FlipMode 141 Posted December 23, 2011 Seen so many great plot ideas in this section that even have good spelling and grammar. But there is a problem I am seeing a lot, and that is in the formatting, and pace of the stories. I am not the greatest writer ever, and heck this thread will probably help me out once or twice too but I hope at least one person learns from it. Now, the first step toward writing a good fan fic is to break it into paragraphs. A big wall of text is downright scary, and will send viewers packing before they read anything! So, when should you start a new paragraph? Well, that part is up to you. But the basic rule is to start a new one each time you write about another aspect. My Example entered the room, it was massive and seemed to never end, in the middle stood a strange pod that he had never seen before, it looked like a closed flower that was ready to blossom. See, we have described the room to the reader, so we start a new line "Open!" He shouted, and the petals peeled themselves apart. Another way is to play the scene out as a movie in your head, and each time the "Camera" changes shots, you start a new line. And Remember, paragraphs are divided by not one, but two hits of enter, AKA - FULL LINE BREAK! One upon a time in Traverse Town, there lived a young boy who had blonde hair and blue eyes. His name was Roxas, and all his life all he dreamed of doing was reading some good and organised fan fictions. "Man, why does nobody ever format their stories?" He thought to himself as he scrolled through the big wall of intimidating black text. "Oh Roxas, it is such a shame isn't it?" Kairi said to him, leaning on his computer chair "All these fantastic stories let down by such a silly thing." She continued and sighed. "Yeah. Well then forget this," Roxas said as he reached for the power button, upon pushing it Windows 98 shut itself down. "Lets go outside and like, kill heartless and stuff!" He continued. ^ A wall of text. But separated and spaced it becomes - One upon a time in Traverse Town, there lived a young boy who had blonde hair and blue eyes. His name was Roxas, and all his life all he dreamed of doing was reading some good and organised fan fictions. "Man, why does nobody ever format their stories?" He thought to himself as he scrolled through the big wall of intimidating black text. "Oh Roxas, it is such a shame isn't it?" Kairi said to him, leaning on his computer chair "All these fantastic stories let down by such a silly thing." She continued and sighed. "Yeah. Well then forget this," Roxas said as he reached for the power button, upon pushing it Windows 98 shut itself down. "Lets go outside and like, kill heartless and stuff!" He continued. See, spacing! Now remember the rule, line break is two hits not one. "One upon a time in Traverse Town, there lived a young boy who had blonde hair and blue eyes. His name was Roxas, and all his life all he dreamed of doing was reading some good and organised fan fictions. "Man, why does nobody ever format their stories?" He thought to himself as he scrolled through the big wall of intimidating black text. "Oh Roxas, it is such a shame isn't it?" Kairi said to him, leaning on his computer chair. "All these fantastic stories let down by such a silly thing." She continued and sighed. "Yeah. Well then forget this," Roxas said as he reached for the power button, upon pushing it Windows 98 shut itself down. "Lets go outside and like, kill heartless and stuff!" He continued. A lot cleaner, no? So remember it is OKAY to have a line break after a short sentence such as "Hi." Said Roxas. Even if you spend an entire paragraph just describing what your character can see, hear, feel etc. The human mind responds better to more clean and organised paragraphs than lots and lots of text. This should also go double for your posts in general, not just in fan fics. 3 Godot, Always and Kinode reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kinode 3,056 Posted December 23, 2011 Bravo! Also grammar. 1 Always reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Always 309 Posted December 23, 2011 Wow, thank-you for making this thread!! Haha I hope a lot of people read this. Also, I've only been hitting "Enter" once for my paragraph breaks. I'll be better about that from now on. See? ^ I hit it twice this time! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
FlipMode 141 Posted December 23, 2011 Wow, thank-you for making this thread!! Haha I hope a lot of people read this. Also, I've only been hitting "Enter" once for my paragraph breaks. I'll be better about that from now on. See? ^ I hit it twice this time! Well yeah, because otherwise if you only push it once, you still just get one massive paragraph. Even an actual book is structured with line breaks. And never has multiple characters speaking in the same line, much less the same paragraph Regardless, it is nice to see people appreciated the post. And even more so to see someone actually picked up something from it! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
