Writing Tips and Techniques (Writing Help)

Formatting Tips (Dialogue, Parenthesis, etc)

Okay. Almost every single Wattpad story I come across has terrible formatting. It's not your fault; it's just true. I'm not saying I'm perfect (I'm sure I have plenty grammar errors in here), but here's some advice for fixing formatting mistakes I see frequently.

First.... Indent!!! Few people indent when starting new paragraphs. Not only is it visually appealing, but it prevents everything from running into each other (Wattpad doesn't let you for some reason, so you're off the hook there). 

Second, start new paragraphs when transitioning to new ideas or places. Again, everything starts to run into each other when there are no breaks (it's also easier to lose your place when reading if everything is one big block). It just flows better.

I notice a lot of people aren't sure of how to put emphasis on words. I see a lot of people using boldface or capitalizing stressed words. While capitalizing can be used to emphasize, it's usually associated with shouting. Simply italicizing (slanting by highlighting and clicking the slanted I ) can do the trick. Bolding is never good in stories unless you're describing a sign over a door or something like that. (Above Hell's gate, Dante saw a sign with a foreboding message: Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here.)

Another thing I've seen a lot of is that a lot of people don't know how to do dialogue or speech between characters. First, always indent before writing a line of dialogue. Next, obviously, encase what the character says in quotation marks ( " ). When transitioning to the "he said/she said, " add commas before closing the sentence. Example:

      "Hello," John said.

  Also, punctuation (. ! , ? ) always goes inside the quotation marks. When writing a section of dialogue where the speaker continues a sentence even though you've already inserted the "he said/she said,"  place another comma and space behind the "said." Example:

        "Hello," John greeted, "what's up?"

Also, if you have a question mark or exclamation point, that replaces the comma. Don't put them next to each other ("wordswordswords?,"). Example:

        "Are you alright?" she asks.

However, you can place question marks and explanation points next to each other to add emphasis on questions. Example:

        "You left her alone?!" he exclaimed.

If you have ongoing dialogue between a set amount of characters, you can stop writing the "he said/she saids."If two people are talking back and forth, you assume the speakers because you already know who is in the conversation. Example:

        "What do you mean," Jen asked.

        "She said she's not coming," Carly replied.

        "But it's prom."

        "She doesn't want to come."

        "But she already bought her ticket."       

        "I'm just telling you what she said."

Once you establish who's speaking, it's assumed that the alternating speakers are the ones provided initially. It can be tedious to read "Jen said/Carly said" after every line.

You can have more than one paragraph in a set of dialogue. A lot of people don't realize this, but if your character is giving a monolog, they're not likely to get it done in one block of speech. However, when you end the first paragraph to go onto another, you don't close it with a quotation mark. Start the next paragraph with a quotation mark, and when that character's done speaking, close the speech with a quotation mark.

Example:

  "Speach speach random words as;lfhs dfhsdfknj sdhfkdsjhfdjskfhdskf hsdfasfsdfsdfdsfsdfsdfsdfsdfsdfsdfsdfs.

  "skjfnhdsflkhds vfshdfkds hfkdshfkdjshfks hsld h fdafhgvdfffhb b hjjjjjjjjgggggggggggggggggasfsdfds.

                 "askljd  hfffffff  ffffffff  ffffffffffffff  ffsdgs nfiahdsf hds."

        Another issue I see is that people don't know how to space parenthesis. It's word, space, parenthesis, whatever you put inside, parenthesis, then period. Example: words words (word). If the parenthesis are in the middle of the sentence, put the first parenthesis next to the word it applies to, then add a space on either side parenthesis. Parenthesis are grossed out by outside letters and don't want to touch them. They need their space. Example (example) example. But, if a set of paranthesis is outside of the sentence, the period goes inside. Blah, blah, words. (Blah, blah.)

        Quotes within quotes. A lot of people just use quotation marks twice. Not only does it look weird, it can be confusing to the reader. The way it's supposed to be formatted is, when you have quotes within quotes, use apostrophes. Example: 

        "He told me to 'look left,' whatever that's supposed to mean."

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       Those are all of the general formatting problems I can think of at the moment. If you come up with any other issues I should post, feel free to message/ comment and I'll answer it. Thanks for reading! I hope this helps!