Emily Writes A Book

A space for writing references, ranting, and learning while I attempt to write a novel. Wish me luck. Personal blog: hereforthedarkside

[dynamicsymmetry]

Good stuff.

[tarysande]

Guys, I edit professionally. This list is legit. Incorporating these suggestions before you hire an editor will save you A LOT of money. Even if you did these and nothing else, you’d see significant overall improvement in your work.

That said, you don’t have to overthink these things when you’re writing a first draft. If you write, “she said angrily” in a first draft, you can always revisit the phrasing in a second draft. I mention this because overthinking style can lead to a loss of momentum, and losing momentum is why so many people never finish a draft. Give yourself permission to write fast, write messy or ugly, and edit your draft into beauty later.

[inky-duchess]

Fantasy Guide: Common battle wounds and how to fix them

Arrow wounds: Now if the lung, heart, kidney, other major organ is hit, there may be little to do. The kidney has a back up, so maybe a skilled surgeon could save him, not exactly sure however. If hit by an arrow and not hit dangerously in an organ or artery, we can help. Firstly, DO NOT REMOVE arrow by yanking. Arrow must be worked from the skin by skilled hands. Once arrow is out, wash would with clean water/alchohol/herbal remedies. To heal slow, sew up wound and wrap in bandages. To speed it up, cauterise the wound with fire. It will hurt and patient pay pass out but now the arrow wound can heal faster. This works for crossbow bolts as well. On the gross side, arrows may be smeared with dirt or shit, so sepsis is a danger. This is how the great Richard the Lionheart died. Sometimes the mighty lion is killed by a shit arrow. But hey, shit happens. Arrow wounds take a couple of weeks to heal.

Sword slashes: if shallow, wash and bind up. May require stitches. If deeper, repeat process with more stitches and more bandages. Even if shallow, the cut must be washed using alcohol or clean water. May take a few days to weeks to heal depending on wound depth and severity.

Stab wound: Again don’t remove knife or object. If already removed, wash would and sew it up. You may need to cauterise. If guts, organs, brain, is falling out, there is nothing to do. This may take a couple of weeks to months to heal depending on wound.

Broken Bones: A break must be splinted with a board of wood and bandages. Slings can support arms and wrists. If your character breaks a leg, it may be worse. Breaks don’t heal great without modern medicine. Your character may have a limp or leg pain. In you’re are living in a hot climate, you’re pretty much fucked because infection sets in fast. These may take months to heal.

For @maslovianwench

[wordsnstuff]

hey! I don't know if you've done this before since I started following you recently but I was wondering if you've got some tips on how to write dialogue? I suck at that massively and could really use some help. Thank you and have a nice day/night :)

Dialogue can be a tricky thing, so I’ve compiled some tips and resources that can hopefully help you. 

My first tip is to make sure you’re familiar with dialogue punctuation, or at least the basics, because the last thing you want to do with your dialogue once you finish your manuscript is go through and type a bunch of commas in place of periods.

Dialogue Punctuation

Another thing is to keep in mind characterization in dialogue. Making them sound genuine and individual in the things they say and how they say them, and those sort of things.

Keeping Characters From Sounding Identical

Ways To Fit Character Development Into your Story

How To Develop A Distinct Voice In Your Writing

Make sure the dialogue pushes the story forward and flows nicely. Make it feel like a real conversation in the reader’s head (though not to realistic, because then the dramatic effect of it all gets muffled).

Improving Flow In Writing

How To Perfect The Tone In A Piece Of Writing

Here is my post with general dialogue tips that should help you as well:

Tips On Dialogue

If you enjoy my blog and wish for it to continue being updated frequently and for me to continue putting my energy toward answering your questions, please consider Buying Me A Coffee or supporting me on Patreon.

I’d also really appreciate it if you would check out my separate blog dedicated to my current work in progress, as well as my studyblr, which helps keep me motivated as a full time student.

[wordsnstuff]

Editing  & Proofreading Cheat Sheet

– A lot of questions I receive revolve around editing and proofreading, so I decided to make an extensive guide to editing your own writing. I collaborated with some amazing friends on this post so this is dedicated to them as well as all of you. I hope you find it useful. Enjoy!

Know The Difference: Editing vs. Proofreading

Editing is about the content, proofreading is about the technical detail and accuracy. Once you know the difference and you separate the two into different tasks, going through and actually doing it will seem less daunting. Deciding which to tacking first depends on what you’re like when you edit, but if you struggling with focusing on actually improving the content because you get distracted by grammatical errors and spelling mistakes, then proofreading first may be a good idea. 

