Recently, I've found that while trying to find new material to read on this site, there is a rather vast shortage of interesting, well written stories. Maybe it's just me being picky, but I've come to realize there are some things that I rather despise about some writings. These things seem to reoccur quite a bit on this site, which makes me sad. I am in no way saying that I'm a better writer than everyone else on this site, because I'm obviously not, but I would like to offer some advice that I've been given in the past, along with some things that absolutely annoy me about some works that can be easily "fixed" I guess you would say.
Firstly, I find that one of the most annoying things that happens on this site is that a person will have a rather amazing plot that's completely original, but the story is so poorly written that I want to keep reading, but shoot the writer at the same time. I do understand that some people can easily come up with brilliant ideas, but have problems getting them out on paper (or in this case, on Word Document or whatever program people use, haha.) What I don't understand is why the people who have these great ideas don't send their stories to a beta before they post. I find that most poorly written stories are that way because of bad terminology and grammar. Sometimes just changing certain words or rearranging parts of the story can make it so much better.
Secondly, I think that it's horribly frustrating when someone has a good story, but bad grammar. For example, when people don't put spaces between paragraphs (or they don't have paragraphs at all). It seems that some people call this a writing "style," but I'm sorry to report that it is not. It makes stories hard to read and frustrating to understand, especially when people put dialog in the same paragraph, unless it's the same person speaking both times. Example, "Hey dude, what's up?" "Not much, man, just hanging out." "Oh that's cool." I mean really, I know I'm not the only one that finds this hard to follow. Also, when people overuse exclamation marks, it gets annoying, unless that's the personality of the character speaking or something. I hope everyone can catch my drift on this. Just get a beta.
Thirdly, Another thing that frustrates the Hell out of me, and I do realize that I used to be an offender of this (it's partly why I remade one of my most popular stories), is when people add details to stories and don't stick with them throughout the story. Example, if you have a character that is deaf, but hears people speaking sometimes and responds. I mean really, what is this madness? If you make someone deaf, they must STAY deaf. If you make someone have a limp, the must have a limp throughout the story. If you have someone with blonde hair, unless you state they've dyed it, they must continue to have blonde hair. If someone has tattoos, don't forget what they're of- if your character has a certain job, you might want to talk about how they cover their tattoos, so that people don't forget and then you randomly say "Oh, she has a shit load of tattoos." It's just silly guys. You can't forget details like these, because they're IMPORTANT.
Fourthly, I'm sorry, but I don't care how your character puts on her make up or how they go about choosing their outfit for the day. I don't want to hear all about how they took a shower and brushed their teeth and did their hair. All you need to say is, "She woke up and got ready for the day, running through her morning routine and quickly getting dressed." There you go. If you want to describe clothes in detail, that's okay, but just remember that in books you find in Borders or Barnes and Noble, you will not get a complete run down of what color and brand and design is on the clothes, nor will you get a description of all of their jewelry and shoes and accessories. (Yes, I know I used to do this. But I don't anymore, which is why I can complain about it. Call me a hypocrite if you wish.)
Fifthly, When ending a sentence that is dialog (ex. "Hey dude."), use correct grammar and an ending sentence (ex. "Hey dude," he said smiling.). It's hard to keep track of who's saying what when you don't tell us. Continuous dialog, even when they're their own paragraphs like they should be, should almost always be followed up by something more than ending parenthesis (the exception to this is when you've had two people talking back and forth for a good while and the reader can easily understand that the dialog switches to a specific character every sentence). Describing actions, expressions, and tones makes it much more interesting for a reader.
I think I'm done with this little spiel for now. Bitch at me if you must, but I'm tired of crap spamming this site. Hopefully, some people will take advice from this and fix up their stories a bit so they're readable and enjoyable.
Love,
Lynnie Vicious.
Not registered?
Create an account