Sonata's Tips and Tricks For writing! (not just for Roleplaying and stories)

Sonata's picture
I'm no grammar Nazi, in fact, English being my fourth language, is in no way my forte!
But it's always nice to have people know what you're saying when you speak to them through text!

It garners respect as well as saves a few innocent brains from exploding~
so let's go shall we? 8D

The Basics

1. nbdy wtns to read txt taht looks like thsi. So, when commenting or before submitting a writing peice, run a spellcheck! if you have Internet explorer, there's a spellcheck right there on the google toolbar! if not, there are lots of free ones online! It never hurts to run a quick check when you can~!

2.When you're going to be putting down a lot of text like I am right now at this very moment you should make sure that a comma or other proper punctuation gets in because stuff like this where it just runs on and on and on are really tiring on the eyes and they make you feel breathless even when you don't read them out loud

WHEW!

3. "These are quotation marks you use them when someone is speaking." make sure that you remember them, or else it can be very confusing to tell where actions end and speech begins, and vice versa.

Writing stories!

1. It gets boring seeing the same words all the time, let's have an example...hmmm let's see I need an example... -drags Amsden over-

Amsden looked at the blue water, his blue eyes looking up at the blue sky feeling the boat rock beneath his red boots, the wind blowing his red coat, the sun making the red rubies on his jewelry shine

Amsden gazed down at the sapphire water, the cobalt blue of his eyes reflecting it the way the sea returned the soft image of the sapphire sky that stretched above him, his ship bobbing gently upon the lapping waves beneath his boots. The breeze tugged at the crimson silk of his coat, sun shimmering down upon the precious rubies set into the many peices of jewelry he wore.

Which one sounds better?
The second one right?

Hearing (or reading) the same words over and over is boring, spice it up a bit with well placed synonyms, but don't overuse them either or your beautiful writing could become purple prose! (I have a bad habit of doing that actually...)

2. When you write, make sure you use paragraphs, if you let your words bleed together, it creates a wall of text that many people won't even try to read, it's a strain on the eyes, and on the mind!

3. CAPS LOCK MIGHT BE CRUISE CONTROL FOR COOL BUT YOU STILL HAVE TO STEER, IF SOMEONE IS YELLING CAPS ARE LIKELY FINE. But if you want to highlight something Italics are subtle and perfect.

Roleplaying!

1. Roleplaying details will be different depending on where you are, so I'm just going to cover some basics!

2. <3 ;-; D= =D >D 83 while fine in comments, should NEVER be used in an RP, I've seen it happen, please, don't do this.

3. Don't godmode, or powerplay, this is never acceptable.
Godmoding is when you control someone else's character, Powerplaying is when a character is all powerful or otherwise unbeatable, but let's cover godmoding first.

For this demonstration, I'm going to have to use my own characters, but if you could imagine someone else owns one that would be lovely.

Amsden struck out with his front hooves, leaving a large gash in Vilnius' shoulder, rendering the stag unable to use that leg.

This is godmoding, you should never control whether your actions have an affect on another like that! the proper way to write it would have been;

Amsden struck out hard with his front hooves, eyes set upon Vilnius' shoulder, hoping he could land a hit there and slow the stag down

That way the other person can decide if they want it to hit or not.

which brings us to...

Power Playing...

Being able to choose whether a blow lands is wonderful, but you shouldn't abuse it!
No character should be able to dodge every attack, this is just frustrating, and it's no fun for either person, trust me.

3. Put some meat on those posts! sure, sometimes posting one line is needed, especially if two characters are having a conversation, but if it's an action scene, intro, or anything other than a calm scene where the only thing going on is speech, you need more than just one line, four to five lines is much better, at least

4. I cannot stress this enough;
sepll cechk yuor ptsos
Spell check your posts.

Well, that's all I can think of for now, though I'm sure I missed some stuff!
Until we meet again, have fun! and happy writing!
J!n's picture

Nice!