Be Intentional With Your Vocabulary

Avoid adverbs

Be frugal with unique adjectives

Only use dialogue tags when absolutely necessary

Be mindful of overused words

Take the time to find the right words

The words you choose can make all the difference so pay special attention to them.

Just Keep Snipping

A basic rule to editing that people often forget it, if it doesn’t serve a purpose, you should cut it out. A short book that is amazing all the way through is better than a long book that is redundant. Don’t worry about leaving your readers in the dark or not having enough content. As you edit, you’ll find ways and places in which to input more information.

Flow & Rhythm

This is the part where you make sure the writing itself sounds how you want it to. It’s important to read your writing aloud during this stage. Some things to pay attention to regarding flow and rhythm:

sentence length/variation

sentence structure

syllables and how they fit together

how your writing sounds out loud

Eloquence

Say it once and say it clearly. Redundancy bores readers so quickly, so when putting information forward, be clear, concise, and don’t add fluff. You don’t need to write a whole paragraph about how a character feels in a situation. It’s important to give the reader just enough to read between the lines.

Grammar

Common Grammar Mistakes To Look For

Subject-verb agreement errors

Sentence Fragments

Missing Comma After Introductory Element

Misusing The Apostrophe With “Its”

No Comma In A Compound Sentence

Misplaced Or Dangling Modifier

Vague Pronoun Reference

Wrong Word Usage

Run-On Sentence

Superfluous Commas

Lack Of Parallel Structure

Sentence Sprawl

Comma Splice

Colon Mistakes

Split Infinitives

List from here x {Explains these further and more in depth}

Improper Use of Phrases

“could have” not “could of”

“My friends and I” not “me and my friends” {If you take away “my friends” or “I”, or one of the nouns in a sentence in general, the sentence should still make sense}

“I couldn’t care less” not “I could care less”. This should be a no-brainer.

etc.. I could go on.

Familiarize yourself with these common mistakes and avoid making them at all costs. It’s also helpful to have someone read over it and let you know when they find issues with phrases you used. Please be attentive to these mistakes because making them can destroy your credibility as a writer.

Utilize The Senses

If you’re describing something in your writing, you should be slipping in words and little details that appeal to the reader’s senses, When editing, look for opportunities to slip in how a place smells, how a food tastes, how something feels to the touch, etc. It’s unbelievable how much this enhances your story.

Punctuation & Format

Punctuation Rules In English

the period (or full stop in British English)

the comma

the exclamation mark

the question mark

the colon

the semicolon

the quotation mark

the apostrophe

the hyphen and the dash

parentheses and brackets

Source x

When proofreading and marking up your manuscript, it can save a lot of time and energy if you use marks instead of actually write out everything, so here is a little chart I found that may be useful to you:

Other Things To Look Out For

Make sure you know who is talking

Keep tense consistent

Vary the tone from scene to scene

Run-on sentences

Inconsistencies in story details

Plot holes

Causes and effects of events are explained

Facts and technical details {Make sure you’ve researched them well}

Deviations from established background (know your story really really well and make sure your reader does too)

General Tips

Go in assuming that your work is full of errors. Maybe it’s not, but it’s better to be prepared for the worst and solve the issues now rather than when it’s too late

DO NOT BE SENTIMENTAL. Yes, easier said than done, but it’s possible. 

Make the text less recognizable to yourself in order to catch details you may not otherwise.

Print out your manuscript and physically write out the changes.

Read your writing out loud. Sometimes writing looks like it makes sense, but in reality sounds wrong. 

Do it in short periods over time so that you don’t inevitably get lazy with paying attention to little details

Keep in mind that editing usually takes longer than actually writing the draft because it is less fluid and requires more thought and problem solving.

Don’t rely on spelling and/or grammar checking software; they’re not always correct and can easily misinterpret what you’re trying to get across. 

Check for a single error at a time. It may be time consuming and tedious but it’s more effective than the alternative.

Give yourself time and read slowly through it multiple times

Split up large chunks of text to make it easier to handle. Don’t go through your whole manuscript page by page as if you were just reading it as a book. Go chapter by chapter or scene by scene or even sentence by sentence.

If something seems off, investigate it. Don’t take a chance and leave it be. If you’re stumped, highlight it and have someone else look over it.

