My thanks to Rachel Trench for contributions and helpful comments.
The formatting and punctuation of dialogue is one of the hardest things for new writers to master. Many times I’ve opened a story to see several characters' lines of dialogue jumbled into one huge paragraph. Nothing will make me hit the ‘backspace’ faster.
And even people who have been writing excellent stories for years often don’t have it quite right. As with anything you care about, it’s worth doing well, and that means learning the rules.
Formatting
All of you should already know that whenever the speaker changes, you start a new paragraph. Simple, and an absolute rule. Applies to spoken dialogue, thoughts, telepathic communication, whatever.
However, there are some subtleties involved beyond that basic rule. Paragraphs are supposed to be about a central idea, theme, or train of thought. Change ideas, and you start a new paragraph. The same applies to paragraphs containing dialogue. The whole paragraph should be about the person who’s speaking. Examples:
Wrong:
“I hate the way you always get mad at everything,” Wes said. Eric got up and stomped to the door.“Shut the hell up!” he shouted before slamming it behind him. Wes watched him go, shaking his head.
“Why does he always act like this?”
What’s wrong with it? The sentence describing what Eric does belongs with the paragraph containing his dialogue. Similarly, the description of Wes’s reaction belongs with his next spoken line:
Right:
“I hate the way you always get mad at everything,” Wes said.Eric got up and stomped to the door. “Shut the hell up!” he shouted before slamming it behind him.
Wes watched him go, shaking his head. “Why does he always act like this?”
See the difference? The meaning is clearer, the paragraphs make more sense, it flows more smoothly.
Punctuation
Errors in punctuating dialogue are extremely common in fanfic. Yes, the rules aren’t simple, but there’s really no excuse for not bothering to learn. Here’s my guide.
How to end a line of dialogue:
Many writers don’t understand when to use a period at the end of a line of dialogue, and when to use a comma. To get it right, you have to understand the concept behind it. A line of dialogue may be a sentence, isolated and complete in itself. In that case it ends with a period. Example:
“I hate the way you always get mad at everything.”
But the dialogue may come with an explanatory tag; a phrase that connects it to a speaker. In this case the whole thing, dialogue plus tag, is a complete sentence. The first part ends with a comma, connecting it to the second part, which ends with a period. Examples:
“I hate the way you always get mad at everything,” Wes said with a sneer.
Wes turned to Eric and said, “I hate the way you always get mad at everything.”
See? Each of the lines above is a sentence, ending with a period, and with the two parts separated by a comma. Note that the tag itself takes a comma if it comes first.
Now, if the line of dialogue ends with an exclamation point or question mark, that is used instead of either the comma or period. Examples:
“I hate the way you always get mad at everything!” Wes said with a sneer.
“Why do you always get mad at everything?” Wes asked.
What gets capitalized and what doesn’t? If the tag comes second, the first word is not capitalized unless it’s a proper name. If the dialogue comes second the first word is capitalized. (Don’t blame me, them’s the rules.) Examples:
“I hate the way you always get mad at everything,” he said with a sneer.
Wes turned to Eric and said, “It’s disgusting, the way you always get mad at everything.”
You’ll also frequently see a combination of one line of dialogue with a tag, followed by one without. Each is a complete and separate sentence, following the rules above. Example:
“I hate the way you always get mad at everything,” Wes muttered. “Why do you always lose your temper like this?”
Now for the second part that many writers don’t understand; what is a tag that should be combined with the line of dialogue and what isn’t? You’ve got to look at the content of what you’re saying. If a phrase describes the line of dialogue by identifying the speaker, it’s a tag. If it describes a separate action or event, it’s a separate sentence.
This is a tag, forming one sentence with the dialogue:
“I hate the way you always get mad at everything,” he said as he stood up to go.
This is a separate sentence, punctuated and capitalized separately:
“I hate the way you always get mad at everything.” He stood up to go.
Sometimes it can get a little confusing, as in:
“I hate the way you always get mad at everything,” Wes sighed.
“I hate the way you always get mad at everything.” Wes sighed.
In the first line, Wes spoke the dialogue with a sigh. In the second, he sighed in a separate sentence, after speaking.
There can also be odd ways of combining dialogue with the rest of a sentence. For example:
Wes shouted, “I hate the way you always get mad at everything!” while slamming the door.
or:
“You always get mad,” Wes muttered, “every time I talk about how you stole your morpher.”
Again, if it all makes one sentence, punctuate it that way.
And by the way, punctuation for dialogue goes inside the quotation marks. Speaking of which:
Quotation marks:
Double quotes go around every line of spoken dialogue. They go outside the punctuation. Thoughts can be put in single quotes or some other marking, or indicated by italics, or both, or not indicated at all, as long as the meaning is clear. There is no space between the quote and what it is enclosing.
There’s really only one tricky aspect to quotes; what to do with a multiple-paragraph speech. If a person is speaking, reaches the end of a paragraph, and keeps right on going, you do not put a closing quote at the end of the paragraph. You do put an opening quote at the beginning of the next. This continues for however many paragraphs until the speaker finally shuts up. Example:
“Eric really drives me nuts sometimes. Always losing his temper at the slightest excuse, always yelling for no reason. Sometimes I wonder why he acts that way, what could have happened to him in the past.“Of course, he has his good points too. He’s loyal, and he always ends up doing the right thing, somehow. That’s Eric, just full of contradictions. You never know what he’s going to do next. Like I said, drives me nuts.
“Am I boring you?”
However, if there’s a tag or other interruption to the dialogue at the end of one paragraph or the beginning of the next, you use the normal ending and beginning quotes:
“Eric really drives me nuts sometimes. Always losing his temper at the slightest excuse, always yelling for no reason. Sometimes I wonder why he acts that way, what could have happened to him in the past,” Wes said sadly.“Of course, he has his good points too. He’s loyal, and he always ends up doing the right thing, somehow. That’s Eric, just full of contradictions. You never know what he’s going to do next. Like I said, drives me nuts.
“Am I boring you?”
One more tricky point, what if the person speaking decides to quote someone or something else? You simply do your quote inside the dialogue, following all the same rules except you enclose it in single quote marks. Example:
“Eric really drives me nuts sometimes. Always losing his temper at the slightest excuse, always yelling for no reason. Every time I ask him why, he just yells, ‘Shut the hell up!’ instead of discussing it like a normal person.”
Clear as mud? Good.
Fear of Said:
This has been written about in plenty of other guides for writers, so I won’t say a whole lot about it. Basically, there are two points to be made.
Avoid using ‘he said’, ‘she said’ unnecessarily. In most exchanges between two people, you don’t need to say who’s talking with every speech. Just write the dialogue itself, with a tag now and then, or with some other bit of business that confirms who’s talking:
“Why do you always keep reminding me about how I got my morpher?” Eric demanded.“I don’t keep reminding you. It just came up.”
“Oh, right. Just happened to come up. You love to rub my face in it.”
“I do not.”
“You do too.”
“I hate the way you always get mad at everything!”
Eric got up and stomped to the door. “Shut the hell up!” he shouted before slamming it behind him.
Wes watched him go, shaking his head. “Why does he always act like this?”
Unfortunately, in some situations, as with three or more speakers, you have to show who’s talking fairly frequently. Some writers feel that any but the very most minimal use of the word ‘said’ is bad. They start to use all kinds of alternatives, sometimes with hilarious results:
“Why do you always keep reminding me about how I got my morpher?” Eric demanded.“I don’t keep reminding you. It just came up,” Wes retorted.
“You have to admit, you did steal it,” Jen interjected.
“Oh, right. Just happened to come up. Both of you love to rub my face in it,” Eric snarled.
“I do not,” Wes griped.
“You do too,” Eric riposted.
“Now, guys, don’t start another fight,” Jen soothed.
