dialogue, any time the speaker changes, you must make it a new paragraph. As stated in Basic Book-Writing: Paragraph Structure, it’s important to keep things clear for the reader. Beginning writers often forget to do this, and will sometimes have multiple characters speaking in one chunk of text.

Next, please for the love of everything, put Quotation Marks (“ ”) at the beginning and endings of dialogue. Beginners forget them more than you’d think. 

This beginner thread is for basic writing advice, as in people who are just getting into writing and haven’t been taught the basic “rules” of the craft. Please keep in mind that writing is subjective, and I’m just giving the tips that make the story cohesive to the reader. Plot, and world building soon to come :) 

Commas, Semicolons, Interrobangs, and More

The use of punctuation is critical and not optional, sorry. But it’s not complicated when you learn how they’re each supposed to be used. Allow me to demonstrate.

Commas ( , ) are like salt in your food. You need it, but too much is overbearing  and will ruin everything. If you have too much salt in your food you might have to remake it; your sentences are the same. Too many commas could result in rewrites to avoid their use. I’ll try to give an example. “The kingdom was, in a sense, screwed.” Some writers might do, “The kingdom was in a sense, screwed.” Both are grammatically correct technically, so it’s up to the writer to decide what they like. 

The Oxford Comma - it’s actually a heated debate in the writing world, whether this comma is relevant. It’s best explained through an example. “Steven liked apples, berries, and tomatoes.” After the word berries, there’s a comma. When making lists, the comma before the and is known as the Oxford Comma. You could write, “Steven liked apples, berries and tomatoes,” and it would still be correct, however. Again, it’s whatever the writer prefers.

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Semicolons ( ; ) are one of those marks that most people have no idea how to use it. It’s not as difficult as it seems, though. My method is to think of them as “pauses” in a sentence. They’re meant to stick to sentences together without a conjunction such as and. For example: “I love ice cream; I eat it every day.” If you put, “I love ice cream, I eat it every day.” you’ve actually just used a Comma Splice. Semicolons can be used for lists too, when you want to break down items in said list. For example: “Jane likes her ice cream three ways: with hot fudge, cherries, and whipped cream; with caramel sauce, whipped cream, and bananas; and with just sprinkles.” Learning how to use them is a process, so be patient with yourself!

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This beginner thread is for basic writing advice, as in people who are just getting into writing and haven’t been taught the basic “rules” of the craft. Please keep in mind that writing is subjective, and I’m just giving the tips that make the story cohesive to the reader. Plot, and world building soon to come :)

A lot of people don’t know the differences between two - too - to, there - they’re - their, your - you’re, and its vs it’s. I’m gonna explain them to you them as simply as I can. 

Two - A number, Dos, 2. “I want two balloons.”  

To - This one is an action, a movement. “I’m going to the store.”

Too - This means “as well” or “excessive”. “I want to come too!” Or, “He put too much salt on my eggs.”

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There - This can be an action/movement, “Put that box over there.” OR it can be used like, “There isn’t anything left for me in this town.” 

They’re - This is a contraction of They Are. If you’re going to use this one, make sure they are can make sense in place of they’re. “They’re going to the store.” = “They are going to the store.”

Their - This is a word of ownership. “Their military force was the strongest in all the kingdoms.”

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Your - This is also a word of ownership. “You get your nose from your mother.”

You’re - This is a contraction of You Are. Makes sure you are can make sense in place of you’re. “You’re going to burn the house down!”= “You are going to burn the house down!” We use you’re because it’s easier to speak and read.

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It’s Vs its is a grammatical error most people don’t even know they’re making. Allow me to explain.

It’s - we all use this one. This is a contraction of It Is. “It’s not my decision to make.” = “It is not my decision to make.”

This beginner thread is for basic writing advice, as in people who are just getting into writing and haven’t been taught the basic “rules” of the craft. Please keep in mind that writing is subjective, and I’m just giving the tips that make the story cohesive to the reader. Grammar, plot, and world building soon to come :)

Make sure to break up you paragraphs! The easiest way to remember this is simple; at the end of a “thought”, it’s time for a new paragraph. Thoughts can be more than thoughts, though. Whenever a different character is speaking you must make a new paragraph. If you don’t, your readers are going to get confused, and it makes the writing just clunky in general. It’s actually a science; a reader’s eyes move through short bursts of words quickly, keeping them more interested in your work. Reading huge chunks of sentences is like trying to read a textbook--you are going to lose interest, no matter how enthralling the subject matter.

School has drilled paragraph lengths into our heads since we were children. In novel writing, the only length rule is to not have paragraphs that are too long (I say over half a page, but even this is big). Some paragraphs will be multiple sentences, some will be one word! It’s up to the writer to discern what works for them.

Like yes yes darling I do love a good show 😌👌🏽

Hello everyone! My name is Patch, and I'm an aspiring author working on a fantasy series that I hope to have published one day. I also hope to one day be a literary agent, in order to help other upcoming writers get published!

If you've found my page you probably enjoy reading and writing, memes, and animal Crossing. I hope I can help some of you with your writing while I share my own journey through publishing someday.