Have a strategy. Maybe not at first, especially if you don’t extensively edit your work regularly, but with time you’ll find what works for you and what doesn’t. Create your own system and use it to save yourself some time and confusion.

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[heywriters]

I just want to add that I once proofread a classmate’s creative writing assignment and her character said “What in carnation?”

And she didn’t get it. She had no idea.

[davidfarland]

Making Better Magic Systems (Lesson 6)

Get Real

Very often I will read stories where the author describes a magic spell like this:

“As soon as he entered the room, Kyla felt the powerful magic. She reached out with her senses, seeking the source, and found it was Naylam, standing above the bloody altar.”

Pardon me for writing two such embarrassingly weak sentences, but I’ve read them so many times, in so many manuscripts, I have to show you what it is like. When you read it, it’s sort of like being splashed in the face with pig slop. You know it’s garbage, but you can’t quite figure out what kind.

Do you see the problem? There is no actual imagery here. You as a reader have no idea what magic “feels” like. Does it feel like a kitten purring as it nuzzles against your cheek? Or does it feel more like a dagger piercing your kidney? Or does it feel like a bad case of the flu is making you want to barf?

The imagery is so vague, the reader isn’t led to imagine anything it all. The author is simply “telling” us what the mage experiences without creating any real imagery. But as an author you’ve heard it over and over again, “Show, don’t tell.” So you have to come up with precise imagery in order to fix the problem.

Before we address precise imagery, there are a couple of clichés that we need to deal with here. Why is it that so many mages “feel” magic power? I’ve seen people “sense” magic in books hundreds of times. Much in the same way, in film anything that is magic glows. So when we describe something magic, authors often refer to these two senses without thought.

But sight and feeling are not the only senses we have. Indeed, relying upon any one sense alone is too damned weak to bring your magic to life. We need to involve all of the senses—all the ones that your teacher taught you about in school—and more!

So instead of harking back to the old clichés, when you create magic, I want you to ask yourself, “How does the viewpoint character know that someone or something is magic?”

Come up with an answer. For example, if a character sees someone with a magic sword, you might imagine that the sword is glowing. Why? Because in Hollywood, everything that is magic glows. It’s a visual medium, after all.

If you do default to that image, throw your answer away, and ask yourself, “How does my hero really know?” Come up with a better answer.

Then maybe throw that second answer away and ask, “How does he really know?” Repeat this as often as needed, until after maybe ten or fifty tries, you get an answer that your gut tells you is right. If you’re familiar with acting techniques, you’ll probably recognize this exercise, but it works in storytelling as you consider things like character’s motives, possible plot twists, and … what does magic look like?

So you make a list.

Now that you know what magic looks like, ask yourself what does the magic sound like? When a mage casts a spell, for example, what does the audience hear? Does he hear a scream from the netherworld, or a crackling of static electricity, or the voice of a god in his mind shouting in fear, “No!” Consider a dozen possibilities.

Once you have got the visual and audio down, go deeper. What physical sensations does the magic carry—things like hot, cold, wet, dry, rough, smooth, soft, unyielding.

What smells are associated with the spell, if any?

Go deeper. What emotions are aroused by magic? Does the mage feel triumph, horror, regret?

When a magical spell is cast or an implement is used, how long does it take? Does it happen faster than thought, or does time dilate, the way that it will in a fight, so that the mage really is aware of what is going on in minute detail?

What is your viewpoint character thinking during the process? Go into his or her direct thoughts.

And finally, what are the magic’s effects? How does it act in ways that surprise the viewpoint character, or arouse powerful emotions?

In other words, when you are trying to create an impression that magic is taking place, you need to involve all of the senses. Sight, sound, smell, touch, taste, emotions, time—and you should even go deeper, into your POV character’s direct thoughts.

This is the only way to make magic feel real. If you would like to see some examples of how it is done, I’d invite you to look at Brandon Sanderson’s work, particularly in his Mistorborn series. Carlos Castenada does it well in his book, The Teachings of Don Juan. I do it in The Runelords, too.

But I need to emphasize this: In writing, all failures are tied to a failure of imagination. If your magic system feels weak or cliché, or if the consequences of your magic system aren’t rigorously examined, then you need to go back, exercise more and more imagination until you fix it.

