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Writing Tips

Punctuating Dialogue

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➸ “This is a sentence.”

➸ “This is a sentence with a dialogue tag at the end,” she said.

➸ “This,” he said, “is a sentence split by a dialogue tag.”

➸ “This is a sentence,” she said. “This is a new sentence. New sentences are capitalized.”

➸ “This is a sentence followed by an action.” He stood. “They are separate sentences because he did not speak by standing.”

➸ She said, “Use a comma to introduce dialogue. The quote is capitalized when the dialogue tag is at the beginning.”

➸ “Use a comma when a dialogue tag follows a quote,” he said.

“Unless there is a question mark?” she asked.

“Or an exclamation point!” he answered. “The dialogue tag still remains uncapitalized because it’s not truly the end of the sentence.”

➸ “Periods and commas should be inside closing quotations.”

➸ “Hey!” she shouted, “Sometimes exclamation points are inside quotations.”

However, if it’s not dialogue exclamation points can also be “outside”!

➸ “Does this apply to question marks too?” he asked.

If it’s not dialogue, can question marks be “outside”? (Yes, they can.)

➸ “This applies to dashes too. Inside quotations dashes typically express—“

“Interruption” — but there are situations dashes may be outside.

➸ “You’ll notice that exclamation marks, question marks, and dashes do not have a comma after them. Ellipses don’t have a comma after them either…” she said.

➸ “My teacher said, ‘Use single quotation marks when quoting within dialogue.’”

➸ “Use paragraph breaks to indicate a new speaker,” he said.

“The readers will know it’s someone else speaking.”

➸ “If it’s the same speaker but different paragraph, keep the closing quotation off.

“This shows it’s the same character continuing to speak.”

Start Reviewing Stories

More general advice this time. Writers, don’t forget that when you read other people’s work on Tumblr or Archive of Our Own or Fanfiction.net that you aren’t just another reader. You can help other writers, give advice, or even just general encouragement.

Remember that you want people to comment on your own work as well, this means you have to practice what you preach. I get so frustrated when I read comments on Fanfiction.net or Archive of Our Own (not for my own work, but yeah that gets frustrating as well) and there are just favorites or “Nice work” “I loved it” “Please continue”. This is like giving a quarter to a homeless person or a charity.

You might be giving, and over time it all will accumulate, but it doesn’t do much for the writer. Spend time on your replies and quit simply adding a story to your watches or favorites. Tell the author what you like, tell them what they did wrong (politely of course), tell you found that scene hilarious and it was a nice comedy break in the story, but say something!

If you don’t start doing it then no one else will either. As a community of writers, we can help each other stay optimistic and help each other grow. But we have to stop being passive observers and readers.

This is an appreciation post for the fanfic authors who aren’t included on rec lists

For the fanfic authors who don’t get art of their fics

For the fanfic authors who can’t get to 1000/500/100 hits

For the fanfic authors who don’t get comments/reviews

For the fanfic authors who write for small fandoms

For the fanfic authors who write rarepairs or gen fics

For the fanfic authors who get hate for the ships/characters/fandoms they write

For the fanfic authors who write in English despite it not being their first language

For the fanfic authors who don’t write in English

For the fanfic authors who don’t think anyone reads or likes their work

For the fanfic authors who aren’t big name fans

For the fanfic authors who don’t get requests in their inboxes

For the fanfic authors who can’t write stories that are more than a thousand words

For the fanfic authors who only write one ship

For the fanfic authors who are just starting

For the fanfic authors who have been writing fic for years

For the fanfic authors who use fanfic to practice writing

For the fanfic authors who write self-insert fics

For the fanfic authors who write about their OCs

For the fanfic authors who write to vent or cope

For the fanfic authors who are just waiting for their big break

Keep creating, I love you ❤️

Any tips or resources on writing a hitman? I feel lost when I try to search for them by myself.

There are a lot of resources out there.

On Assassin Characters

Resources: Assassins

Assassins and Assassinations 

Clevergirlhelp’s answer

Reference for Writers’ On Assassins

Thewritershelpers’ information on hitman

The life of a hitman

How does one become a hitman if you will?

Interview with a hitman

How to write compelling characters (focus on assassins)

Psychology of Killing

How soldiers deal with the job of killing

The impact of killing

25 methods of killing with your bare hands

Firearms

Gun terms for writers

Getting a handle on guns

Hiding dead bodies

Hope that helps!

never forget your roots

fanfiction.net before they removed the NC-17 stories

going to fanfiction.net at all

going to adultfanfiction.net in the fallout of the great “purge”

figuring out that ain’t nobody actually monitoring NC-17 stories there anyway so just rate it “M”

“please R&R! concrit appreciated!”

warning: lemon

though it may be more on the limey side of lemon

“summary sux just read it”

replying to reviews in the author’s notes

author’s notes in which the characters talk to each other and the author

“Boring when you aren’t around,” he said with a grin. Finishing up his own food and standing, holding out a hand to her. “Indulge me for a second.”

