Some general linguistic issues you should note while writing your story:
Punctuation
Depending on the sentence there must be a dot, an exclamation mark (!) or a quotation mark (?) at the end of a sentence. Each sentence contains one statement. Don’t put five or more main statements in one sentence as it makes it hard to understand for the reader. But if you do so, please use commas or/and conjunctions (‘and’, ‘or’, ‘but’, ‘when’, ‘as’, ‘for’, ‘because’, ‘after’, ‘if’, ‘not only… but also’, ‘either’, ‘neither….nor’, etc.) to join them.
(a) “I like not only horse riding, skiing and cycling, but also swimming and dancing.”
(b) “Get out or help me!”
(c) “Have you checked your emails and facebook-messages?”
Most of us aren’t friends with commas, but there are a few simple things to keep in mind concerning commas: They are used to join independent sentences (d), to separate items in a series (e) and so on, and (important for us!) must be used in a dialogue when addressing someone with his/her name (f).
(d) “I had enough money with me, but I didn’t buy it.”
(e) “She helped Shane, Mark, Nicky, Kian and Brian to eat all of the chocolate bars, ice-cream, bonbons and crisps.”
(f) “I’m in love with you, Shane.”
“Shane, I’m in love with you.”
“I’m in love with you, Shane, I’ve always been.”
The exact rules for direct speech vary greatly from language to language, but in all languages quotation marks have to be used.
Look at the sentences below for the right punctuation in direct speech used in the English language:
(g) “I’m in love with you,” Anna said.
(h) “What?” Kian asked surprised.
(i) “Don’t pretend you haven’t noticed!” she exclaimed.
(j) “Anna,” Kian said softly, “I had no idea.”
(k) Anna looked up and asked, “No idea? Really?”
Typos and other mistakes
Please check your story on typos and other mistakes. It’s practically impossible to write without making typos from time to time, but please look for them in your story after you’ve finished writing.
Some frequently found mistakes are for example:
where – were; you’re/they’re – your/their; though – thought; expecialy instead of especially, etc.
Tip: Use a spell checker when you’re writing your story; it underlines typos with a red line, grammar mistakes such as wrong tense of a verb, no correct sentence etc. with a green line.
Tenses
Please avoid switching tenses in your story. Most of the stories are told in past tense (said, gave; I was sleeping; She had told him) which should be used in your whole story. If you decide for present tense (says, does, playing) you should keep that through your whole story as well.
Tenses only can be switched if you give a retrospect or a forecast, and in direct speech, of course.
Narrator and POVs
Every story in prose has a narrator which can have a specific point of view. There is a first person narrator (l), a third person narrator (m) or an omniscient narrator (n).
Please don’t switch narrators in your story, but if you switch points of view/narrators, please do it in a way that your readers can follow the plot and understand what’s happening.
(l) This night I didn’t take much account of him, but when I did, I felt my chest burn. These were the moment,s which made me notice, that I wasn’t over him. Opposite to me, he seemed* to be fine. Every time I glanced into his direction I found him laughing or smiling, mostly to one of these beautiful women, who were around him all the time. I clenched my hand under the table, forcing myself to look away.
-->The first person narrator (FPN) has only the point of view of one person (the “I” in the story). The FPN tells the story through the eyes of “I” and knows only the things which “I” knows. Feelings or thoughts of other persons can only be assumed by “I” *.
(m) She peeked at him carefully out of the corner of her eyes, hoping* he would not notice. But not only a moment later he turned around, as if he had felt* that someone’s gaze was fixed on him. When he caught her staring at him, he furrowed one brow in question, giving her a little smile, as if to ask “What’s up?”.
-->The third person narrator (TPN) tells the story through the eyes of one person of the story (he/she); sometimes it can switch between more persons. The narrator knows only the things which he or she knows*. Feelings or thoughts of other persons can only be assumed by the narrator or the third person*.
(n) She peeked at him carefully out of the corner of her eyes, hoping* he would not notice. But not only a moment later he turned around, because he had felt* that someone’s gaze was fixed on him. When he caught her staring at him, he furrowed one brow in question, giving her a little smile, as if to ask “What’s up?”.
-->The omniscient narrator (ON) knows more than the characters in the story. He is above the events in the story and he can know the point of view, the feelings and thoughts of all characters*.
It is not that complicated as it might seem. The main issue is only, that you don’t switch POVs from one sentence to another, like this:
(o) Laura startled when she suddenly felt Nicky’s lips moving against hers. But it only took her one moment to kiss him back. I put my arms around him to pull him near and whimpered quietly when I felt him biting softly my lip. Laura opened her mouth and……
To discuss further writing-issues like creating a good plot or good characters, or to improve style, build and maintain tension and things like that, we have the forum. If you have questions, problems or some interesting and helpful things to share, don’t hesitate to start a new theme.
Now enjoy the writing and good luck!