[mortepiacere-deactivated2019032]

A handy list of poisons for writing reference, provided to you by me, Bella

Poisoning is one of the oldest murder tactics in the books. It was the old equalizer, and while it’s often associated with women, historically men are no less likely to poison you. This is not a guide on how to poison people, you banana bunches, it’s a guide on writing about poisons in fiction so you don’t end up on a watch list while researching them. I’ve taken that hit for you. You’re welcome. These are just a few of the more classic ones.

Hemlock: Hemlock (conium maculatum) is one of the more famous ones, used in ancient times most notably in Socrates’ forced suicide execution. So it goes. The plant has bunches of small, white flowers, and can grow up to ten feet tall. It’s a rather panicky way to die, although it wouldn’t show: hemlock is a paralytic, so the cause of death is most often asphyxiation due to respiratory paralysis, although the mind remains unaffected and aware.

Belladonna: Atropa belladonna is also called deadly nightshade. It has pretty, trumpet-shaped purple flowers and dark, shiny berries that actually look really delicious which is ironic since it’s the most toxic part of the plant. The entire plant is poisonous, mind you, but the berries are the most. One of the most potent poisons in its hemisphere, it was used as a beauty treatment, so the story says, and rubbed into the eyes to make the eyes dilate and the cheeks flush. Hench the name beautiful lady. The death is more lethargic than hemlock, although its symptoms are worse: dilated pupils, sensitivity to light, blurred vision, tachycardia, loss of balance, staggering, headache, rash, flushing, severely dry mouth and throat, slurred speech, urinary retention, constipation, confusion, hallucinations, delirium, and convulsions. It’s toxic to animals, but cattle and rabbits can eat it just fine, for some reason. 

Arsenic: Arsenic comes from a metalloid and not a plant, unlike the others here, but it’s easily the most famous and is still used today. Instead of being distilled from a plant, chunks of arsenic are dug up or mined. It was once used as a treatment for STDs, and also for pest control and blacksmithing, which was how many poisoners got access to it. It was popular in the middle ages because it looked like a cholera death, due to acute symptoms including stomach cramps, diarrhea, confusion, convulsions, vomiting, and death. Slow poisoning looked more like a heart attack. The Italians famously claimed that a little arsenic improved the taste of wine.

Strychnine: Strychnine (strick-nine) is made from the seed of strychnos nux vomica and causes poisoning which results in muscular convulsions and eventually death through asphyxia. Convulsions appear after inhalation or injection—very quickly, within minutes—and take somewhat longer to manifest after ingestion, around approximately 15 minutes. With a very high dose, brain death can occur in 15 to 30 minutes. If a lower dose is ingested, other symptoms begin to develop, including seizures, cramping, stiffness, hypervigilance, and agitation. Seizures caused by strychnine poisoning can start as early as 15 minutes after exposure and last 12 – 24 hours. They are often triggered by sights, sounds, or touch and can cause other adverse symptoms, including overheating, kidney failure, metabolic and respiratory acidosis. During seizures, abnormal dilation, protrusion of the eyes, and involuntary eye movements may occur. It is also slightly hallucinogenic and is sometimes used to cut narcotics. It also notably has no antidote. In low doses, some use it as a performance enhancer.

Curare: Chondrodendron tomentosum is lesser known than its famous cousins, but kills in a very similar way to hemlock. It is slow and terrible, as the victim is aware and the heart may beat for many minutes after the rest of the body is paralyzed. If artificial respiration is given until the poison subsides, the victim will survive.

Wolfsbane: Aconitum has several names; Monkshood, aconite, Queen of Poisons, women’s bane, devil’s helmet) and is a pretty, purple plant with gourd-shaped flowers. The root is the most potent for distillation. Marked symptoms may appear almost immediately, usually not later than one hour, and with large doses death is near instantaneous. Death usually occurs within two to six hours in fatal poisoning. The initial signs are gastrointestinal including nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. This is followed by a sensation of burning, tingling, and numbness in the mouth and face, and of burning in the abdomen. In severe poisonings pronounced motor weakness occurs and sensations of tingling and numbness spread to the limbs. The plant should be handled with gloves, as the poison can seep into the skin.

Foxglove: Digitalis is large with trumpet-shaped flowers that can be many colors, but usually a pinkish shade. It may have from the term foxes-glew, which translated to fairy music. Intoxication causes nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, as well as sometimes resulting in xanthopsia (jaundiced or yellow vision) and the appearance of blurred outlines (halos), drooling, abnormal heart rate, cardiac arrhythmias, weakness, collapse, dilated pupils, tremors, seizures, and even death. Slowed heartbeat also occurs. Because a frequent side effect of digitalis is reduction of appetite and the mortality rate is low, some individuals have used the drug as a weight-loss aid. It looks a bit like comfrey, which is an aid for inflammation. Make sure not to confuse the two.