“I hate the way you always get mad at everything!” Wes yelped.
Eric got up and stomped to the door. “Shut the hell up!” he blared, before slamming it behind him.
Wes watched him go, shaking his head. “Why does he always act like this?” he moaned.
Exaggerated, but you get the idea. Don’t be afraid to use ‘said’, we’re used to seeing it and for the most part the reader’s eye skips right over it. Don’t use it in every sentence, but you don’t have to avoid it like the plague.
What is pronoun confusion, otherwise known as ‘who’s doing what to whom’? Look at the following sentence:
He stared into his eyes before angrily pushing his hand away.
Huh?
A recurring problem in almost any kind of scene involving two or more members of the same sex in some kind of interaction is that of making it clear to whom your pronouns refer. Let’s illustrate with a little example:
Wes and Eric glared at each other as he poked an angry finger in his chest.
Who’s doing the poking? Is he poking the other guy or himself? Who knows? Okay, leaving aside the question of whether it’s possible for a finger to be angry, let’s try this:
Wes and Eric glared at each other as Eric poked an angry finger in Wes’s chest.
Much better in terms of clarity, but many writers don’t like using character’s names this frequently. So you often see something like this:
Wes and Eric glared at each other as the brunet poked an angry finger in the blond’s chest.
Or:
Wes and Eric glared at each other as the Quantum Ranger poked an angry finger in the red Ranger’s chest.
Okay... but - do Wes and Eric think of each other as ‘the blond’ and ‘the brunet’? I think not. How about ‘the red Ranger’ and ‘the Quantum Ranger’? Only if they’re wearing their Ranger suits at the time. This kind of reference by hair color, race, profession, job title, superhero name, etc. can sound a little silly and should be kept to an absolute minimum unless it’s relevant to what’s going on in the story. I mean come on:
Wes and Eric glared at each other as the formerly dirt-poor half-Asian poked an angry finger in the rich heir to Bio-Lab’s chest.
I know, now I’m getting silly (actually, if the argument was about class differences, money, and personal history, some variation of this might be appropriate).
There are other possible references: ‘the younger/older man’, ‘the taller/shorter man’, ‘the other man’, and so on. These are okay when appropriate, usually meaning when age or height or whatever makes a difference, and/or not too often. I would say no more than once a page.
So now we’re left with the original problem, how to clear things up without overusing the character’s names. First of all, readers don’t really mind seeing names frequently. Don’t be afraid to use them. Granted, more than once in the same sentence is probably bad (depending on the sentence), but there are more creative ways to solve the problem. Try rephrasing:
Eric poked an angry finger in Wes’s chest as they glared at each other.
It’s almost always possible to rearrange the sentence so you get something that both sounds good and makes the meaning clear.
Everybody’s seen them, the same mistakes in word choice, over and over. Many have been listed in other pages of advice to writers; some of the trickier ones have not. Here’s a list of the ones I find most common and annoying, with the less well-known ones first.
Beyond this list, remember, dictionary.com is your friend.
Sex-differentiated words (yes, we have them in English):
blond : a light hair color in a man, a man with light-colored hair
blonde : a light hair color in a woman, a woman with light-colored hairbrunet : a dark hair color in a man, a man with dark hair
brunette : a dark hair color in a woman, a woman with dark hairfiancé : a man who is engaged to be married
fiancée : a woman who is engaged to be married
To be fair, the hair color distinctions are going out of usage.
Don’t know how to categorize these, but they drive me (and others) nuts:
hung : fastened or suspended, as on a wall (let’s not get into the slang meaning)
hanged : suspended by a rope around the neck until dead
(While it’s possible for a person to be hung, the literal meaning of the word is that he/she is being supported off the ground by a hook, rope, or whatever; not executed or lynched. In general, remember: a picture is hung, a person is hanged.)who : pronoun referring to a person
that : pronoun referring to an object or thing
Use ‘who’ when you’re talking about a person (He was the one who did it.) Use ‘that’ with anything that’s not a person (It was in the book that he was reading.) Remember: “people who, things that.”dragged : the past tense of drag
drug : an intoxicating substance
The past tense of drag is dragged, not drug!could have / should have / would have / might have : NOT could of / should of / would of / might of
supposed to / used to : NOT suppose to / use to
that : restrictive pronoun referring to a thing, place, event, thought, etc.
which : non-restrictive pronoun referring to a thing, place, event, thought, etc.
Use ‘that’ if the information is necessary to identify the noun being referred to, example: “There were several doors in the hallway. She looked at the one that was red.” (We need to know the door is red to identify which one it is.)
Use ‘which’ if the information is not necessary for identification, example: “She looked at the front door of the house, which was red.” (We don’t need to know the door is red, we can identify it as the front door.)
To be fair, this is an extremely obscure and nitpicking distinction, and most people - even most writers - have never heard of it.
Words which sound and look similar, frequently the wrong word is used:
choked : strangled, having difficulty in breathing, swallowing, or speaking (all choked up)
chocked : fixed in place by having blocks or wedges placed underneath
cloths : two or more pieces of cloth
clothes : garments, clothing, something you weardefinitely : certainly, surely, absolutely
defiantly : challengingly, in a way that rebels against authorityfurther : additional abstract quantity such as time or amount
farther : additional distance (Yes, it's confusing, and most readers won't know the difference.)loose: not tight, not fastened or contained
lose: to not keep; to be deprived of; to not win
loss : the act of losing; the condition of being deprived or bereaved.medal : an award, usually an emblem which can be worn
metal : one of the metallic elementsmouse : a small rodent
mousse : a whipped dessertquite : completely, really, rather
quiet : not making soundsequel : the continuation of a previous story
squeal : a high-pitched sound, often an exclaimation of excitement or alarmthan : in comparison or contrast with. (Ex: Mr. Collins is taller than Wes)
then : at that time (I was in school then), next in time or order (he looked, and then shouted), in consequence, on that condition (If he needs to know, then tell him)writer : a person who writes, who puts words together to make fiction or non-fiction
writter : ? - this isn’t a wordwriting : the act of recording words
writting : again, not a word
Homonyms (words which sound alike but have different meanings, frequently the wrong word is used.):
aid : to give help
aide : a person who helpsaffect : to change something
effect : the result of a changebaited : teased and tormented, or having a lure inside (as in a baited trap)
bated : stopped, lessened, shortened (as in bated breath)bare : naked, exposed
bear : a large hairy animal, or to undergo an ordeal or carry a burden (as in ‘I can’t bear it.’)board : a plank of wood
bored : to be idle or have no interestcannon : a large gun
canon : facts, characters, events, etc. from the original show you’re writing fanfic about (or a body of law)can’t : contraction of ‘can not’
cant : monotonous talk, or specialized slang, or slant (outdated)censer : an incense dish
censor : a person who forbids use of nasty language, violence, sex, etc.
sensor : an instrument which detects objects or conditionsdessert : a sweet treat
desert : to abandon
(note: desert pronounced DEZ-urt means a land without liquid water)here : at this place, point, or time
hear : to perceive or detect soundhole : an opening, cavity, or pit
whole : complete, in one unit, not dividedits : possessive pronoun; belonging to it
it’s : contraction for ‘it is’passed : went by, overtook and left behind (She passed him at a run.)
past : in an earlier time; beyond in position or time (She waved as she ran past him.)prey : to hunt, or the target of a hunt
pray : to ask favors from a deityseen : perceived or detected by the eye
scene : a view, a setting where something occurs, a part of a story or film with no break in location or timescent : odor, perfume
sent : caused to be delivered to a destinationsight : vision, or something which is seen
site : a location (on the internet, a website)summary : a brief description of something, as in a story summary
summery : having the qualities of summer (hot? sweaty? fly-infested?)there : a place which is not here
their : possessive pronoun; belonging to them
they’re : contraction for ‘they are’throne : a royal chair
thrown : was tossed or hurledto : toward, at
two : more than one and less than three; 2
too : in addition, alsowere : plural past tense of ‘to be’, as in ‘we were’
we’re : contraction of ‘we are’weather : atmospheric conditions
whether : if it is the case, if it is truewhose : possessive pronoun; belonging to whom
who’s : contraction of ‘who is’won’t : contraction of ‘will not’
wont : accustomed, in the habit (outdated)your : possessive pronoun; belonging to you
you’re : contraction of ‘you are’
These are just the most common words I’ve seen used incorrectly, there are many, many more.
