《Write Better: Tips and tricks》What comes first: the grammar or the rewrites?
Advertisement
When you look at your stack of critiques and you know something is wrong and you wholly agree with the critter, just change it. Don't sigh. Don't wait for more critiques to compare it to. Don't ponder if you'll even keep the sentence when you make your big edit. Just grab your draft and change it.
It's like having a side of peas with your chicken. You know you have to carve it, but if you eat a pea here and there, you'll do a little less scooping later. For some people, especially beginners to editing, this is a useful exercise in getting into the editing mindset and gives you one less thing to drag your feet about later.
About 80% of all quick fixes are grammar-related.
Typos,
missing or incorrect punctuation,
sentence needs to be broken into two or combined into one,
sentence needs a re-write to be less confusing,
wrong word,
odd word choice,
misspelling,
incorrect verb conjugation,
wrong pronoun,
passive to active voice,
past to present,
etc.
As you can probably tell, this guide is designed for writing posted on websites and forums, so I want to stress the importance of making some changes immediately.
If your story is the kind that's posted somewhere, and as you continue to write it or edit it, it's still available for comments and critiques, seriously consider making quick fixes right away.
Having people agree that you made the same mistake can be wonderful. It'll make you a little more confident that there is a problem there, and that more than one person sees it (which can make you feel like you're changing it for the better, instead of for the individual).
BUT
One of the best ways to improve is to do everything to the best of your ability. That way, when people come in and offer their input, you aren't rolling you eyes and going "I know, I know."
Advertisement
Think of it this way. Your mom comes into your room and tells you that you need to dust. You know you need to dust. Dad says the same thing. And Aunt Sue, and your sister, and your little cousin.
Instead of getting new, unique comments from Dad, Aunt Sue, your sister, and your cousin, you just get more of the same and it doesn't help you because you already know it.
Comments can be hard to come by. Do you really want to waste them all on the same issues?
If everyone's flagging the same mistake, they might not catch something else.
In my experience, issues such as bad grammar can detract from the critique process. Instead of enjoying the story more, or being able to pick up on plot issues or sentence structure or voice, if I'm stuck in a sea of typos and misspellings, I might be too tired or completely miss an underlying issue.
Advertisement
- In Serial498 Chapters
Cultivation Online
Yuan was born with an incurable illness that left him blind at a young age and crippled a few years later, rendering everything below his head useless. Deemed hopeless and irredeemable, his parents quickly gave up on him, and the world ignored him.
8 225 - In Serial7 Chapters
Numbers Continually Going Upward
The world has very politely ended in the most webfiction way possible. Everyone is now leveling up in various things. Problems are arising. Some or all of those problems may be based around how to have a community barbeque when the nearest cow has been teleported to a few thousand miles away, along with the nearest supermarket. Join our protagoinst as he attempts to be a cool person, while everything falls apart. _____It turns out that any attempt to write a parody of the litrpg genre through overuse of the concept of leveling up inevitably fails when it turns out that *that is what the genre is based on*. Still, this was a fun little candy project of mine, and I might write more of it.
8 225 - In Serial27 Chapters
Origin of Flames
Jennafil, an off-world planet and it's inhabitants used to enjoy an infinite summer. Nature shifts violently. Hints of a blizzard blowing in. People don't believe it, summer, now snow? While people in the big city scatter to get back to the green home planet, Ferron, a man prepares to make a deal happen in it's outskirts.
8 263 - In Serial9 Chapters
Subterranean levels written by Travis Willier
A Special agent, Has one Mission, and that is to keep his mind from going abosoulte mayham, Subterranean levels will challenge all he knows, will his soul be condemed to fire of hell or will he rise above the Evil.
8 143 - In Serial11 Chapters
Hallucination Station
Desirae Stevens is a girl that has many trials of hardship. From a young age, she was ridiculed and broken. She had no one to turn to growing up since her brother allegedly left her, she had to fend for herself until she left for college and met a boy named Andrew Tomlinson. And that was when Andrew's life would take a turn that he would have never suspected. A little after they met, a horrible murder was committed, but no one knows who did it or why it was done. Andrew was suspicious but couldn't figure out the answers. He starts to fall into a psychological spiral. He knows that he can trust Desirae, right? She is a girl of mystery and secrecy. What lies behind her past and what does she have to hide from Andrew?
8 123 - In Serial19 Chapters
Learn Japanese Language
Note: This is already the edited version.Well, this is not a story. It's a book where you can learn about Japanese so easy~~Read this and learn Japanese.I've already edited this book for some purposes. I'd like it to be more easy and convenient to understand. I'll also post some drills and exercises for you to easily remember what have you learned about the previous chapter. Enjoy reading! Arigatou!
8 198