[emilywritesabook]

lol remember when i actually wrote something over nano this year?

[writingwithcolor]

Writing With Color Top Posts + Other Useful Ones

Oh hey– here’s a list ranked by Writing With Color’s most popular posts since opening in 2014 up till now, the start of 2017. Pulled together for the interest and usefulness for readers like you. Thank you.

Top 7 Popular Original Posts 

Words for Skin Tone - This two part guide offers an array of words for describing skin color. Part I focuses on the problems with food descriptors. Part II provides alternatives. (68k+ Notes)

Common Micro-aggressions: African Americans and/or Black People - An extensive list of common micro-aggressions towards Black people with some links for further reading. (46k)

Words to Describe Hair - As with the words for skin tone, an offering of words to describe hair, from curls to different colors. (34k+)

Black and White Symbolism: A Look into the Trope - Discusses concept of black as evil and white as good, from its history & problem implications. Guide offers alternatives & solutions. (10k)

Describing Accents - An example-based post for describing accents and voices. (5k)

How to Research your Racially/Ethnically Diverse Characters -     Self-explanatory. (5k) 

Describing Asian Eyes - A guide to describing Asian eyes with further useful commentary. (4k)

Honorable Mentions

Other recommended WWC Posts.

The Key to Moving Beyond Checklisting is Not Less Diversity - “The problem with pasted-on diversity is not the diversity; it’s the pasted on part.”

Stereotyped vs Nuanced Characters and Audience Perception  - Discusses one of our more common ask themes: the writing (or rather, the not writing) of stereotypes.

When We Read: Mod Wishlist - A list of what we as mods would like to see of ourselves in media. Check out the Native American WL too.

Bad Representation vs Tokenism vs Diversity just existing without justification like in the real world -Title says it all. 

Stereotyping Tropes List - A categorized tropes list reposted from the TV Tropes website with links to their topics on the subject matter.

–WWC 

[toastyhat-deactivated20180203]

I just discovered foodtimeline.org, which is exactly what it sounds like: centuries worth of information about FOOD.  If you are writing something historical and you want a starting point for figuring out what people should be eating, this might be a good place?

[rainbowbarnacle]

CHRISTMAS CAME EARLY

[badmadwolf]

this is awesome but the original link just turned into a redirect loop for me, here it is again (x)

[friendlyfrankenstein]

OH HELLO

[fixyourwritinghabits]

No more potatoes in medieval novels!

[lizard-is-writing]

Writing Clever Characters

Anonymous asked: Any tips for writing a character that is smarter or more clever than you are?

One inevitable truth is that your characters cannot truly be smarter than you, the writer.  However, they can be smarter than you within the world of your story, and, more importantly, they also can seem smarter. It helps if this incredibly smart character is not the protagonist. They can be, but it’s easier to carry this illusion in smaller doses. 

One thing to know early on: in what way is this character smarter than you are? 

If this character is quick-witted, you just need wit to be able to write it, even if you could not be that sharp and in-the-moment as they are. If your character is an astrophysicist, read up on the basics and write what you know. You likely should consult an expert for some of the more detailed in-depth information. If your character is solving an Agatha Christie mystery, that takes some plotting skills that has nothing to do (well, less strictly to do) with smarts. 

With that said, here’s a few strategies: 

Keep reading

[tlbodine]

Writing Tip: Don’t Be Afraid of Mixing Dialogue and Action

So I’ve been reading a lot of amateur writing lately, and I’ve noticed what seems to be a common problem: dialogue. 

Tell me if this looks familiar. You start writing a conversation, only to look down and realize it reads like: 

“I’m talking now,” he said. 

“Yes, I noticed,” she said. 

“I have nothing much to add to this conversation,” the third person said. 

And it grates on your ears. So much ‘said.’ It looks awful! It sounds repetitive. So, naturally, you try to shake it up a bit: 

“Is this any better?” He inquired. 

“I’m not sure,” she mused. 

“I definitely think so!” that other guy roared. 

This is not an improvement. This is worse. 

Now your dialogue is just as disjointed as it was before, but you have the added problem of a bunch of distracting dialogue verbs that can have an unintentionally comedic effect. 