If you’re writing at all seriously, you should be using a word processor like Word which includes a spellchecker and grammar checker. These can be very useful; pay attention to them. However, keep in mind that they are not always right; in fact they will frequently make some surprising and ridiculous mistakes. There’s no substitute for learning this stuff for yourself, and for having a good beta and/or editor.
I’ll also say that probably the best way to learn good grammar is to read. Not to read fanfic, which is often full of mistakes, but read published novels, non-fiction, newspapers, whatever. They may have mistakes too, but hopefully not many. Read enough, and eventually you’ll instinctively know when something looks right.
These are some very common mistakes; feel free to tell me if you know of something you’d like added to this list. If you spot a mistake I’ve made, please tell me about that too; I’m far from an expert.
Basics
Let’s get some terms straight first.
Noun: Name of a person, place, thing, quality, or action. Ex: Joe, Colorado, paper, happiness, running.
Verb: Word expressing existence, action, or occurrence. Ex: to be, jump, thinks.
Pronoun: A word that substitutes for a noun or noun phrase. Ex: he, our, them.
Adjective: A word, phrase, or clause that modifies (describes) a noun. Ex: The red ball bounced. The house in the woods burned down.
Adverb: A word, phrase, or clause that modifies a verb, adjective, or other adverb. Ex: He walked quickly.
Subject: The noun, noun phrase, or pronoun in a sentence or clause that tells who or what is performing the action or what is described by the predicate. Ex: Joe walked quickly. He was tired.
Predicate: the part of a sentence or clause which contains the verb and tells what action is being performed by or on the subject or what state or condition the subject is in. Ex: Joe walked quickly. He was tired.
Object: A noun, noun phrase, or pronoun which either defines what is being acted upon by the verb, or is associated with a preposition. Ex: Wes glared at Eric. Joe walked to the bus.
Sentence: An independent unit of words containing a subject and a predicate, beginning with a capital letter and ending with a period, question mark, or exclamation point.
Clause: A group of words containing a subject and a predicate and forming part of a compound or complex sentence. Ex: Joe walked quickly, but he was tired.
Phrase: Two or more words which express an idea but are not a sentence. Ex: on the hill, smiling gently.
Conjunction: A word which connects words, phrases, clauses, or sentences. Ex: and, or, because, but.
Preposition: a word or phrase usually put before a noun or pronoun to indicate a relationship to another part of the sentence. Ex: from, to, with, on, at.
You should already know that a complete sentence must have at least one subject and at least one predicate. The subject may be left out but understood, especially in the case of commands (Listen closely!) or questions (Got it?). Subjects and verbs must agree in number (singular or plural), person (I, you, he/she/it, we, they) and tense (present, past, future, etc.) If you’re having trouble with these most basic elements you really need to get instruction in the English language, either from books or classes.
How to Write a Sentence
Everyone knows how to write a sentence, right? Wrong, from what I've seen. There are the considerations above - a sentence has a subject and predicate, it starts with a capital and ends with a period, exclamation point, or question mark. Beyond that, there's content. A sentence is about something. It should not be random thoughts stuck together in the run-on sentence from hell; it should express one idea, the same way a paragraph should be about one topic, more or less. Example:
Wrong: Wes walked into Eric's office feeling angry and Eric looked up at him.
Right: Wes walked into Eric's office feeling angry. Eric looked up at him. (Two different people performing two different actions = two different sentences.)
Punctuation
Misuse (or no use) of commas is one of the most common mistakes I see in fanfic.
Commas are brief pauses in a sentence, used to separate phrases and clauses. Contrary to the apparent impression of many writers, they are not to be either omitted almost completely or sprinkled in at random to break up a sentence; there are a set of rules over comma use. The rules aren’t simple, and probably most people don’t know them in detail; researching this was an education for me.
Use a comma to separate two independent clauses joined by a conjunction (and, or, for, but, nor, yet, so). An independent clause is a part of a sentence that could be a complete sentence on its own. Put the comma before the conjunction.
Example: Wes shot an angry glare at Eric, and Eric slammed the door in his face.
Example2: Wes slammed the door, but Eric pushed it open again.
Commas are used to separate appositives (words or phrases which re-define a noun) and other non-essential words, phrases, or clauses that interrupt a sentence but are not necessary to its meaning.
Example: Wes, the Red Ranger, shot an angry glare at Eric, the Quantum Ranger. ('The Red Ranger' and 'the Quantum Ranger' are appositives.)
Example2: Wes shot an angry glare at Eric, however, Eric did not respond. ('However' is a non-essential interrupting word.)
And they are used to set off introductory words, phrases, or clauses.
Example: Shooting an angry glare at Eric, Wes got up and slammed the door in his face.
Example2: Meanwhile, Wes was getting up and slamming the door in his face.
Example3: As he shot an angry glare at Eric, Wes slammed the door.
But note if this clause is not introducing the sentence a comma is not needed:
Example4: Wes slammed the door as he shot an angry glare at Eric.
Commas are used to set off a participle phrase (starting with a participle of a verb, the -ing or -ed form) which modifies a noun or pronoun, if it does not come directly after the word it is modifying.
Example: Wes watched Eric, wondering what to do. (‘Wondering what to do’ modifies Wes.)
Example2: Wes watched Eric glaring back at him. (‘Glaring back at him’ modifies Eric.)
Note how the meaning changes if you add or remove the comma:
Example: Wes watched Eric wondering what to do. (Now Eric is the one wondering.)
Example2: Wes watched Eric, glaring back at him. (And Wes is the one glaring.)
Finally, commas are used to separate three or more words or phrases in a list:
Example: Wes looked at his desk and wondered whether to throw the paperweight, the bookends, or his telephone at Eric.
Notice that if you have two subjects, verbs, or objects, you do not separate them with commas:
Example: Wes and Eric turned and greeted Mr. Collins and Jen.
But if you have three or more subjects, verbs, or objects, they become a list and you do use commas.
Example: Wes, Eric, and Jen stopped, turned, and greeted Mr. Collins, Dr. Zaskin, and Guardian Miller.
(Some authorities say that the comma before the ‘and’ is optional.)
Semicolons are not just longer pauses. Again they have specific uses. The most common is to separate independent clauses which are not joined by a conjunction.
Example: Wes glared furiously; Eric did not respond.
Semicolons may also be used to separate items in a list which themselves contain commas.
Example: Wes watched Eric, wondering whether to throw his paperweight, bookends, or telephone; to simply shout, curse, and slam the door; or to just order him to leave.
Colons, again, are not just a longer pause. They are most often used to introduce a list, phrase, or sentence which explains part of the main sentence. The main sentence must be an independent clause.
Example: Wes glared at Eric, mentally listing his faults: rudeness, a nasty temper, no self-control, and the ability to look better in a beret than Wes did. (Everything after the colon explains the word 'faults'.)
Plurals and Possessives
Plurals are the form of a noun that means more than one. (Duh.) You add an s. That’s all. Not an apostrophe s, just an s, in almost all cases. If the noun ends with s, you add es. Some nouns, of course - especially animals - have oddball plurals, and you just have to learn them.
