shadyfiction.com - writer's tips

Writer's Tips & Tools

On formatting:

Writing for the computer screen requires slightly different formatting for the pages to be easily read. In my experience, the best formats are those that use a space rather than an indent to separate paragraphs.

This (space above) is an example of using a space.
     This is an example of using an indent.

Here's an excerpt (with spaces) from Julie's Story to better illustrate:

As far as Julie could tell, Detroit sucked.

She’d moved Rachel and Chris there two months ago, and she was already starting to wonder if they hadn’t been better off in New York. Chris was being picked on at school, and Rach had been in two fights.

She didn’t worry nearly as much about Rachel as she did Christina. Chrissy had never developed the killer instinct she was going to need in order to survive. Rachel had.

Julie was fairly certain that she herself had been born with it.

Thank Christ, because being a guardian to two teenage girls wasn’t easy. She was twenty four years old. Rachel was seventeen, and Chris had just turned sixteen.

Julie had won custody of the girls when she was nineteen years old, and even though she was often overwhelmed – she never regretted getting them out of the foster home. She’d grown up there, and the year she’d had to leave the girls there was easily the worst of her life.

With indents:

   As far as Julie could tell, Detroit sucked.
   She’d moved Rachel and Chris there two months ago, and she was already starting to wonder if they hadn’t been better off in New York. Chris was being picked on at school, and Rach had been in two fights.
   She didn’t worry nearly as much about Rachel as she did Christina. Chrissy had never developed the killer instinct she was going to need in order to survive. Rachel had.
   Julie was fairly certain that she herself had been born with it.
   Thank Christ, because being a guardian to two teenage girls wasn’t easy. She was twenty four years old. Rachel was seventeen, and Chris had just turned sixteen.
   Julie had won custody of the girls when she was nineteen years old, and even though she was often overwhelmed – she never regretted getting them out of the foster home. She’d grown up there, and the year she’d had to leave the girls there was easily the worst of her life.

Looks a lot better with spaces, don't it?!

Using italics:

Generally speaking, italics should be used to indicate a character's thoughts, and to give impact to certain words. Here are a couple of examples:

She didn’t want to try and explain why she was going back to the house on Lincoln Drive tonight, so she told Dee that she felt like walking.

“A’ight then. See you on Tuesday!”

“Yeah. Later.” Julie waved.

Well, hell. Why didn’t I figure out earlier how I was gonna get back to Marshall’s tonight? Shit. It’s gonna be a long ass walk… maybe I’ll hitch a ride once I get a few blocks down…

Without italics:

She didn’t want to try and explain why she was going back to the house on Lincoln Drive tonight, so she told Dee that she felt like walking.

“A’ight then. See you on Tuesday!”

“Yeah. Later.” Julie waved.

Well, hell. Why didn’t I figure out earlier how I was gonna get back to Marshall’s tonight? Shit. It’s gonna be a long ass walk… maybe I’ll hitch a ride once I get a few blocks down…

Without the italics it appears I'm jumping from third person to first person (from she to I) and this tends to confuse the reader. Confused readers will go back and re-read the sentence, or even the entire section. You don't want that!

Using italics for emphasis:

“It’s not like what? You mean you didn’t get her pregnant? ‘Cause if not, why the hell would you marry her ass, huh? Tell me that!”

Using italics to emphasize words can be very effective. Just be careful not to overdo it:

“It’s not like what? You mean you didn’t get her pregnant? ‘Cause if not, why the hell would you marry her ass, huh? Tell me that!”

Too many italicized words make the sentence choppy, and the emphasized words lose their impact.

On spelling:

Microsoft Word comes with a spell checker. Use it. There is nothing more irritating in a good story than a lot of misspelled words!

Editing:

I'm a firm believer in editing. Every chapter I post has been read, edited, read again, and re-edited. It's different for every writer, but I do recommend reading your work over at least once. If you find a sentence (or even an entire paragraph) that doesn't make sense - change it. In my opinion, the best time to do this is after you've had a break. If you've been sitting at the computer writing for hours, you're tired. You're sick of your own writing. Edit later and you'll do a better job.

Article Scans:

Getting Naked, The joy and fear of writing about sex
Writer magazine, February 2004

Reference Stuff:

Dictionary.com
http://dictionary.reference.com/

Merriam Webster's Online Dictionary and Thesaurus
http://www.m-w.com/home.htm

The Rap Dictionary
http://www.rapdict.org/

SlangSite - dictionary of slang, webspeak, made up words, and colloquialisms
http://www.slangsite.com/

RhymeZone - type in a word to find its rhymes, synonyms, definitions, etc..,
http://www.rhymezone.com/

Guide to Grammar and Writing
http://ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/

The Writer (magazine)
http://www.writermag.com/

Writer's Digest (magazine)
http://www.writersdigest.com/

Recommended Books on Writing:

Woe is I
Patricia T. O'Connor

Words Fail Me
Patricia T. O'Connor

The Forest for the Trees
Betsey Lerner

Bird by Bird
Anne Lamott

Lapsing Into A Comma
Bill Walsh

Painless Grammar
Rebecca Elliott, Ph.D.

The Grammar Bible
Michael Strumpf