My writing style could use some help

[twilight24 323]

It's hard when you're trying to come up something good or even half way decent when you have spelling, grammar, structure, punctuation, and pacing issues. Now my story ideas are t too bad and sometimes what I write doesn't turn out horrible. But I honestly need guidance on how to improve in those areas. I would like to be linked to guides and anything that can help me out. Thank you if you took the time to read this.

[~Sassy Dashie~ 712]

Hmmmm...I'm heading to bed right now so I can't grab those links but I've got a few tips.

Read; reading books will help you improve a lot

Search; search the internet for tips, for example, try typing up "tips for writing" or "tips for proper punctuation" etc.

Trial and error; to improve you must first try, so, write something and re-read it. See any mistakes? Fix them and remember where you went wrong.

[cybershocker455 324]

Have you tried Grammarly? It's a really cool tool that helps with finding grammar mistakes when you write.

[RealityPublishing 323]

Now, I know I'm treating you like a newbie and you probably know just about everything in this guide, but these are the things I can offer as tips: 

 

I'd say the first thing you should do is choose a genre and base the story around it. It's important to have a strong theme! Even if your story steps off the genre, as long as it's written well, it'll do well!

 

As Sassy said above, read and listen. Listen to what others have written and observe the way they write.  

 

Another tip is to always use synonyms and analogies. Never use the same word or phrase twice in the same few sentences. Doing so will seem repetitive and unprofessional

 

Try to use semicolons! It's a bit tricky and easy to mess up, but it's great for rephrasing and adding a bit more detail to an otherwise vague sentence! 

Example: "He had to get it done; all odds were against him" 

 

For proofreading, I always use Grammarly, but I often find myself having to re-read the entire story anyway. Make sure you read what you write!

 

Transitions are a great way to extend a sentence as well as starting a paragraph. When reading others' stories, make sure you recognize the transitioning words so you can add them to your own. Word combinations such as: "And yet", "as they", and "but still" are all great transitions and are often used by both the community, as well as well-known writers. 

 

When writing dialogue, make sure you add detail between divisions. Such as:

"So there I was," He'd begin, pulling a metal chair forward, "in the clinic..."

Always try to fill the reader in with extra detail as the character speaks. It'll give the story more depth rather than, "He said, they said, she said". 

**You can also reverse the "he said" to "Said he". Gives it a bit more variety, No?**

 

That's pretty much all I've got as far as tips! If you need help with spelling, you can consult Google, Grammarly, or even a dictionary! 

 

-RealityPublishing

[El Duderino 879]

Read; reading books will help you improve a lot

^^ this ^^

The best way to learn writing styles is to read. You learn a lot from just reading a good book. You learn not just techniques, but also grammer and spelling.

Then you just need to practice a lot. 

Look up online random things to write about and write something every day for practice. Just a paragraph or maybe a page if you are feeling like it. Write as often as you can. You will get more comfortable and develop you own styles. 

Edited August 18, 2016 by El Duderino

[RealityPublishing 323]

 but also grimmer and 

Just a joke here...

 

 

Noice grimmer, m8

[Choros Isorropai 409]

i suck at writing, so the best addvice i can give... dont stop, and jot down any ideas pretaining to your ideas/story/characters.

its good to do that, so you can see if anything can be recombined in "better" ways.

and if you run into a slump, or writers block, look for insparaition in anything similar... even if its not in the same context as your desire.

example: in another thread i posted something like this...

MASH 4077 (forget the exact episode)

hawkeye declares how his old friend "trapper john" could prank anyone and everyone, so BJ agrees to the bet.

the main cast prank themselfs, to prank hawkeye... ending, the best prank was the one NOT pulled.

 

now i say that because (the post pretaining to) 28 pranks later took RD and had her prank till the others retaliate with a prank... if the dev's watched the 4077 episode, i think they would have found a much better way to portray RD's pranks, and the enevitable backlash from her friends.

 

in essence, anything can be inspiring, you just have to let it. but dont force it... that dont work too well.

[El Duderino 879]

Just a joke here...

 

 

Noice grimmer, m8

Hahaha, I didn't catch that XD 

I never said I was great at it lol Spelling has never been my strong suit. 

Edited August 18, 2016 by El Duderino

[BlinkZ 1,151]

To be honest, getting strong constrictive criticism on this site is impossible. At least for me anyway.

[Ruudo Burei 42]

My friends have referred to me as a grammar nazi, so maybe I can help out with proofreading, perhaps?

I can only proofread grammar, though.

 

Actually story-related things is something I need someone else to proofread for me! XD

[BlinkZ 1,151]

Some obvious advice here could be to read other published stories and see how they use thier flow and such. each has their own style.  Oh and if grammar an issue Grammerly(which is brower based so you don't have to download to your computer) helps a lot even with free version.  A few false positives can happen but then it allows you to look the sentence over again. it quite handly.

[twilight24 323]

Thank you for the advice and suggestions :3