Morpher - Morphers
House - Houses
Collins - Collinses (more than one member of the Collins family)
Mouse - Mice
Hippopotamus - Hippopotami
Sheep - Sheep
Possessives are forms of nouns signifying possession of something else. They are formed by adding an apostrophe s. If the noun ends with s, the apostrophe is added and the extra s is optional.
Eric’s car
Wes’s office
Mr. Collins’ company
Use of pronouns
First of all, you should know the difference between a subject and an object. The subject of a sentence is the person, animal, or thing which is performing some sort of action. The object is the person, animal, or thing that an action is being performed on. Prepositions (of, to, from, on, in, above, below, etc.) also take objects. The subject forms of pronouns are: he, she, it, they, you, I, and who. The object forms are: him, her, it, them, you, me, and whom.
Wrong: Him and Wes had a fight.
Right: He and Wes had a fight.
Explanation: ‘Him’ is a subject in this sentence, so the correct word is ‘he’.Wrong: Eric said hello to Wes and I.
Right: Eric said hello to Wes and me.
Explanation: ‘Wes’ and ‘I’ are objects in the sentence, so the proper word is ‘me’. In these cases, try splitting it up if you’re not sure. You wouldn’t say, ‘Eric said hello to I,’ would you?Wrong: Eric said hello to me and Wes.
Right: Eric said hello to Wes and me.
Wrong: Me and you, forever.
Right: You and me, forever.
Explanation: Nouns and pronouns referring to others come before pronouns referring to yourself. (About the only way the English language is polite.)Wrong: To who were you referring?
Right: To whom were you referring?
Explanation: ‘who’ is the object of the preposition ‘to’, therefore the correct word is ‘whom’. (‘You’ is the subject of the sentence.)Debatable: He thinks he’s better than me.
Right but sounds awkward: He thinks he’s better than I.
Explanation: Technically, ‘than’ is a conjunction joining two clauses, and the sentence should end with the clause ‘I am’, which is shortened to ‘I’. Most experts now say that ‘than’ can be treated as a preposition, with ‘me’ as the object. So both ways are pretty much right.
Numbers
Once again, the rules aren’t simple, and looking them up was an education for me. I won’t go into everything, but in general:
Spell numbers out in words when:
It can be done in one or two words - or - it’s a single digit number (depends on whose rules you go by).
The number begins a sentence.
The number is vague or approximate (a million, a hundred thousand).
It’s an ordinal number (first, second, third, etc.)
It’s a time using o’clock (One o’clock, etc.)
Use numerals for:
Large exact numbers.
Serial numbers, social security numbers, etc.
Measurements.
Negative and decimal numbers.
Money.
Dates and times not with an ‘o’clock’ (11:05 am, 12 Noon).
Phone numbers, addresses, apartment or room numbers, etc.
The dread dangling participle
This means a phrase containing a verb which is attached to the beginning of a sentence as a modifier, as in: “Hanging overhead.” It is used to modify or describe the subject of the sentence. All too often, however, the writer intended to modify something else. This can have some unintentionally hilarious results.
Wrong: Hanging overhead, Eric saw the ceiling fan.
Explanation: The way this sentence is constructed, it says Eric was hanging overhead, perhaps like a bat, looking at the ceiling fan.
Right: Eric saw the ceiling fan hanging overhead.Wrong: Walking into Bio-Lab, Wes’s morpher made a buzzing sound.
Explanation: Man, those morphers can walk? What’ll they think of next? ‘Morpher’ is the subject of the sentence (‘Wes’s’ in this context is an adjective describing morpher), so this literally is describing it as walking.
Right: Walking into Bio-Lab, Wes heard his morpher make a buzzing sound.
Chat abbreviations and emoticons
Don’t use them unless you’re quoting an online conversation.
Now the disclaimer
You may see guides, textbooks, and so on which conflict with this guide, although hopefully only in minor details. Even the experts don’t always agree, and as I said, I’m not an expert. While I’ve looked up almost everything here in reliable sources, rules vary and change over time and even between American and British versions.
A quick note about contractions
Some writing guides forbid the use of contractions. Microsoft Word (and probably other word processors) will sometimes object to them. This is misleading.
It's true that contractions should not be used in formal writing (legal documents, scholarly papers, etc.). Fiction, however, is not considered to be formal writing, and contractions are permissible. They should definitely be used in dialogue, which is supposed to represent people talking. They should also be used when expressing the POV of a character who would use them, which would be just about everyone except Data in Star Trek TNG.
And a couple of comments about writing style
Many of these rules can be bent or broken in dialogue, and in narration if you know what you’re doing and are using it for effect. (Incomplete sentences to increase emotional impact, technically incorrect choice of words, and so on.) When breaking rules in dialogue, again use it for effect; bad grammar may illustrate a character’s background or educational level, etc. Also, some minor rule-breaking may be justified if it clarifies your meaning.
How your writing flows is just as important as correctness. Vary your sentence structure, and tune it to the type of scene you’re writing. Short, simple sentences are good for fast-paced action scenes; longer complex sentences are good for slower, more thoughtful scenes. Avoid having all your writing be simple declarative sentences, and try to avoid repetition:
Wes picked up his shirt. He put it on. He opened the door and went out. He went to his car and looked up. It was a beautiful day.
Vary it, use some complex sentences, and don’t start almost every sentence with ‘he’:
Wes picked up his shirt and put it on before he opened the door and went out. Looking up as he walked to his car, he saw that it was a beautiful day.
My personal favorite of all the pieces of writing advice I’ve found on the web is the following: “Think of a story. Write it down.”
Obviously, plotting involves a little more than that. Unfortunately, it’s one of the most important aspects of writing, while also being one of the most difficult and the one that (in my opinion, anyway) varies most from person to person and is perhaps the hardest to teach or learn. Don’t look for any magic formulas here, because there aren’t any. I can give some suggestions, but only you can find the best way for you to write a good story.
What is a plot? The short answer is that it’s a series of events that makes up a story. It may be tightly constructed and move along swiftly, with lots of details, twists, and suspense. It may be loose and rambling, basically a set of episodes. It may be focused on one character, or may include dozens of characters. A main plot may be interwoven with one or many subplots.
A plot starts with an idea. The ability to get ideas - or maybe to recognize them - probably can’t be learned. All I can really tell you is that ideas may come from anywhere; it could be that stray thought of, ‘wouldn’t it be neat if...’ while you’re watching your favorite program, or that weird daydream you had in class, or a book you read years ago that had this really great part, or some casual remark you heard someone make, or the desire to fill in a history or show what happened later for your favorite character.
Then comes the hard part, turning idea into plot. This is a very personal process. I’ve heard it said that if you ask a hundred writers how they go about plotting, you’ll get a hundred and one answers. Some work out a detailed plot outline, complete with chapter breakdown, before beginning to write. A few may even stick to it. Some start with the first scene and just plunge in, working things out as they go along. I myself start with a very definite image of how the story will begin and end, and only a hazy idea of how to get from one to the other.
So don’t panic if you don’t have your plot all worked out when you start to write. You should have an idea which will place the characters in some kind of conflict, and at least a general sense of where you want to go from there. As you gain experience in writing, you’ll work out your own methods. I will also say that in my opinion if your plot is at all complex, you’ll have to either have a detailed outline or write the whole thing before you post, in order to avoid logical inconsistencies and mistakes.
Plot and characters are inseparable; the plot moves the characters in and out of conflicts and situations; the characters’ actions and reactions move the plot. Some stories are more ‘plot-driven’, depending more on external events and circumstances for the storyline. Others are ‘character-driven’; it’s the characters’ personalities and interactions that motivate most of the story. In either case, avoid including too many characters. Power Rangers fanfic is especially prone to this; writers love to team up dozens of Rangers, and the reader ends up not relating to any of them and even losing track of most of them.
