fandom_grammar . Entries tagged with writing tips:style

achacunsagloire.livejournal.com

The English language is full of quite a few foul words, but few are as foul as one most nefarious nine-letter word: criticism. (Quick! Walk outside, turn around three times, and spit over your shoulder!)

Receiving criticism is one of the hardest parts of writing—harder, perhaps, than finishing that first draft. But before we get into it and what makes it such a chore to endure, we're going to have ourselves a little Greek Mythology 101 lesson:

( More than likely, you've heard of a vain pretty-boy named Narcissus. )

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theemdash

With examples from The Hunger Games, Stargate: SG-1, and Harry Potter.

The narration is (arguably) the most important part of a story. The plot, the characters, and the setting are all important, of course, but the narrative is how you execute those elements, tie them together, and craft your story. So, how do you make your narrative as strong as it can be? The key to that is in revision, in knowing and making deliberate revisions to bring the reader closer to the action at certain moments and to make the story come alive.

Keeping in mind that different people have different writing styles, here are some things to consider while revising to strengthen your narrative.

( Revising for a Stronger POV and Narrative )

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chomiji

A fair number of you are probably thinking "Huh? FG is going to tell us about calling people names?" In fact, we're going to do exactly that!

However, we don't mean "hurling epithets," as Ichigo and Renji are doing here:

"You jerk!" shouted Ichigo. "Whose idea was this, anyway?"

"Yours, you idiot," growled Renji.

This is actually a secondary definition for the word epithet: "a disparaging or abusive word or phrase " (Webster's). No, what we're going to discuss here is the more classical use of the word: "a characterizing word or phrase accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a person or thing."

There's an excellent chance you've come across these kinds of epithets, especially in fanfiction. For example:

"Matsumoto, you're offering me ... what kind of a drink?" said Ichigo, frowning.

The buxom blonde Soul Reaper sighed: "Why do people always think I'm trying to get them drunk?"

"There's a lovely moon tonight," said Shunsui to Ukitake; "and I have some very fine sake."

"You know I don't need excuses to spend some time with you," replied the grey-haired man.

"You don't need to treat me like your little fangirl any more," said Soi Fon coldly. The darkly feline woman raised a sardonic eyebrow at her.

With help from the cast of the manga and anime Bleach

( And away we go ... )

Mood: sick

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supercheesegirl.livejournal.com

west_side asks, "How do you eliminate and replace extraneous adverbs?"

First of all, what's an adverb? An adverb is at its root a word that describes or modifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb. In any sentence, an adverb answers the questions how, when, where or to what degree something is happening. If you're not clear on what exactly an adverb is or does, check out our Grammar 101 post on adjectives and adverbs to learn more!

So now you've got a sense of what an adverb is and how to spot it in your sentence - and now that you're spotting them, you're noticing an awful lot of them. It's very easy to misuse adverbs - in fact, the "very" in this sentence is an example of an adverb that gets overused frequently. Let's take a look at a few techniques to cut down on excess adverbs in our writing.

( With examples from Doctor Who. )

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green-grrl.livejournal.com

Although we've run features on dialects before (British for Americans, American for Brits), LOLCAT is something new for

fandom_grammar in that it's an English dialect derived from a non-English language. It's also a fairly new dialect, only coming into being with the advent of computer keyboards—pens and typewriter keys having been beyond the abilities of cat anatomy to master.

Native Cat has certain grammatical peculiarities compared to English, which become apparent in the dialect. ( Let's look at some, with some examples from Torchwood and Inception fanfic. )

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supercheesegirl.livejournal.com

Question:

mirror_mirrin asks, What style options are there for sentences which repeat the same word (e.g., "the," "a," "that")? (ex. John leaned over the table at the mess hall to give Rodney a kiss goodbye before leaving for the war games planned on the Athosian mainland.)

