Tips & Tricks to Writing on Wattpad

Grammar Mistakes that Drive Me Insane

GRAMMAR MISTAKES THAT DRIVE ME INSANE

1) The no punctuation in dialogue before the quotation mark.
Example: "Hey, what's up" I asked.

It just drives me insane when people don't but any form of punctuation (period, exclamation mark, question mark, comma [I don't know if you can call that punctuation, but oh well]) before they put in the last quotation mark/speech mark. Especially if it's a question. When I read it, I just feel like the character's talking in a monotone voice. And it makes me feel like the story's messy.

2) Not even putting in quotation marks
Example: Hey I said. Ohmigod he's so cute. What's your name?

Okay, I can't tell the different between what you said and what you thought. I don't even know if you said any of that or if you're just talking to yourself. Please put in quotation marks. This isn't something that happens throughout a book, usually, but I've seen it appear a lot in a lot of books.

3) The no space comma
Example: I walked through the door,up the stairs,into my room,to find Joe,my sweet,funny,hot,popular,smart neighbor lying on my soft,pink bedspread.

It gives me a headache when people don't put spaces after commas. Especially when they're describing something. It's all just a blob of words and commas.

3.5) The no space periods
Example: "Omg.He's so cute.His eyes are beautiful," Jane said.I nodded.She continued talking about Bobby.I turned to look out the window.

No.
Please.
Just add a space.
It's really not that hard.

3.Something) No spaces, period.
Example: -insert huge block of text that no one will want to read-

Let's go over spacing, 'kay?
When a new character is speaking, you put it on a new line.
When the description/interior monologue changes topic, you put it on a new line.
When you change PoVs, you should DOUBLE SPACE.
When you skip time, or change location, you should DOUBLE SPACE or put in something like '***'. [What I mean by this, is if your character's going to meet someone, but you're not going to show her driving/walking/whatever transportation there]
And a few other places where you can choose

But please, please, PLEASE, do not put no spaces at all. It's a complete turn off to click on a story, and just see a huge block of text.

4) The space before and/or after punctuation !
Example: " Boo ! " he yelled , making me jump .
I laughed , and hit him on the chest . " Don 't do that ! " I told him .

It looks weird.
And it bothers me massively because it's really, really not necessary.

5) Switching tenses
Example: "Hey!" They yelled. I walk towards them, and smiled. It drops when one of them shove me onto a locker.
"You're so stupid," they sneered. I cry.

It's just something I almost automatically notice. Usually it's not that bad. And I get it if it's a mess up before past, past (had started) and past (started) because that's a bit hard to choose, but when it's between past and present, it's really annoying. I read the story, mentally correcting all of them, then wonder at the end if I corrected it into the right tense. It makes me barely able to focus on the actual story.

6) lowercase names and no capitals at the beginning of a sentence
Example: "hey!" jane yelled as she looked for bobby. they were playing hide and seek in sherwood forest. bobby suddenly appeared from behind a tree and covered jane's eyes, making her scream.

Ow. My eyes. We learn to capitalize the first letter of a sentence and pro-nouns in elementary school. I know school can be boring, but please spare my eyes and apply the stuff you learned in third grade.

7) The Capital On Every Word When It's Completely And Utterly Unnecessary
Example: "Hey," I Said Walking Over To My Friends. They All Stood In A Circle Talking. They Greeted Me With A Smile And A Wave.
[I had to re-type most of that five tiems 'cause I kept forgetting to put in a capital.]

My question? What's the point? Emphasis? Try italics instead, please. Capitals On Every Word Just Get Annoying And Tiring To Read, It Also Makes Me Feel Like Pausing Before Every Word. It also looks kind of messy.

8) THE ALL CAPS DIALOGUE
Example: "OH MY GOD, JENNY, WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?"
"NOTHING, MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS JANE."

Okay, this isn't a grammar mistake, but it's annoying. If it's one word, or something like 'oh my god', fine, I get it, but it's just annoying when it's a whole sentence. Or more. Just use a exclamation mark and the speaker tag '___ yelled'. Putting it in caps doesn't really make it feel more intense/intimidating/whatever-mood-you're-going-for.

9) The excessive use of punctuation!!!!
Example: "Hey, wanna hang out?????" my BFF, Ashley asked.....
"Yeah sure!!!!!" I replied.

*throws self off cliff*
*comes back*
Excessive punctuation= not necessary. 
One is enough.
Having more makes me feel like someone has a keyboard problem. It's even worse when there's a 1 tacked on the end of a bunch of '!!!!!!'s.

10) Text talk
Example: OMG shes lyk so stupid. lyk, wuts wrong w/her? shes bn so mean, lyk, WTF, 2 mean. :(

You are writing a story. Not texting your friends.
Don't be lazy, and actually spell out a whole word.And don't even try to put in emoticon faces. THAT IS NOT WRITING.
Even when the person's texting, I would suggest not putting in too much text talk.
Not everyone will understand it.

To all of the above: I get typos and stuff, but when it appears a lot, then clearly, something's wrong.

There are more, but these, unfortunately are the ones I see the most. I'll add any ones that come to me later. Comment any that annoy you that I missed, or your opinion on those mistakes. A bit more on the rant side, sorry.

Next Tip: Characters

~JJ :)