So here’s how you avoid it: You mix up the dialogue with description. 

“Isn’t this better?” he asked, leaning forward in his seat. “Don’t you feel like we’re more grounded in reality?” 

She nodded, looking down at her freshly manicured nails. “I don’t feel like a talking head anymore.” 

“Right!” that annoying third guy added. “And now you can get some characterization crammed into the dialogue!” 

The rules of dialogue punctuation are as follows: 

Each speaker gets his/her own paragraph - when the speaker changes, you start a new paragraph. 

Within the speaker’s own paragraph, you can include action, interior thoughts, description, etc. 

You can interrupt dialogue in the middle to put in a “said” tag, and then write more dialogue from that same speaker. 

You can put the “said” tag at the beginning or end of the sentence. 

Once you’ve established which characters are talking, you don’t need a “said” tag every time they speak. 

ETA: use a comma instead of a period at the end of a sentence of dialogue, and keep the ‘said’ tag in lower caps. If you end on a ? or !, the ‘said’ tag is still in lower case. (thanks, commenters who pointed this out!) 

Some more examples: 

“If you’re writing an incomplete thought,” he said, “you put a comma, then the quote mark, then the dialogue tag.” 

“If the sentence ends, you put in a period.” She pointed at the previous sentence. “See? Complete sentences.” 

“You can also replace the dialogue tag with action.” Extra guy yawned. “When you do, you use a period instead of a comma.”

So what do you do with this newfound power? I’m glad you asked. 

You can provide description of the character and their surroundings in order to orient them in time and space while talking. 

You can reveal characterization through body language and other nonverbal cues that will add more dimension to your dialogue. 

You can add interior thoughts for your POV character between lines of dialogue - especially helpful when they’re not saying quite what they mean. 

You can control pacing. Lines of dialogue interrupted by descriptions convey a slower-paced conversation. Lines delivered with just a “said” tag, or with no dialogue tag at all, convey a more rapid-fire conversation. 

For example: 

“We’ve been talking about dialogue for a while,” he said, shifting in his seat as though uncomfortable with sitting still. 

“We sure have,” she agreed. She rose from her chair, stretching. “Shall we go, then?” 

“I think we should.” 

“Great. Let’s get out of here.” 

By controlling the pacing, you can establish mood and help guide your reader along to understanding what it is that you’re doing. 

I hope this helps you write better dialogue! If you have questions, don’t hesitate to drop me an ask :)

[heywriters]

The Fantasy Writer's Guide to Horses - Ink and Quills

The writer's guide to horses to help you write realistic scenes. Find out how far a horse can travel, how long a horse can gallop, and more.

[rosekgold-deactivated20170516]

Dialogue Tag Guide

Okay. For everyone who has asked me about dialogue here is my master guide to it. Hopefully, this will help some of you out. There is probably a post like this on the writing section of tumblr but I honestly didn’t bother to look lmfao.

For this post,  I’ll be using the American way, I know England and a few other places have different punctuation rules, anyway look for the letters and punctuation that’s been written bold.

So what is a dialogue tag? Its that phrase or miniature sentence that comes before, after or in the middle of what is being said by the character.

“Clint did you steal Natasha’s razor again?” Tony asked. This is the dialogue tag.

The rules change based on where the dialogue tags are placed.

For Tags After Dialogue:

Don’t capitalize the beginning of the dialogue tag unless the first word is a proper noun. (a name used for an individual person, place, or organization)

“Clint, you are the dirty thief,” Natasha snapped. Proper noun. Always capitalized, no matter what. 

“Clint, you are the dirty thief,” she snapped. <- ‘she’ is a pronoun, the comma voids it of being capitalized.  

Dialogue Tags Interrupting Dialogue:

When dialogue tags are used in the middle of dialogue, commas go inside the first quotation set/sentence, and after the tag:

“Why am I always blamed for shit I didn’t do,” he shot back, “for all you know, Steve could have done it.”

You can also separate sentences with a period:

“Seriously,” Steve remarks incredulously. “I’m the honest one around here!”

See how the first sentence ended with a period and the next sentence was capitalized?

Tag Before Dialogue:

If the dialogue is the beginning of the sentence, capitalize it, and make sure the tag has a comma after:

Bruce walked in the lab, and asked, “Are you guys arguing again?”

Steve said, “Yes.”

