The Unofficial Writer's Guide To Wattpad

Grammar and Spelling

I'll admit it: I'm terrible at grammar. I rely on spellcheck to catch most of my errors.

Here's the cold hard truth: at some point, we've all clicked away from a story because it had so. Many. Spelling. And. Grammar. Issues.

Unfortunately, spellcheck won't catch all of these. So here's my advice: download Grammarly. I use the free version, and although it doesn't cover everything, it covers the overwhelming majority of it. It also gives you clarity suggestions to help your stories be more fluent.

The reason grammar and spelling mistakes stand out so prominently is that we were raised being taught to use proper grammar and to spell words correctly. It's become our second nature to look for these errors.

Let's be honest: we can't catch everything. Even if you use Grammarly or another spellcheck, there will be some things that slip through its fingers. However, here are the most important points to get:

• Capitalization! although you can probably read this, i'm assuming your inner grammar teacher is yelling at me. Capitalization is something we were raised with, so it stands out to us prominently.

• Run-on sentences. A run-on sentence is when your sentence uses commas and coordinating conjunctions to connect its ideas. If you have a run-on sentence, you could probably use a period at points. However, there is one exception. If your character is very panicked or relieved, they will most likely speak in run-on sentences. Ex:

"Oh my gosh, you got lost, and then I thought you were dead, and then I tried to find you but I couldn't, and then this guy almost trampled me, and then I couldn't find the teacher, and what the heck, there's a payphone?!" This is a run-on sentence, but it is being used to convey the characters' emotions of panic into relief.

• Texting shorthand. although u can probably read this, it wud be easier if i'd written it w/ proper grammar. Using shorthand of any kind can make it difficult for your reader to understand the meaning of your story.

• Periods! I cannot tell you how many times I've seen an author forget to add a period. It's annoying and makes the story difficult to read. Don't do it.

• Sentance fragments. Only use these for a character's train of thought. It makes it difficult to track the storyline. 

• Inconstiencies in spelling a character's name. For example, if I'm writing about Billy, but I keep switching between Billy and Billie, it makes it difficult for you, the reader, to know if I'm talking about two different characters.