No one will probably read this, but this has been bugging me for some time…

When it comes to literature, especially the kind on the internet and whether it be original or fan fiction, there are certain things that tend to get on some people’s nerves, myself included. This could be overly colorful and long-winded descriptions that only serve to pad out the word count, commonly misspelled or mistaken words like lose and loose or even something as insignificant as writing in the “wrong” font. But none of that comes close to one of my biggest pet peeves that I've been noticing more and more:

Writing in the wrong format.

Take how I’m writing this very article. When writing electronically, the common practice is to separate paragraphs with either double or single spacing, to the point that the default setting on most mainstream writing programs is double spacing. However, while perusing FimFiction I've seen this format often cast aside in favor of ultimately unfavorable alternative methods.

One of the most frowned upon is the dreaded “wall of text”. Here, formatting of any kind and outright legibility are thrown out a two-story window in favor of speed and getting all of one’s ideas into a single stream of consciousness. Any use of the standard “Enter” key is ignored and entire ideas, stories or rants are instead jumbled up into one huge “wall”, living up to its name by stopping the reader in their tracks and making any attempt to decipher their gibberish a literal headache.

Only one step above that but the more personally annoying one is when the author is formatting like they were writing a physical paper book. Using Windows Word as a point of reference, the standard sizing is that of an 8 ½ by 11 inch piece of printer paper. Actual novels on the other hand do not use this sizing, but generally a much smaller one. Because of this, the contents of a book have to almost be squished together in order to save page space and cut back on the amount of pages if you were to even single space every paragraph or line of dialogue. In an actual novel this would be fine, but online this greatly mimics the wall of text, but is ever slightly more readable because each new paragraph is indented with the “Tab” key.

Here’s the thing though; there is no page limit when writing online. Whether you’re writing five pages or five hundred it doesn’t matter. Even if you intend to print what you’ve written on to actual paper, you can just as easily change the font or sizing before resorting to squishing everything together into one large mass only broken up by the occasional use of the Tab key.

Next to that is one of the oddest choices I have seen people use are those who decide to write their piece of fictional literature in the style of a script and/or transcript, with each line of a dialogue indicated by the character’s name.

PoisonClaw: Look, writing like a script is not conducive to writing a novel or piece of fiction. Unless you are literally writing a script for a flesh and blood movie or performance, then there should be no reason to format a story like this. Same for a transcript, which when used for a cartoon is used alongside storyboards to indication how a character will act in a given location or scene.

Gallantry: When you write a script for a play or movie, the purpose here is to indicate what a particular character will say, when he/she will say it in relation to other characters, as well as any actions they are to perform in between. *Gallantry irritably flicks his tail and adjusts his armor as he says all this* There isn’t much setting of a scene in this case because the actors themselves can physically see the set in question and know what it looks like. You don’t need to spend a paragraph or two describing what the bar your characters just walked into looks like unless you are indicating points of interest they should either be looking towards or events they are in turn reacting to.

Leo: The only time this should ever be used is in the context of forum style roleplays, and even then that should be at the digression of those involved. If you intend to flip between multiple characters on a regular basis and need to indicate who is speaking in what order, then by all means use script format.

PoisonClaw: Exactly, and- Wait…what are you two doing here?!

Leo and Gallantry (in unison): We’re helping!

PoisonClaw: Ugh…well…anyway…

This isn’t limited by just how a story is written either, but also how your eyes naturally follow it while reading. In most literate countries, you read from left to right, across and down the page. However, once you reach the end of a page, your eyes instinctively travel almost diagonally upward, stopping on the top of the next page and going from there.

Think of it like the old style typewriters, where the page moved along a slide as each letter was inked onto the paper. Once you reached the end of a line or paragraph the slide had to be moved to the right once more and the process repeated itself. On the subject of the typewriter, the early style devices can also be attributed to why novels are written the way they are in modern day. Back then you typed line by line on an actual sheet of parchment and if you spaced out each line needlessly then you could easily run out of page space mid-thought.

When reading online however, there is a noticeable difference. You still read left to right across and down the page, but now you only go straight down. Once a page ends, your eyes don’t track upwards looking for the next sentence, but keep going downward in what could be compared to a freefall motion. When written in the format of a novel, it more resembles the previously mentioned “wall” of text and makes it harder for your eyes to follow.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve found a story that by all accounts I would have enjoyed, only to turn away the moment I discovered it was using one of the above formats other than double/spaced paragraphs. Which brings me to final reason this bugs me and it’s the pettiest of them all: it just looks ugly. Writing is still at its core an art form, so presentation is still a thing no matter the overall quality of your writing.

Where am I going with all this? Well, if you intend to write something on the internet longer than a two line forum post, please don’t write it out like this:

“TWILIGHT!” Twilight’s head snapped up from the book she was currently reading with enough force to almost give her serious whiplash. “Pinkie? Is that you?” “What are your doing still reading? We’re going to be late to the party!” What party?”

Or this:

“TWILIGHT!”

Twilight’s head snapped up from the book she was currently reading with enough force to almost give her serious whiplash.

“Pinkie? Is that you?”

“What are you doing still reading? We’re going to be late to the party!”

“What party?”

Or like this:

Pinkie Pie: “Twilight!”

 

Twilight’s head snapped up from the book she was currently reading with enough force to almost give her serious whiplash.

 

Twilight Sparkle: “Pinkie Pie? Is that you?”

 

Pinkie Pie: “What are you doing still reading? We’re going to be late to the party!”

 

Twilight Sparkle: “What party?”