Tips on improving your writing (story wise)

More likes gay long advice on story writing.

Time to time i get message (both here and on Fanfiction.) to be their beta tester. Of course, i reply saying "sure, i'll be your beta tester. I like to help people." and so I do it, they give me their unedited chapter, i review and say what needs to be improve, they take it in and what happens when they send the next chapter?

NOTHING CHANGES!

So i have to look like a fool and repeat myself, same thing happens so i quit. Then they rage at me why i'm not a beta tester. You'll think common sense would come in and say 'look at your review, idiot.'

So i've come up with some tips, both from my school and my personal info. this will help with me course so yeah. need to get the hang of teaching others.

I will be refering to Australian English. but UK and US English isn't that different.

Passive Voice, Active voice. (With some help from cottoncandyFRIZZ)

Passive voice is normally spoken with a more formal educated tone of voice then active. Like this.

"Bill threw the ball." is a example of active voice because its something you would say rather than write it down. (unless your doing children books. different story.)
"The ball was thrown [by Bill].?" is passive because it is formal, and it is related more to a written type of view than speaking.

This isn't really major important but its nice to think about and keep in mind.

Reading and proof reading..

REALLY REALLY IMPORTANT especially when publishing your story for others to read. There will be times where readers will pick up mistakes more than the author. just like when people are watching two others playing chess; they will pick up on possible better moves than the players.

When proof reading the first time, ignore the spelling, grammer etc. think about,

Have you lost track?   Have you contradicted yourself?   Have you answer and solved the original plot/cliffhanger/twist/mystery in your story/chapter?

When you think your alright, time to read over your work again. this time fix your spelling, grammer, punctuation and expression.

Repetition of words.

This gets on my nerves when i read fanfics. Beginners or people who are starting to write because of school reasons, or want to improve their writing then to have a small group of words to use when it come to describing things so they get repetitive. eg. May loves to eat. she loves eating so much that she forgets to train for her love in contests. Instead   you could say May enjoys to eat, she loves eating so much that she forgets her passion in contests.

Enjoy, love, passion. All are very similar words and can make a sentence more interesting to read as well.

Repetition pretty much is robbing the word's intentisty. it's like reading the same word over and over again or saying the word over and over again. It loses its meaning over time.  In stories its best to avoid repetition.

Repetition of ideas.

There is a form of repetition where sometimes ideas can be repeated unnecessarily but with the use of different words. Once again. Annoying. eg. In fact, some of the competitors in the contest who looked like they have entered before were, in reality, never have entered before. Repetition cancels the idea so its best to keep things simple rather than go on and on and on. sometimes simple is the best. short and simple.  If you don't know what that words is or how to use it don't use it.

Redundancy.

I'll make this quick. when you have words in a sentence that no longer needed you are robbing its value. like eg. The play was enjoyable but the comedy was exaggerated too much and pushed to hard. again, keep it simple, don't rant and rant. . As readers we don't want to read on and on about something that should of been kept simple.  

Written English, Spoken English.

You think their the same but their not, they are completely different. Think about when talking to your parents, you don't go "Can you help me with the informative essay that is required to be done by this following week? Unless you want to be a smartass, then go for it. most likely you would say something like Mom/Dad? Can you help me with this English assignment that's due next week?

Their different. Don't ever think their the same.

The wrong word.

This tends to annoy me, even more on the net since there are some people we talk/watch who have bad English. but even us, people who come from English speaking countries get the most basic words wrong, especially when speaking to others.  in stories you want to avoid this because when your readers are reading it will sound awkward and wrong. like, I could of run all day. WRONG, don't write that! I could have ran all day.

Now tell me which one makes sense when reading/speaking?

Punctuation.

Everyone is expected that we know basic grammar, sadly now we have the Internet everything is kept short and simple. Like in WoW (world of warcraft) punctuation is ignored because well, your too busy playing than bother to fix your words up.

CAPITAL LETTERS.

Oh, this pisses me so badly when i'm reading. I can't help but pick on how many times the author has forgotten to add a capital A to Ash or M for Misty. Capital letters gives the letter to indicate they are a name, a object. They are given importance. Capital letters are placed for names, titles, places, languages, nations, religions, days of the week, months, holidays, organisations BUT not seasons. I know, it's strange.

Full stops.

Full stops are used to end a sentence. Without these little dots a sentence will go on and on forever and the person will lose track where they were or even remember what they are reading. It's best to read your work out loud to see where full stops are needed.

Questions marks.

Not a major issue but i have a certain friend where she doesn't use question marks when they are needed. questions marks indicates a question, if there is question mark then the indented question becomes a statement.  so your question isn't a question but a statement.

Commas.

Commas are so important that it isn't funny. a sentence's meaning can change big time when a comma isn't added when they are needed. And also the reader might get a different reaction when reading a sentence like this.

"Let's eat, Grandpa."  Me: Aw, how sweet.

"Let's eat Grandpa." Me: THEY WANT TO EAT THEIR OWN GRANDPA? WTF?