Remember; a plot makes up a story. It should have a beginning, a middle, and an end. It should include events. It should include change - something should be different when it ends. (There are always exceptions, of course.) It should involve the characters in a conflict, build up to a crisis, and then resolve. The crisis doesn’t have to be earth-shattering; it may be anything from the near-destruction of the universe to Joe finally asking Mary to the prom.
Another absolutely vital point; your plot should make sense. Each event should follow logically from previous events and from the characters. Yes, life can be random, and certainly bizarre plot twists and unforeseen happenings are not a bad thing in a story. However, don’t just throw in, say, a meteor that kills the villain because you can’t think of any other way to end it. Don’t make someone act out of character for no apparent reason just because that’s the only way to make your plot work. Don’t make up new powers and abilities for your hero just because it’s convenient. You’ll only leave your readers feeling cheated. A really good plot should never make the reader step out of the story and say, “That’s not possible,” or “That doesn’t make sense,” or “What the heck just happened?”
Major plot twists should not come out of nowhere; there should be hints - hopefully subtle ones - and foreshadowing. There should be clues, not so many that it's obvious what you're up to, but enough so that the reader's response to a surprising revelation is: ‘Of course! But I never saw it coming.’
Subplots
A short story needs only one plotline. Anything longer will need subplots. You’re used to seeing subplots, just think of your favorite TV show. Chances are while the main story is going on, the supporting characters are involved in their own, less important stories, and/or the main character is also having problems with a romance, or his/her boss, or keeping up with the laundry, or whatever.
Subplots may be almost as complex as the main story, or as simple as a character who never gets enough sleep. Ideally these plotlines should weave together, affecting and enhancing each other or at least having some relevance to each other. Completely separate subplots should probably be in a separate story.
Pacing
There’s two aspects to pacing. One is on a basic level, the pace of a scene, whether we think of it as fast or slow. Action scenes are typically fast; the sentences are short and simple, things happen rapidly. Long conversations, descriptions, or inner monologues may be slow; with long and more complex sentences, and nothing physical really happening.
Unless they are very short, stories should include both. Yes, a romance or character study probably won’t include what you’d think of as an action scene, but if it has a proper amount of conflict it will probably include a few arguments which will be relatively fast-paced and emotionally exciting.
Some people (like me) prefer a story with a strong plot that really moves along. Some like slower, character-driven, more thoughtful and descriptive writing. Neither is wrong or right. I will say, however, that even the fastest action story needs to slow down enough to describe the setting and what the characters are feeling. And even the most lyrical character study needs to move along enough to avoid boring the reader.
Pacing on this level also involves the mood. That should vary a bit (except in a short story). Not every moment should be dramatic, emotional, and intense. Nor should every moment be lighthearted and amusing (even in a humorous story), or packed with action and suspense. The reader needs some variety; he/she needs to take a break occasionally from intense action, or high drama, or get a little real emotion out of a comedy.
Then there’s the larger meaning of pacing, the ‘shape’ of the plot. Think of it like a graph, time versus plot intensity. It starts from zero, as the story goes along it builds higher, reaches a peak, and then drops down to zero again at the end.
Of course, that’s a simplification. There are terrific fics (and professional novels), that start right in the middle of the action, others that end with a spectacular plot twist - or leave us with some part of the story unresolved (In a way that makes sense, of course). However, even in these cases, some variation of the basic curve applies; there’s a setup, a buildup, a climax, and tying up of loose ends.
The other complication to this scenario is subplots. They don’t have to start and end at the beginning and end of the main story, in fact they shouldn’t. Subplots should be introduced as the story moves along, and should be resolved whenever appropriate. Some may end halfway through. Some may wait until after the main plot is over, as part of the ‘loose ends’ process. Some may take over the story temporarily when they reach their peak.
That said, the typical and reliable general structure is: introduce main and most sub- plots in the first third, build up in the middle third, reach and resolve the main and most sub- crises in the last third, tie up loose ends in the last chapter. And that last part is vital; in a story of any length the reader needs that last chapter to relax, to see that everything has been settled, and there will probably be one or two unresolved subplots to take care of. This may also be the best place to explain anything the reader will still be wondering about.
Which gets me into just a note about backstories and explanations - don’t hit the reader with too much at once. It’s almost always a bad idea to have pages of background at the very beginning of the story; it’s both frequently boring and gives the reader too much to absorb at once. Start by introducing the characters and doing something interesting with them, then fill us in as you go along, and as the reader gets curious. The same for explanations at the end; try to avoid plunking everyone down and having the hero/heroine spend pages telling them (and us) what happened. Most questions should have already been answered in the story, and the reader by this time may not even remember whatever point you’re clearing up.
But - you’ve read great stories that didn’t follow a lot of these rules. For instance, aren’t there stories that don’t have an overall plot? Yes, there are, and some of them are very good. They work more like a TV series than a novel, with each chapter being an episode. However, the rules still apply, with a difference. Each chapter, or sometimes a few chapters, will have a main plotline that gets resolved, and another is introduced next chapter. It’s the subplots that run long term in these stories, usually the development of character and relationship.
Chaptering
Chapters are meant to divide up the story into logical units. There are various rules; only one major development per chapter, no more than three important events per chapter, etc. I think it’s a little more flexible than that. In general, I think each chapter should contain at least one major development, but no more than one per plot/subplot thread.
Unfortunately, many beginning writers just chop up their stories, ending a chapter whenever they get to whatever length they feel comfortable with. It’s not supposed to work that way; a chapter means something besides an arbitrary number of pages. It should be a logical unit, with a beginning, a middle, and an end, just like a whole story. The end may be a cliffhanger, of course, in fact that’s a good way to bring the reader back for more. But it should always end at a logical point; it should feel like an ending, not like the writer just ran out of steam and stopped.
The other extreme is writers who write tremendously long chapters, including long sequences of plot development in each one, or even a whole (and not short) story. This is hard on the reader. A chapter break gives the reader a chance to catch his/her mental breath, to know that this is end of one logical section and the beginning of another. Proper chaptering will make a story seem to move more smoothly and be easier to follow.
Chapters can also be useful for transitions. You may change POV in the new chapter. You may skip to a later time, or switch to another place. Personally, I prefer to keep each chapter within as short a timeframe as possible.
While it's largely a matter of personal choice, naming your chapters can be a nice touch. It looks good, and can be helpful to readers who want to find a favorite part of your fic to reread.
Conclusion (finally)
There’s tremendous variation in ways to construct a story; everyone does it differently, which is as it should be. But I think these basics almost always apply.
Think of a story. Write it down.
The Good
In any form of fiction, one of the most necessary tasks for the author is to make the reader care about the characters, to make them come alive, to seem like real people. They may be heroes or heroines; they may be sidekicks, villains, comic relief. But if they're important to the plot, we have to care about what happens to them, or the story becomes boring.
How? By giving them real personalities. A good part of achieving this, in my opinion, is whether the author him/herself thinks of the characters as real people. Do you have a solid idea of what your characters are like? What their likes and dislikes are? Whether they have a short temper, or a goofy sense of humor; whether they’re idealistic, egotistical, a show-off, shy, impatient... whatever. These are the kinds of things that can describe a real person, and they should apply to your characters too.
Characters should have more than one dimension:
One common mistake among writers is to make their heroes and heroines too good. They are good-looking, nice, brave, modest, intelligent, charming, funny, you name it. How many real people are like that? Even the most wonderful hero has flaws, and rightly so; it gives them depth and complexity. In Time Force (the PR series I know best) Jen is sometimes harsh and demanding, Wes is a bit spoiled and is not very fair to his father, Eric is mean, nasty, ambitious, and selfish (at first, anyway), Lucas is vain and over-confident, Trip is insecure and naïve. Katie - who has no obvious flaws - is probably the least interesting of the bunch (sorry, Katie).
