Writing Guide // yventualip

the technical side of things

(I'm writing this to procrastinate on the fact that I'm behind on Heart Beating For You)

I'm a picky person, but I think this just makes writing nicer and I'm sure most people agree. Here are some general rules for your actual writing:

1. Keep it in the same tense.
The only ones I usually see are past and present tense, I know there are more specific subcategories, but I think generally you can understand how this works.
Past tense: It happened (Heejin smiled and took her hand)
Present tense: It's happening (Hyunjin blushes and avoids Heejin's eyes, acting very interested in the movie instead)

2. Capitalization
You need to capitalize names, places, and the beginning of sentences. I become disinterested in a piece of writing that's not properly formatted.

3. On the topic of format, PLEASE use paragraphs and proper dialogue tags.
When a new idea or character is introduced (or there is a natural change in whatever's happening), make a new paragraph. It makes writing less intimidating to read and easier on the eye. What's most likable when reading is to have varied paragraph lengths when writing. This can also convey the tone.

Example 1:

When Jungeun awoke, she was alone. She should be used to it by now, waking up alone. She did it for years before she met Jinsoul, and she'd been doing it every night since they broke off the arrangement. Still, it's a little disheartening. Jungeun opened her eyes just to close them again. Every time she does that, though, she sees her dad. Numbness spread across her body and there was a tight feeling in her chest. She wanted to sleep again, to forget everything, but mostly that the only person she wanted to see right now had left. Then, she heard something rustle on the floor and a soft groan. Jinsoul. Jungeun hesitantly looked over the side of the bed and saw Jinsoul splayed out in an awkward position that was definitely going to hurt her neck. Her clothes from last night were still on and she was just far enough away from Jungeun that they couldn't touch. She was pretty, even like this. Her eyebrows were furrowed so cutely, the gentle slope of her nose and the softness of her lips. Jungeun could stare at her forever. But she was cold and lonely.

"Jinsoul," Jungeun's voice was barely over a whisper, but Jinsoul's eyes flitted open in only a moment.

"Hi,"

"You stayed,"
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A little much, I know. Some people may just skip over the large paragraphs entirely, which you definitely don't want. This is better>

EXAMPLE 2:
When Jungeun awoke, she was alone.

She should be used to it by now, waking up alone. She did it for years before she met Jinsoul, and she'd been doing it every night since they broke off the arrangement. Still, it's a little disheartening. Jungeun opened her eyes just to close them again.

Every time she did that, though, she saw her dad. Numbness spread across her body and there was a tight feeling in her chest. She wanted to sleep again, to forget everything, but mostly that the only person she wanted to see right now had left.

She heard something rustle on the floor and a soft groan.

Jinsoul.

Jungeun hesitantly looked over the side of the bed and saw Jinsoul splayed out in an awkward position that was definitely going to hurt her neck. Her clothes from last night were still on and she was just far enough away from Jungeun that they couldn't touch.

She was pretty, even like this. Her eyebrows were furrowed so cutely, the gentle slope of her nose and the softness of her lips. Jungeun could stare at her forever. But she was cold and lonely.

"Jinsoul," Jungeun's voice was barely over a whisper, but Jinsoul's eyes flitted open in only a moment.

"Hi,"

"You stayed,"
-
^ what's important is emphasized, the break in Jungeun's thoughts, and each new idea having its own section. It's part of an unedited scene I wrote before the actual book, but I think it's getting the point across even if it's not perfect. Doesn't it look nicer than example 1?

My personal pet peeve is weird dialogue formatting. You can technically have two people speaking in one paragraph, but it can get confusing really fast. While it may not seem confusing to you, it may be confusing to the reader. Especially if both characters are female and use she/her pronouns (why would u let a man be speaking anyway?)

4. ""
Dialogue needs quotations, please don't italicize when in place of it. I don't know why people don't, maybe it feels like a hassle, but it makes everything cleaner and more readable. If you're confused, this is how dialogue is written.

"You're an idiot," Sooyoung said.
Statement, uses an apostrophe, dialogue tag at the end.

Sooyoung thought for a moment and then her eyes lit up with an answer. "You're an idiot?"
Question/exclamation, beginning dialogue tag.

"You're an idiot," Sooyoung crossed her arms, glaring down at Jinsoul. "You know that, right?"
Mid dialogue tag, doesn't need a dash because it's two separate statements.

"You-" Sooyoung grabbed her by the front of her shirt. "Are an idiot,"
Uses a dash because the action is between the same statement.

That's all I can think of to say about dialogue, but let me know if there are any other questions.

5. Use italicization when it really matters.
For example, it was not needed in the previous sentence. Italicization should be used to either change the meaning of the sentence, or put emphasis on the importance of a word. The second should only be used sparingly.

I also use italics for writing inner dialogue, which by the way does not need (and in my opinion shouldn't use) quotation marks. However, I do think it's good to make inner dialogue it's own paragraph. If your character is having inner dialogue, it should be important, and therefore it only makes sense for it to have its own paragraph. For me, the only exception is when it's just a little exclamation inside the characters head, like oh fuck.

The only other ways I have used italicization is when someone the phone, then the person on the phone is italicized to avoid confusion. I used it when Vivi was speaking Mandarin in I Want To Be Yours, but it's pretty much not used other than that. Of course, you can replace this with bold or underlined as well, up to you!

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Writing in your own style can take time, there isn't one right way to make your writing enjoyable. If you're the kind of person who can, writing out your thoughts and then going back and editing them is always better than stressing about it being perfect. When I write I go more slowly, correcting myself as needed and then re reading it about 4 more times, if I had to estimate. I run my work through grammarly, and sometimes it's also helpful to have a beta reader.

BETA READER

A beta reader is basically another set of eyes to look over your work and give you more human feedback than simply grammar and spelling. Beta readers are helpful when you feel that your story needs something more or falls flat. I usually meet beta readers by posting an announcement on my message board, so that's what I'd recommend doing!