Nice!
Sonata's picture

Thank you Saosin

Thank you Saosin<3

(No subject)

Laughing out loud <3 helpful blog is helpful

Nice ;D! Tracking for future

Nice ;D!
Tracking for future help and reference.
Will you be adding more?
Sonata's picture

I probably will, because I

I probably will, because I KNOW I left stuff out, it's just midnight here, so got lazy XD
Amazon's picture

This is great.

This is great. <3

Sonata's picture

Thanks

Thanks<3

fff thought of something else last night, went to bed, forgot it today
Unplugged's picture

Lovely! This is very helpful,

Lovely! This is very helpful, thank you. Laughing out loud

May I add some more things about readability I know?

Just a suggestion about readability, centered text is usually harder to follow than left-aligned text.
Also, people might want to keep in mind that some colors are hard to read or clash on the brown background and many don't bother highlighting just to be able to read something.
Fancy text is nice, but readability should be kept in mind there, and not those who don't have the font installed will not see it, so it's usually better to use Standard-Fonts. Laughing out loud
Last thing, long lines are hard to follow and the eye gets tired easily, so if it's possible, put your text in a div or something so there are only around 12 words in one line. This way the eye doesn't have to jump across the whole page just to finish the sentence. Smiling
Sonata's picture

Please do

Please do<3

I did make this at like midnight, so I know for a fact more needs to be here |D
Unplugged's picture

Thank you! &hearts; I just

Thank you! ♥ I just don't want it to seem like I think I know everything better and stuff. >>

Centered text is usually harder to follow than left-aligned text. (or right-aligned, which is generally a no-go for me, personally)
Also, people might want to keep in mind that some colors are hard to read or clash on the brown background and many don't bother highlighting just to be able to read something.
Fancy text is nice, but it's better to refrain from using it as it's harder to read, and not those who don't have the font installed will not see it anyway, so it's usually better to use Standard-Fonts. Laughing out loud
Last thing, long lines are hard to follow and the eye gets tired easily, so if it's possible, put your text in a div or something so there are only around 12 words in one line. This way the eye doesn't have to jump across the whole page just to finish the sentence. Smiling

Edit: Oh, and font size! Many people like using those super-tiny fonts because they're, like, sooo adorable, but screen resolutions differ, so this cute small text is impossible to read for some. 8]
Sonata's picture

I centered this because when

I centered this because when I left it on the left it looked messy but usually yes I agree |D

QWBFDUFKWKEQE

SMALL FONTS D<

MAKIN' ME GO BLIND.
AnimaSoul's picture

-salutes-

-salutes-
The Soul Of Souls
Tally's picture

THANKYOU UNPLUGGED. I have a

THANKYOU UNPLUGGED. I have a very small screen and little fonts are impossible to read. ;^;

Sonata thankyou so much for this blog, I hate when people use bad grammar or spelling. Not to mention godmoding. xD
Sonata's picture

no problem tallers owo an

no problem tallers owo

an occasional typo is to be expected, but when there's clearly been no attempt to check it, it annoys me xD
Tally's picture

Well a spelling mistake every

Well a spelling mistake every now and then doesn't bother me, it's grammar thats the worst one. (But of course for people who it's not their first language it's ok.)

I has not to like read sentances like this.

By the way, I would have never guessed english wasn't your first language if you hadn't said. :,D
Sonata's picture

XD I had to read that like

XD I had to read that like five times I laughed so hard.

it's my fourth ='D
Kiraki's picture

Very nice blog

Very nice blog <3

Tally you is may not want for to read my posts cause it is may sometime has sentences like this :x

If you know more than one language it is easy to get the structure mixed up :3
Serenai's picture

I love you. Fourth? Sheesh,

I love you.

Fourth?

Sheesh, I'm impressed. o_o Go toss that up on your biography, and your first three, and any fifth or after. I love knowing that sort of thing.

Anyway, yes, I love you. |D
Icon Art © Beloved