The same thing in reverse applies to bad guys. A villain who’s pure, unadulterated evil is just not very interesting. Even the worst baddie should have some redeeming qualities - Ransik was persecuted for being a mutant and had reason to hate humans, and he loved his daughter; Nadira had episodes of being lonely and showed a compassionate side at the end. Also, remember, the vast majority of people who do bad things don’t think of themselves as evil, they think whatever they’re doing is justified. Show us why your villain is the way he is, and we’ll care about him or her just a little, too.
Staying in (canon) character:
Canon characters already have a personality. Get familiar with them. This means knowing what they would and wouldn’t do, knowing what kind of person they are. A character who’s kind, generous, and good-natured in the show should be kind, generous, and good-natured in your stories. Likewise for a character who’s mean, cruel, and nasty in the show. This takes a certain amount of thought and understanding of the complexities of human nature. For instance, a character who was portrayed in canon as sometimes rude and cold but who risked his life to help others and even made a self-sacrifice or two along the way should be portrayed in fanfic as someone who’s a basically good person with some problems relating to other people, not as a heartless jerk.
Beyond consistency with canon behavior, there’s the things that make a character identifiable and unique. Almost all canon characters were given quirks, characteristics, and individual ways of speaking and acting. You should use them. Tommy was always late and had a bit of a guilt complex. Kim was occasionally a little airheaded. Billy was a genius geek who spoke in technobabble; Zack liked to dance. Want to add something to the established personality? Fine, as long as it’s consistent and a minor add-on, not a radical change. I made Eric a bit of a neat freak, under the assumption that it went well with his desire for control. But - making him suddenly and inexplicably weepy and suicidal would be horrifyingly inconsistent.
Big changes can work too, but it takes effort and talent on the writer’s part. Characters can change. Eric changed dramatically in Time Force (although you could argue his better nature simply came out), Wes, Jen, and Mr. Collins more subtly. Their character development worked well because it was gradual and we saw the experiences that caused it. Ransik and Nadira changed drastically, but unconvincingly, since both transformations were too sudden and not well motivated. Professional writers screw up too.
Another possible way to explore changes in your character is the AU (alternate universe). This doesn’t mean you can just toss canon out the window, established character personalities and all. (If you want everything different, just write an original story with original characters.) It means taking canon, changing some aspect of it ranging from minor (say, Kim never wrote The Letter) to complete re-thinking (the MMPR characters live in ancient Egypt and get their powers from the Pharaoh). It means using that difference and taking it to its logical conclusion. Tommy never was hurt by Kim’s rejection, never left Angel Grove, kept on driving racecars instead of going back to school, never moved to Reefside and became the black Dino Thunder Ranger... Jason grew up in the Pharaoh’s court threatened by intrigue and assassination attempts, and isn’t above killing his enemies when absolutely necessary...
Original characters:
Original characters are both more of a challenge and easier. You start from scratch with them; you have to make up a whole person complete with personality, habits, likes and dislikes, history, talents, and weaknesses. On the other hand, you’re not restricted by an already-defined character. One suggestion: don’t just make up a generic pretty girl or nice guy or best friend, even for supporting roles. Base them on people you know, on some combination of characters from other shows, books, movies, whatever it takes. Use your imagination and make them real and interesting.
Consistency:
Fiction is not real life, although a good writer tries to make it seem real. In reality, people are sometimes unpredictable and incomprehensible, probably because we don’t know the reasons for their behavior. Fictional characters need to be more understandable than that; after all, if the writer is doing a good job we have a very good idea of what the character is feeling and thinking. We probably know him/her better than most people in real life. While fictional characters may do something surprising on occasion, the reader should never feel that their actions simply came out of nowhere.
He’s alive!
And that brings me to the true test of a fictional character. Is this person real and alive in your mind? Does he/she protest if you try to make him/her do something that’s not in his/her nature? Is it hard to make the relationship you want to happen work, because the characters don’t want to talk to each other? Do plots tend to go in strange and wonderful directions because that’s what the characters want to do? Congratulations, it’s a boy. Or a girl. You are portraying real, multidimensional people a reader can care about. Listen to them and be grateful, a character with a mind of his or her own is a pain in the butt and a joy forever.
The Bad
Oh Lord, where do I start...
OOC:
We all see canon characters differently. Some amount of individual interpretation is natural and on the whole is a good thing. But don’t let your own image of what you want your favorite canon characters to be obscure the reality of what they were like in the show. Blatant OOC (Out Of Character) behavior will only annoy many readers, and earn you bad reviews.
And no, ‘That’s the way I want him to be’ isn’t a valid excuse. You want to write a different character, fine. Don’t give him a canon character’s name. Alternatively, if you want to write a canon character convincingly acting differently than in canon, you have to do your homework, make a believable AU or put him through experiences that explain it, not just make him do it with no justification.
Inconsistency:
This is really the same concept as OOC, but applies to original characters too. Whatever your concept of the characters is, you can’t make major changes in them without a convincing reason. Evil bad guys don’t suddenly become good because of a kind word or two. Nice guys don’t turn evil because their girlfriend dumped them. Changes must be led up to, we must see the reasons for them, or see that the character had another side all along.
Blah:
No, that’s not a technical term, it’s my word for stories in which the characters have no personality. You’ve read them: Jen is nice, polite, and brave; Wes is nice, polite, and brave; Eric is nice, polite(!), and brave. They walk alike, they talk alike... In these stories, you can’t tell the characters apart without their names. They’re all just cardboard cutouts of good guys and bad guys.
Now for two types of bad characterization that are worthy of mention in their own right:
The Beautiful
There’s a particular kind of bad characterization that’s very common, especially in fan fiction, and especially from inexperienced writers. A certain type of character who’s beautiful, intelligent, central to the story, beloved by the other characters, irresistible to the hero, takes over the plot, saves the day, and either ends up engaged, married, and/or having babies with the hero; or dies in a magnificent self-sacrifice with all the other characters mourning her deeply.
I am of course talking about Mary Sue. (Or Gary Stu - the same applies to male writers/characters, but most fanfic writers are female.) Every writer, or almost every one, has these fantasies of a wonderful, perfect, fascinating character who symbolizes herself in the story. This character tends to get all the attention, is admired by everyone, makes friends with all the canon characters, and gets to make out with the guy the author has the hots for. I admit freely that I’ve done it too.
Not every original character, not even every self-insertion (projection of the author into the story) is a Mary Sue, and they’re not necessarily a bad thing. It’s certainly possible to create a character who represents yourself and still make her interesting and vital, with the necessary complement of human failings. But it’s not easy, and in general I’d advise firmly keeping your original characters separate from yourself in your mind.
What I’m talking about here is not so much what a character is, but how he or she is written.
There are a few varieties of Mary Sue, just to keep things interesting, and considerable overlap between the types. By the way, this mostly applies to original characters, but the same phenomenon can happen with canon characters the writer strongly identifies with.
There’s the most common kind, the perfect young woman who’s gorgeous, often has unusual hair and/or eye colors, an exotic name, may be related to one or more canon characters, often has an exotic origin (alien ancestry, magical parentage, was found as a baby in a spaceship, whatever), and very frequently has powers equaling or surpassing the canon heroes and heroines. Even if she doesn’t have some kind of superpowers, she usually has a talent for singing, and/or is an expert martial artist, and may speak several languages fluently. Whatever sport or job the heroes are good at, chances are she’s better. (Kind of makes you wonder how she has time to sleep, what with all this skill-building.) She’s feisty, tough, and takes no shit from anyone; yet she’s also charming, kind, and possesses wisdom and understanding beyond her years. Whole paragraphs are often devoted to describing her stunning good looks and her sexy clothes. Naturally, the hero is thunderstruck at the sight of her, falling instantly yet permanently in love.