Another example.

The Armadillo eats, roots and leaves. Me: Hm, that's nice to know.

The Armadillo eats roots and leaves. Me: *is pissing herself laughing.*

See? one comma can change a reader's thoughts on the sentence. try to avoid that or else you'll get interesting reviews on your story.

Apostrophes.

These little thingys are used two ways.  Possession and Contraction

Possesson: Bill's plants. This is referring that this is Bill's plants and HIS ONLY. This plant only belongs to him. but if there is more than one person owning the plant than its like like. The boys' plants. the apostrophe is in front of the 's' rather than behind it.

Contraction Is when two words are combined into one. think it as merging. like this:

Will not - Won't, Could have - could've, o'clock - on the clock, it's - it is etc.

It's just making another word short, a short cut really.

Dialogue writing.

As readers, i want to read a story not only with a good descriptive plot and wonderful characters but also i want to read good character dialogues. if i try to read stories like this

"I'm going to go and see Ash again, guys! We're going on a brand new adventure with him and his Pokemon!" May said to the Pokemon she had brought with her. Skitty, Glaceon, and Blaziken cheered, looking forward to seeing Ash's Pokemon again. Munchlax was eating a cake.
"Munchlax! Where did you get that cake?" May said. Munchlax finished it off.
"Muunchlax. Munch munch... (I was huungry. It was just left out in the cafe...)" it replied.
May sweat-dropped. "You need to stop stealing food. C'mon guys, let's go." she returned her Pokemon, except for Glaceon, who walked next to May.

SPACE     IT      OUT     FOR      GOD      SAKE! yOU     TRYING    TO      MAKE    ME     BLIND?! (From a old review of mine.)

It's not only hard to read but IT'S NOT INTERESTING AT ALL. Think when writing dialogue.

"What are they doing when they are talking?" "What are they going to do after talking?" "Is anything happening at the same time while this character is talking?"

You want your readers to keep on reading, not repelling them away. You want feedback, you want people to share your story, you want them to enjoy your story. Not the other way around.

Description.

So bloody important, god, why don't anyone think it isn't? Don't write a story based on people talking. The reader will think.

"Okay? Their talking? Now what?"

Your reader won't know where the characters are, what their doing, what is suppose to be going on, what's going to happen next etc. As a writer you want to paint a picture into your readers mind, MAKE THEM SEE WHAT YOU SEE. Write as much as there is needed to make sure they understand what is happening in the story.

Example: A good description.

"In a city drowning in the remnant of chaos, a peculiar structure stands quietly amidst the abandoned town. By the lifeless sea, crystals shine dimly in the sun. There is no sign of life in this city shrouded by a desolate sky. This world had no life or death, an endless loop of possibilities. There in the darkness stood a goddess. Armour covered her slim figure, her weapon at the ready as she brushed her pink hair over her right shoulder."

Now what is painted in your mind? The story hasn't even started but your not only got the attention from your readers but you have created a environment of the world you see in your head and is a place where your story is based on. A good described setting will also give emotion and will explain why the character is sad etc.

Emotion.

People have been asking me crazy "How do you make such powerful emotion in your stories?" (from another review of mine.)  It's easier than you might think.

BECOME YOUR CHARACTER, FEEL WHAT THEY ARE THINKING, FILL THEIR SHOES, PLAY THEIR LIFE.

Don't make them crying if their is nothing to give them a reason to cry. Don't make them fall in love with another if there is nothing there is to love/like them about. Everything you write needs a reason why it is being written. Don't write because you feel like it, write it because you want to . You also want your character to be BELIEVABLE. Must i stress about how much of us hate Mary-sues? Hm?

Good example of emotion:

Tears began to run down her cheeks. How could May do such a thing to him? The more she stayed with Drew, admired him, and loved him the more pain she gave the man that was by her side everyday of her travelling life. And when she left him for Drew and not once did she consulted him if it as alright. And here Ash was pretending everything was alright and continued to love her even though she wasn't his.

And she thought he was the hopeless romantic type.

She rushed to his lips and pressed on them hard as more tears escaped and run down her face. She eventually stopped holding his hands and tossed her arms over his shoulders. The longer their lips were locked the weaker their kiss became. When the kiss was over, Sapphire placed her forehead against Ash; just like what he done earlier. Sapphire continued to cry in front of him.

"You're in love with the wrong girl Ash."

How do you feel? Sad? It's because the character is believable, you might start crying because you relate or seen something similar. You might feel sympathy towards Sapphire or you might just not care one bit but you understand why Sapphire has doubts to love Ash completely. All readers will take in your emotional writing different and don't expect all them to cry, everyone is different and you can't cater to all of them and wanting to pour their tears out every time they read your stories.

And i'm done. If you want any more advice don't be shy to ask. or if you want me to be your beta tester then i will be more than happy to do so. But remember i'll be harsh, in a good way of course or if there is a topic you would like me to add or explain better don't be shy to ask.