Sadira stared at them in a silent awe, they were gorgeous. It was nearly impossible to pick which one was better. She looked up at him, and smirked. “I could always model them, and you can decide which one looks good enough to deign the Tuuli Thea’s neck.” She pulled out her hair, as her sister often wore it down, and put on rose gold necklace.

She pushed her hair out of the way and made sure it rested on the hollow of her throat before turning to him. “Well?”

Kiesha’Ra RP- Private pt. 8

Araie turned and smiled at her, happy to see she was till alive and that her brother hadn’t chased her off. “Thank you for letting me borrow Aiden, he was a great guide through the Keep.”

Ulyesses scowled and looked away. That large eye sore of a building? 

Mara finished with with Ulyesses’s burn and turned back to her guests. “So, about that tea.”

A month had passed since Sadira had come to the Opries home and Araie had spent most of her nights with Aiden, dancing, laughing, and his attempts at formal courting made her only fall deeper and deeper in love with him.

Ulyesses had avoided leaving his shop the entire month, not even to venture to the nest to seek comfort from one of the dancers there. There was a banquet soon for the celebration of the new royal baby. Though not yet born, serpiente usually held a banquet in celebration of a new family member. Ulyesses did not know what to give his friend.

“Araie…I need you to tell Sadira that I…damn it, need her help with something. Make it quick.” He shooed his sister out of the stall.

i just found this website that can randomly generate a continent for you!! this is great for fantasy writers

plus, you can look at it in 3d!

theres a lot of viewing options and other things! theres an option on-site to take a screenshot, so you don’t have to have a program for that!

you can view it here!

I'm not even slightly sorry.

Any form of response is great feedback. Writing takes time, dedication, some tears, lots of frustration, research, but mostly passion. We write because it's what we love and it can take years to even finish one piece. It's a part of us that we lay bare for thousands of people to read.

If you like something, tell the author; anonymously or not. You really might just be making someone's day, or month. Writers feed off comments for years.

So, take time to tell a writer if they wrote something that impressed you. If something made you laugh or cry. If you remember even one line. I promise you'll make them smile and help encourage them.

okay just got done typing up a Long Ass Comment for a fic that i love and bc writers Live™ for comments but a lot of ppl seem to find it difficult/scary to write them, here are some tips from me, who has been on both sides of the fence:

we will nut over literally any context for how u read our fics, nothing is too specific or embarrassing

i once received a long ass essay about the exact circumstances under which someone read the new chapter including action and dialogue and i still treasure that comment to this day

if u read the fic a few days ago and are still thinking about it, open that bitch up and tell the author “i read this fic a few days ago and i’m still thinking about it”

THAT SHIT KILLS US I SWEAR

do not worry about being annoying!!!!! oh my god i can’t overstate this enough you are NEVER being annoying by leaving comments. examples of situations in which comments are Not Annoying:

commenting on every chapter

this is honestly our fav thing, those regular commenters are the real MVPs and i’d die for them. it doesn’t seem thirsty or obnoxious to us it’s our lifeblood i pr omi s e u

also this is guaranteed the #1 best way to get senpai to notice u, if that’s what ur after

adding an extra comment w a thought/detail u missed

adding an extra comment w a thought/detail u remembered from 4 chapters ago

commenting during a reread (this is only ever flattering!!!)

commenting an 800-word essay that takes several solid minutes to read

this seriously never comes across as irritating, time-consuming, or trying too hard; the author is the one who wrote thousands upon thousands of words in the first place and we eat that shit up

(ok i lied, there is one exception to this. the one thing that is annoying is demanding updates, especially if u do it on the same day as an update was published. this makes us sad, avoid this :c)

but aside from that: comments, great, always!!!

acknowledge how hard writers work. every time someone tips their hat to me for the effort i put in, it’s like the 12 hour binges, inability to think about anything else even while sleeping, longggg inspiration walks, and constant self doubt become worth it!!!!

let us know u talk about our fics w ur friends…. this is like, the ultimate compliment……… i’m still lowkey waiting for the day someone pastes an excerpt from a chat log they’ve had about one of my fics because i Know it has happened and i wanna see it……………i wanna know what has been yelled……………..

just say thank u!!! a simple thank you means so much more bc it shows us we have actual readers and not just numbers on a screen sfjdgslksg

dragontameroutofcharacter, saw this today and immediately thought of you. Though much cuter in person.