All Comments on 'Easy Guide To Better Writing'

Great, practical advice, presented logically and clearly. Thanks.

A real public service and great advice to any writer, but also helpful to readers

The most useful elements of this essay all appear in Strunk & White, The Elements of Style.

Moliere

The last last comment was posted by a pompus ass. This Guide was clearly created by someone trying to help new author's avoid common mistakes, then this Molier2 a**hole gives it an 'FU Buddy' vote because he read a book once that had some of this dude's suggestions. Oh, by the way, was that book free like this Guide is?

Often I stop reading a story because it bothers me that some of these simple guidelines are not followed. Thank you for posting this.

This story didn't have a plot or anything! It was almost like a list of suggestions than anything else! What was the author thinking? I am sorely displeased!

Wm_Sexspear

Thank you for the Guide. It's definite a roadmap to better writing.

Nice to see someone else who likes correct (as well as hot) writing! And your stuff *is* hot!

Additional tip for would-be authors: more than two commas, and you need another sentence. Find a good place to break, and start something new.

Thank you,

Your advise has been taken to heart. I may not always use it but, I will remember it.

Befroe you break the rules you must understand the reason for the rules.

Although I don't completely agree with everything you said, I did find it to be informative. Being someone who has written things for years (& never let anyone read them), I find it helpful to hear readers opinions.

I have to mention two previous comments. First, "Anonymous in not in damn yankee country". What's that supposed mean? Are you a crazy brit or a crazy redneck? I really wish you would take the advice you had just read, because your comment was so grammatically incorrect, it was almost painful to read. "Anonymous in Timbuktu", please tell me you're joking.

More writers should take note.

Thanks, Bill

A good precis of how to write and some good points to take on board.

Thankyou for writing this! It's so clear and easy to follow that I have it bookmarked. I'm going to use it to go over stories that I've already written, as well as my newer stuff. I feel a bit nervous leaving a comment here. I really have a huge problem with commas hehe. I appreciate this article so much though that I'm willing to put my shoddy grammar up for public scrutiny just to say thanks heaps :)

...:) Thx...baby...:)

The only one I nominally disagree with is about the contractions; I think it's good to mix things up a bit, depending on what is being written, characters, dialogue, etc.

Nothing says "amateur" like making plurals by adding<b> 's </b>where only the<b> s </b>is needed. The apostrophe goes with the<b> s </b>to make a noun possessive, not plural.<br><br>Correct forms are:<ul>

<li>plural:   Bill has two <b>dicks</b></li>

<li>possessive:   <b>Bill's</b> dick duo caught your eye

<li>plural+possessive: &nbsp; Bill brags of his <b>dicks'</b> size</li></ul>

ADVANCED: You'd also use an apostrophe in a contraction such as "You'd" to indicate an abbreviated verb; if that verb ends in <b>s</b> (is, has), it becomes <b>'s</b> as in<ul><li>contraction of <i>has</i><b> &nbsp; Bill's</b> been doubly blessed!</b></ul>

--Big Gus Dickus

I've read quite a few entries here and noticed two things. First, many articles have common mistakes in them (both incorrect word usage and grammar) or Americanisms treated as universal rules, which normally I am not all that pedantic about but when the articles are about grammar it looks amateurish. At the same time, you all appear to be simultaneously advocating an utterly rigid approach to grammar for fiction writers. Fiction should be allowed some flexibility lest creativity and individual style be unnecessarily stifled.

On another note, bless your socks but I think you should get out your dictionary and look up "thesaurus" so you know what it's actually for ;)

You all get marks for effort, but I don't think I'll bother here thank you.

I can see that you have no idea how to write! Everything you said is wrong! lol!

A couple of things you didn't mention. Watch out for "different to" when it should be "different from". "Off of" is a very common American turn of phrase but it's meaningless and the "to" is superfluous.A common English phrase is "them ones" instead of "those" so we have our foibles too (yes I'm English)Don't listen to people who tell you that spelling doesn't matter,it does,it sticks out like a sore thumb and interferes with the flow of the narrative.Readers can cope with the American spellings although they can never understand why anyone should mutilate a language as beautiful as Shakespear's english

Technically that's Einsteins definition of insanity, good luck though with helping writers

That shit drives me nuts. How does that make sense as the definition for insanity? If somebody kept doing the same thing, over and over again, getting the same, unwanted result, would you say, "Wow, he's insane," or would you say, "What a moron." Definition of stupidity, not insanity.

The best advice to becoming a better writer is write and learn what works best for you.

For Wm, you can stand down, or have you never heard authorities say, 'stand down.'

Stephen King says not to use a thesaurus, you say use one, who is write?

This is from 2002, but people should know its best to come up with your own checklist of what works for you. People can list a thousand rules, but I've read great books on both sides of the spectrum, and it's all in the way they are told.

I needed to read your guide

Thanks

Tony

When you Start a story; Finish a story. Incomplete stories frustrate those who would otherwise be fans.

Is any story ever finished?

It is the author who decides that they have said all they set out to do, then draw the line when any more would not progress story.

It is not down to self-important supercilious idiots such as yourself, who have contributed nothing to this site. Why do you think authors should waste their valuable time to service your own shortcomings.

Literotica authors are are writing self contained stories for their own amusement. They hope others will enjoy them or get useful information from them. They are not writing ongoing daily/weekly soaps. Do you write to magazines and newspapers and tell them their articals are unfinished?

If you don't like what is submitted, write and FINISH your own stories.

I realise that will never happen, as that requires imagination and you have already demonstrated yours is lacking. Or could it be your reading comprehension at fault

Maybe you should stick to Janet and John books ( Alice and Jerry US). They shouldn't tax your imagination too much.

If you can't be constructive put up or shut up.

***

Thanks for taking the trouble to write your guide WS, quite a few useful tips there.

I gave you 5*

Honestly, Grammarly/ProWritingAid/other free or paid proofreading tools help a LOT with some of the issues you described. I consider myself decently experienced at writing, yet I still often make mistakes that I overlook, even upon re-reading. These tools also help with better word choices and a bunch of other things. It's by no means perfect, and I do often "overrule" the decisions that these tools make, but they definitely speed up the editing process a ton. The spell checker in Microsoft Word is quite lacklustre in comparison.

This is just a good page on how to write stories in general, not focused on just sex things. Idk if i ever seen something like this being recommended in my wattpad, so this was very helpful