On Writing

So, my first blog entry EVER. This is quite spontaneous, so please don't blame me for it being a bit messed up. I just wanted to write down what's going on about my mind. It's actually some kind of advice for all you authors out there. What I'm just about to critizie is a phenomenon that I witnessed often when reading through stories on the internet (especially fanfiction). I'll just start, I guess. (Yes, I like to ramble. A lot.)

1. "I'm sorry, I know this chapter is crap but I wanted to get something up."

Seriously. Don't do that. Never put a chapter up that you are not entirely happy with. Take your time, even if you haven't updated in a week. I know writer's block is a bitch, but putting up a "bad" chapter is not the solution. As a reader I'd rather wait for a good chapter than read a "crappy" one. That's a fact. If the story is good, then the readers will also wait for a good chapter. It takes some time to write a good chapter, but you just have to read it over twice or thrice, maybe also let a friend read over it, to see whether the details fit to the rest of the story or whether you may have confused something. Let some time pass before reading it over again. Maybe you want to change some phrases that you thought were ok, but somehow don't seem to fit it anymore? Maybe you come up with a better phrase? All I can say is: TAKE YOUR TIME! I'm not kidding here. Sometimes you have to take a step back and look at things differently. Which leads me to the next point.

2. The reader cannot look into your head.

For you the chapter makes sense. Of course, you have the story in your head. But is it detailed enough for the reader? Can the reader comprehend what led to the situation you're describing? I think it's always difficult to write a chapter so that another person can fully comprehend what just happened and why it happened. You might think "Well of course it is like that because they are secretly in love!", but does your reader know already that they are secretly in love or does he think "I thought they had each other, why is it like this now?". Once again: Take a step back and try to read your story as if you weren't the writer. Or better: Let someone else read it before you put it up. That can help to clear up any confusions.

3. Take a look at your grammar/spelling

That's another point why re-reading each chapter before posting it is important. You might find grammar/spelling mistakes that you didn't notice before. Let someone else re-read it. Get a beta-reader. I don't know, just do something to correct grammar and spelling. I know I'm not perfect at that myself, especially since English is not my native language, but it's something you should really pay attention to. A story can be totally amazing, but bad spelling/grammar and confused tenses will ruin it. I started reading so many seemingly awesome stories, but didn't finish reading them because they had major spelling and grammar mistakes or the author would jump weirdly between tenses, writing one sentence in past tense and the next in present, without apparent reason. That's just annoying.

4. Structure

Structure your chapter. Use paragraphs and punctuation to make it easier to read. Nothing is more straining to read than one huge block of text. I know what I'm talking about. I always try to make as many paragraphs as possible without annoying anyone. You shouldn't have too little but also not too many paragraphs. I know it's difficult, but make a paragraph after one situation ends and another one begins. For example: The protagonist walks into a room, looks around and the reader gets a description of the room. *PARAGRAPH* Suddenly something happens.
I hope you get the idea. ;)

Well, that's it for now. I just want to help, hell, I'm not really one to talk either, but I always try my best. Sometimes I just get the feeling that some authors don't care about such general things. Oh and another topic would be writing a chapter on your phone... "I wrote this on my phone, so please don't pay attention to spelling/grammar mistakes." HELL NO! (Just saying...) Ok enough of that, I'm out.

I hope this might help some of you. I will do a blog entry every once in a while about different things (I guess? I don't have a clue to be honest.).

xoxo Rebellious Redamancy