There's not really anything wrong with repeating little words in a sentence, but there's something about it that just doesn't feel quite right, isn't there? The example sentence that

mirror_mirrin gives us is a perfectly fine sentence. It's grammatically correct, it's straightforward, it tells us who's doing what and where they're going next. There's nothing wrong with it at all. But it's an awfully long sentence. If you read it out loud, you're going to have to pause in the middle to take a breath. It sounds kind of clunky with all those little words.

The issue here, fans of grammar, is wordiness. There's nothing technically wrong with a wordy sentence, but the faster the sentence can deliver its information, then the faster the reader will understand it. This is even more important for us today because of the internet--people want to get to the point even more quickly when they read online. And a long, wordy, clunky sentence can turn off potential readers, making your story seem overly long and boring. Let's take a look at some strategies for reducing wordiness and getting the point across in a way that pops.

( Read more... )

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theemdash

In the previous punctuation post,

skroberts discussed terminal punctuation—punctuation that ends sentences—and punctuation that is used to hang related thoughts together. In this post I'll be discussing punctuation that is used to give additional information, as in a parenthetical, punctuation that is used to pause or omit, and the almighty comma.

( Onward to Commas, Em Dashes, Ellipses, Parentheses, and Square Brackets )

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http://users.livejournal.com/traycer_/

starwatcher307 asked: Is it correct to add "out" after a vocalization? (i.e. "he hissed out", "he gasped out", etc.)

With examples from Harry Potter.

( It's clearly apparent that we need to completely destroy all evidence of abundant words )

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momebie.livejournal.com

With examples from bandom (Panic at the Disco), Bleach, Harry Potter, and The Boondock Saints.

Alright! Here's the deal. We're all here because we think that grammar is important. I'd be willing to bet about $5 a head that at some point each one of you has read a fic and cringed, or even closed it without finishing, because there was just something that didn't sit right with you about the writing style.

There are two very important things about writing for an audience – and in fandom you are writing for an audience, whether you like to admit it or not. The first is knowing your audience, and the second is being able to convey the information in such a way that the audience will be able to glean the most from it. This is why it is important to have every piece of fiction posted for public consumption betaed, whether it be fandom related or an original work.

( Sometimes though, even though the writer might have the best intentions, and the beta might know their stuff, there's a breakdown in communication. )

While there are other writing aspects betas should watch for, these are the most important. Some writers may have certain quirks that a beta may pick up on after becoming more familiar with the writer's work, and that familiarity can make a better beta. I'll be talking about this relationship between writer in beta in part two of this feature which will be posted here on July 4.

Until then: Happy betaing!

Mood: busy

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green-grrl.livejournal.com

Writing Tips: Epithets

with examples from Lord of the Rings, Stargate SG-1, Smallville, Due South

"Epithets?" you say. "Doesn't that mean cursing?" And it's true, we most often hear the word in the context of "hurling epithets at each other."

A nine-way spat in Middle Earth might consist of:

"Filthy Human!"

"Stuck up Elf!"

"Drunken Hobbits!"

"Grubby Dwarf!"

These are examples of the secondary listing for "epithet" in the Oxford American Dictionary:

such a word or phrase as a term of abuse

The primary definition is:

an adjective or descriptive phrase expressing a quality characteristic of the person or thing mentioned

This more general sense of epithet is one you'll be more familiar with in use. ( It's common to see in fanfic: )

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Fandom Grammar

Entries tagged with writing tips:style

FRIDAY FEATURE: Constructive Criticism and You

Feature - Writing Tips: Revising for Stronger POV and Narrative

Feature - Writing Tips: Epithets Redux

How do you eliminate and replace extraneous adverbs?

Writing Tips: LOLCAT for Fanfic Writers

Answer: style options for long, wordy, repetitive sentences

Grammar 101: Punctuation for Pauses, Omissions, and Parentheticals

Answer: Adding "Out" After a Vocalization

Friday Feature: Tips for Betas!

Friday Feature - Writing Tips: Epithets

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December 2017

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