Then there’s the mysterious Mary Sue, the one with a deep dark past who shows up out of nowhere, with an agenda all her own. Instead of ignoring the strange newcomer the way they would in real life, the canon characters immediately start spending all their spare time wondering about her. If she has superpowers, she shows up in the nick of time to save the heroes, kicking the villain’s butt when none of the canon characters (who have been doing it a lot longer) can.
All powerful, all-seeing, all-knowing Mary Sue. She’s an ancient sorceress. A mystical being. A powerful warrior, skilled in the arts of combat. An alien princess, sent here to prevent a terrible disaster, a traveler from another dimension or another time who holds the key to saving reality itself from destruction... Well, you get the idea. She may be centuries old (but of course appears young and probably attractive). If she’s a Ranger, she’s the most powerful of them all. She may work from behind the scenes, guiding the heroes towards success, or may take over the action, and the story, for herself.
And let’s not forget Tragic, Angsty Mary Sue. She has a terrible life, either now or in the past; usually horribly abusive or horribly murdered parents, a love affair gone wrong, an abusive husband or boyfriend, and/or she’s rebellious and unmanageable and faces hatred and general rejection by everyone she knows. (There’s probably a good reason they can’t stand her...) Her close relative is Obnoxious Mary Sue, who’s rude, nasty, probably dresses in ripped jeans and has multiple body piercings, and generally can’t get along with anyone. Of course, that’s because they’re all too stupid to understand and appreciate her; she’s really got a heart of gold, plus being talented, strong, smart, and tough.
So what’s wrong with Mary Sue? She’s not real, that’s what’s wrong. She has no personality. Giving her a set of traits meant to make her interesting is not a personality. She’s only there to make the story be about the author; she’s just another cardboard cutout, a placeholder. While the author loves her, the readers have their own fantasies, and don’t want to live someone else’s. We’ve seen her a thousand times before, we’ve probably even written some version of her. To us, she’s utterly predictable and ultimately boring and irritating.
Don’t be reluctant to write original characters because of this, but do be careful. They have two built-in disadvantages going in. One: for the most part, fans want stories centered on canon characters. Two: experienced readers have seen so many badly-written Mary Sues, they will often react automatically and negatively to the slightest hint of Sueishness. It’s usually best to keep your OC’s in the background, keep them normal human beings without powers, and avoid even the appearance of Sue.
The Bashed
Some writers just don’t like some canon characters. (I’m mostly referring to the heroic characters, but this could apply to villains also.) That’s their personal taste, and they’re entitled. They are not, however, entitled to write stories portraying that character as the most evil bitch or bastard on earth.
Kat is not a bitch. Alex is not a bastard. Just because you blame a character for breaking up a pairing you like, or they’re in the way of another pairing you’d like to see, or you think he/she was mean to your favorite character, or you just don’t like him or her, doesn’t mean you get to distort that character’s personality to fit. You’ll only irritate fans who know your portrayal is OOC, and really irritate fans who like him/her. Not to mention it’s just plain bad characterization.
This also applies to characters you don’t feel any special hostility for and may in fact like, but who you think would be more interesting or dramatic if they did something really bad. If it’s not something that character would normally do, and you haven’t convinced us that he/she would do it under these circumstances, all of the irritation mentioned above will occur, with the resultant criticism.
And a note about slash fics - sometimes you’ll see stories in which the women are made to seem unpleasant in some way - jealous, bitchy, stupid, whatever; possibly as a justification for breaking up a canon couple or for the guys being slashed not being interested in them. You really don’t have to make women look bad in order to show gay men preferring to have sex with each other. This kind of thing is not very appealing, and not good writing.
An accurate rating is an absolute necessity. Misleading ratings may result in offended readers, outraged parents who complain to webmasters and site hosts, and fanfic sites that get shut down.
It is completely unfair to post an NC-17 fic on a site which does not accept them by rating it R. These sites are not public property, they are owned and maintained by individuals who have every right to dictate what goes in them (yes, I’m mainly referring to fanfiction.net). You may very well get them in trouble, and there are other places to post your adult stories (try adultfanfiction.net). Each site has its rules; have enough class to follow them.
It’s also a very good idea to include warnings of specific content such as slash, extreme violence, rape, etc. My opinion is that for any rating above a G, you should mention what the rating is based on; whether it’s for language, sex, and/or violence.
Unfortunately, the current ratings are based on movie ratings, which do not translate all that well from a visual medium to a written one. I’ve put down my interpretation of the ratings, adapted for writing, below.
G : General, suitable for all ages. No cursing, no sex beyond kissing, only mild violence.
PG: Parental Guidance. Language: the milder four-letter words. Sex: more intense kissing and implied (indicated but occurring between scenes) sexual activity. No explicit description of nudity. Violence: may be moderate but not graphic or extended.
PG-13: Parental guidance strongly recommended. Language: cursing up to and including one use of a ‘sexually-derived word’ (You can use the ‘f-word’ once, but only as an exclamation, not in a sexual sense). Sex: strong sexual content including nudity may be included; specific sexual acts may be strongly implied but not described, sexual body parts may be referred to but not described. Adult content: may be strong. Drug abuse, child abuse (sexual or otherwise), rape, and injury to children may be used but should not be graphically described. Violence: may be strong but may not include extended scenes of torture, dismemberment, or extreme pain.
R: No one under 17 allowed without permission of a parent or guardian. Language: anything goes. Sex: Very strong sexual content. Specific sexual acts may be strongly implied or partially but not graphically described. Sexual body parts or contact with them may be mentioned but with no explicit description. Adult content: anything goes. Violence: may be very strong, but may not include extended scenes of sexual torture or other very extreme brutality.
NC-17: No children under 17, period. Anything goes in every category.
Disclaimers
Fanfiction exists on legally shaky ground, since it essentially involves using someone else’s copyrighted material. It’s tolerated by most film and television companies and most writers. In some cases, it’s been prosecuted. If you’re writing in a fandom whose owner/creator has stated they do not allow fanfic, my advice would be to stop.
Disclaimers are there to protect you, to state that you are not trying to establish a copyright or infringe on anyone’s property, and that you are not using someone else’s creation to make money which you could then be sued for. Every fic should start with a disclaimer.
Example:
[Show title and/or characters] belong to [name of company or individual], I am aware I have no right to them. I am not making money from these fictions.
It’s also a good idea to claim ownership of any original characters or ideas, and to make sure your penname is included on or in the story wherever it is posted.
Every show, movie, comic, etc. has a setting, a location where it takes place. The fans who want to write about it may not live in the same country as that setting. This may mean a non-American-English speaker trying to write like an American.
Of course the reverse applies; I’ve tried to write British characters and undoubtedly made my share of mistakes. There’s also the situation of writers for whom English is not a native language, and who may face serious problems with grammar, vocabulary, and so on. This section is mostly for writers who speak English fluently but who are not American.
Just a few of the more common mistakes made by British, Australian, and similar writers:
It’s ‘the hospital’, not ‘hospital’.
We go to college or graduate school, not university. If someone says he goes to ‘the university’, he would mean a specific school.
Americans call their mothers Mom or Ma, not Mum.
Americans don’t call their friends - or strangers, for that matter - ‘mate’, or ‘love’, or even worse, ‘luv’.
Americans live in an apartment, not a flat.
We put our spare tire in a trunk, not a boot.
We ride up in an elevator, not a lift.
When an American calls something ‘bloody’ or ‘bleeding’, he/she means there is actual blood involved.
We go to the bathroom, not the loo. It may also be called the men’s/women’s (or ladies’) room, the powder room (for women), the little girl’s/little boy’s rooms (in a joking way), the gentlemen’s/ladies’ lounge (in a formal way), or the can (in a slightly vulgar way).
Americans play baseball, football, basketball, hockey, golf, tennis, and a little soccer. We rarely if ever play cricket or rugby. How many points each side made is called the score, not the results. Sorry, but beyond that I know nothing about sports.