Dialogue Interrupted by Actions or Thoughts:

Characters often pause to think or do something, so how do we write that? It looks a little like this:

“Back to the matter at hand” -Natasha clapped- “I want to know who stole my razor.”

The dashes are special punctuation. It’s bizarre. I know. Just make sure to end the second sentence with the right punctuation for the scenario. 

Question Marks and Dialogue Tags:

The tag does not get capitalized unless it is a proper noun because of a question mark. It is the same sentence. Same rule applies to exclamation points:

“Will someone just admit it?” she asked, exasperated. 

“Yeah, will someone just come out and say it!” he exclaimed.

“Alright, alright, I did it!” Clint conceeded.

Hope this helps those who have been struggling with dialogue tags. If you have any questions message me here and feel free to reblog to help out other writers. 

[writeworld-blog]

We have more Gods and Goddesses than you can shake a stick at. Our Mythology Encyclopedia features over 3,700 weird and wonderful Supreme Beings, Demons, Spirits and Fabulous Beasts from all over the world. Explore ancient legends and folklore, and discover Gods of everything from Fertility to Fluff with Godchecker…

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[writingwithcolor]

Yo.

[relatableyoutuber-deactivated20]

I'm having trouble with lie/lay/lying/laying/lied/laid. I always mix them up. I am a non native speaker and I learn best with examples, so could you please give some correct and incorrect examples of the listed words' usage. :) Thank you for doing this. <3

This is a great question! Many native English speakers still struggle with the difference between lie and lay.

Now, to solve this problem you must first understand the definitions of lie, lay, lying, lain, and laid.

Definitions of lie, lay, lying, lain, and laid

Lie means to rest or recline. Lie is an intransitive verb, so a direct object will not follow it in a sentence.

Lay, on the other hand, means to put someone or something down. It is a transitive verb, so a direct object will follow.

Lying is the present participle of lie, meaning that it represents the present action of the verb and typically ends in -ing.

Lain is the past participle of lie, meaning that it represents the past action of the verb.

Laid is the past participle of lay, meaning that it represents the present action of the verb, blah blah blah. A pattern has formed by now.

Refer to the chart below for addition help.

Examples of lie, lay, lying, lain, and laid usage

Example of lie usage:

You lie down on the couch. When writing in the present tense, you would use lie as you are reclining yourself.

Example of lay usage:

Susan lay the book on the table, pondering the chapter she just read. When writing in the present tense, you would use lay as the character is placing an object upon another object.

Example of lying usage:

John came home to find the dog lying on his bed. When writing in the present tense, you would use lying because the object of the sentence is in a current state of rest.

Example of lain usage:

Christina’s homework has lain on her table for so long her mother wondered if her daughter would ever get around to doing it. When writing in the past tense, you would use lain, as the object is at rest in the past tense.

Example of laid usage:

Alaric laid the baby back ribs on the barbecue. When writing in the past tense, you would use lain, as the character is placing something down.

In essence, the difference between lie and lay…

Lie = no object.

Lay = object.

I hope this makes sense. Happy writing!

xoxo, mod Addison

Chart courtesy of LiveBinders.

[thewritershelpers]

Hi! Do you think you could link some places to find beta readers, or free critique services online for us aspiring writers with finished manuscripts? Thank you so much! :)

Hi desintegrer,

http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/50920-beta-reader-group

http://www.scribophile.com/

http://www.quiethouseediting.com/beta-reader-network.html

I haven’t tried the goodreads group, but another tip you can try on goodreads: Find someone who writes great reviews (as in accurate) in your genre, you can check out their profile and if they advertise that they offer this service, you can try contacting them. I strongly suggest you DO NOT contact them if they don’t advertise. I mean, it’s not kind to spam them.

Scribophile is probably my favourite. You have to earn “currency” to post your stuff for review. To earn currency you must review the work of others. I think the reason why I like this so much is that it’s such a great learning experience working both ways. You also end up forming great relationships with people you don’t have to hang out with in real life (lol that’s kind of why we are writers right?). Also this is the best way to procrastinate but still work on your craft ;)

Quiethouse is the one that charges you. Their prices are decent, but still, I totally get weary of opening my wallet as a first resort. I think it’s about a dollar per thousand words. If you are in a bind, or timing is your issue this may be a route.

Last–are you doing Nanowrimo? The prizes are great for people with finished manuscripts

Happy editing :)

-NV

[thewritershandbook]

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