In New York, you ride the subway, or just the train. In Washington, you ride the Metro. In Boston, the T. In San Francisco, the Bart. I could be wrong, but I don’t think there’s an American subway that’s called the Underground.
We spell a few words differently; ‘humor’, ‘color’, ‘odor’, etc. I know this is nitpicking, but thought I’d throw it in.
And several words I've run across that might be confusing on both sides:
English 'jumper' = American 'sweater'
English 'pants' = American 'panties' or underwear
English 'trousers' = American 'pants'
English 'snog' = American (any slang for kissing, like smooch, suck face, tonsil hockey)
English 'trainers' = American 'sneakers' (I think, not entirely sure, would appreciate corrections.)
English 'wank', 'wanker' = American (er, um... the closest American term would probably be jerk-off, which is a little ruder than wank or wanker, I think.)
The American school system:
In some locations, grade/elementary school continues though eighth grade, and there is no junior high. Each year is called a grade (first grade, second grade, etc.), until college. In both high school and college, a person in freshman year is called a freshman, etc. We have both public and private schools (government-funded versus paid for by student tuition) on every level. (Note public colleges and universities charge tuition, but less than private ones.) Private high schools for (usually) upper-class students are sometimes called prep schools.
Differences between a community college, a college, and a university: They perform the same function; all offer education beyond high school. Community colleges offer two-year programs and give Associate degrees, usually concentrating on preparation for a particular job or career. Colleges offer four-year programs and Bachelor's degrees of either Arts or Sciences (BA or BS), and usually give a more general education with a major in a particular subject, and often a minor in another. Universities are larger and more complex, often conducting research as well as teaching. They offer Bachelor's degrees plus graduate degrees. A Masters of Arts or Sciences (MA or MS) usually takes another two years; a Doctorate/Phd can take a few more and entitles you to put Dr. in front of your name. No matter which of these you go to, you say you're 'going to college' (before getting a Bachelor's) or 'going to graduate school'.
America is a big country. Keep in mind that a character is not going to hop on a train in New York and jump off an hour later in Los Angeles. He’ll take a plane, and the flight alone will take over five hours. If he gets a direct flight. Which he won’t, unless he uses a private or chartered plane. So just plan on it taking all day. Try travelocity.com or orbitz.com to get an idea of airplane travel times and costs.
Obviously I don’t have room or time here to go into examples of American slang. If you’re writing fanfic based on an American show, while watching the show you’ll hear the kind of slang you should be using. Pay attention to it, use the same expressions in your writing. Also be aware that there are different kinds of slang; a cop will speak very differently from a valley girl, who will speak differently from a computer nerd, who will speak differently from a middle-class businessman. Listen to what your characters say in the show, movie, or book, and follow that example.
Some sources of information about American slang are:
http://www.manythings.org/slang/
http://eslcafe.com/slang/list.html
Units of measure - since the US is one of the holdouts still not using the metric system, here are some conversions:
An inch = about 2 ½ centimeters.
A foot (12 inches) = roughly a third of a meter.
A yard (3 feet) = about the same as a meter.
A mile = a little over 1 ½ kilometers.
An acre = about 4000 square meters.
A square mile = about 2 ½ square kilometers.
A pint = a little over half of a liter.
A quart (2 pints) = a little more than a liter.
A gallon (4 quarts) = about 4 ½ liters.
An ounce = about 28 grams.
A pound (16 ounces) = just under half a kilogram, or 1/14 stone
A ton (2000 pounds) = about 1000 kilograms
32 degrees Fahrenheit (freezing point) = 0 degrees Celsius.
50 degrees Fahrenheit (cool) = 10 degrees Celsius.
68 degrees Fahrenheit (comfortable room temperature) = 20 degrees Celsius.
80 degrees Fahrenheit (warm) = 27 degrees Celsius.
100 degrees Fahrenheit (hot) = 38 Celsius.
212 degrees Fahrenheit (boiling point) = 100 Celsius.
There’s another difference I can’t help you with: the subtle phrasing and tone of the language, and the expressions that aren’t wrong or unclear but are just not the way an American would say it. Even if there are no actual mistakes, I can often tell when a writer is English, Australian, etc. by the way the language is used. I wouldn’t exactly call it a problem, but it can be noticeable. There’s no easy way around it, and whether it’s worth the time and effort to improve your ear for American English is a matter of personal choice.
And of course, there’s nothing like an American beta reader or editor.
A lot of fans don’t review, they just read and keep their opinions to themselves (and are called ‘lurkers’). There’s nothing really wrong with this, except that fanfic writers really do live for reviews. If you really like something, and want to encourage the author to continue, reviewing is a good thing to do. If you’re a writer yourself or just someone who reads a lot, it’s also helpful to the author to point out where a story is especially good, and where it could improve.
There are different general kinds of reviews:
The complimentary but uninformative review: “This story rocks! Write more!”
The more detailed complimentary review: “I loved the conversation with Wes telling Eric how he always gets mad over nothing, it was so in character for both of them.”
Constructive criticism: “I thought Eric got angry too quickly, and that Wes wouldn’t have reacted that way. You should have taken more time to lead up to the argument, and had Wes a little more slow to get angry himself.”
Flames: “I hate Wes and Eric! This story sucks!”
While brief, complimentary reviews are always nice, a lot of writers, including me, like to get some hint of what the reader liked and disliked. If you want to be complimentary, it would be helpful to mention one or two things you particularly liked.
While it’s nice to say you like a certain event or pairing, it may be more helpful to say which scenes you thought worked particularly well, and which parts of the plot were suspenseful, surprising, dramatic, moving, or whatever.
Constructive criticism is trickier. It should always be put as politely as possible, but should be honest. Don’t just say something was wrong, or didn’t work. Be as specific as possible, and give suggestions for improvement. I would suggest not throwing a whole list of flaws at someone at once; at least if you think there’s any hope for them. Point out a few things at a time; if they improve, good; if not, give up. Also try to praise something they’ve done, so it doesn’t come off as all negative. Be warned, some writers may get insulted no matter how tactful you are, and you may find an angry (and probably misspelled) response in your email.
As for flaming; in general, don’t. I would make an exception only in the case of someone who has either written something offensive (and point out exactly what you’re objecting to) or has obviously put almost zero effort into posting something at least readable. Do not ever criticize someone just because you personally don’t like whatever characters or pairings are in the story. What they write (within reason) is their business, how they write it is what you should comment on.
Remember, reviewing is a two-way street. If you leave an intelligent, thoughtful, well-written review for a writer whose work you admire, he/she just may decide to check out something you’ve written, and be able to give you some useful comments.
Being Reviewed
It’s a good idea to respond to your reviews, whether by email or by mentioning them in an author’s note (but I would avoid using really long author’s notes to do this). It’s polite, and it’s nice for the reviewers to get feedback too. I personally feel like I’m dropping words down a black hole when I review something repeatedly and never get any response. It’s not encouraging. And it’s also probably not a good idea to respond only to complain about negative reviews. Don’t the positive ones count too?
Unless your writing is perfect, you’ll probably get some constructive criticism. Many writers, especially very young ones, find any form of criticism hard to take. Yes, it hurts to hear anything bad about the story you’ve put all that time and effort into. Yes, it’s hard not to take it personally. But look at it this way; if it truly is constructive criticism it means someone put their own time and effort into reading your story, thinking about it, and writing down their thoughts in hopes of helping you. Put away those hurt feelings, read the review carefully, try to see if there isn’t some truth in there. You don’t always have to agree with the reviewer’s opinion, but at least consider the possibility that they may have a point. A writer who really cares about writing loves good constructive criticism because it may point out weaknesses he/she was not aware of. It’s an opportunity, not a disaster.