Writing Guide

Writing style

Now, let's talk about the writing style.

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An author's writing style is really important because, if you can't stand the way someone write, then you won't read their story. However, it is something that will improve naturally with time and experience. I can give you some advices, but you will have to find what corresponds you the best on your own. 

So, to begin with, you need to chose in which POV you want to write your story. I personally wrote my first story in 1st person POV, then switched to 3rd person POV for my other stories.

1st person POV is great to describe your character's feelings and thoughts. I would say it's easier to use because you can describe things more naturally, like you would do in your every day life. However, unless you change POVs, you won't be able to describe things from another person's POV. 

That's why I prefer using 3rd person POV. It can seem harder at first because you constantly need to mention whose actions or thoughts you are talking about but, in the end, it is more efficient. You can describe anything you want from anyone's POV without having to change POVs.

If you decide to use 1st person POV, like a lot of people do on wattpad, please, do not change POVs every two paragraphs. It ruins the flow of your story. If you want to use another character's POV, I would suggest doing the change at the start of a new chapter. I personally don't like change of POV in the middle of a chapter. 

Of course, you're free to do whatever you want. I'm just giving you advices based on my own opinion. 

Same thing for times skip. I personally don't like when people write '1 hour later' in the middle of a chapter. If you have a time skip, just announces it naturally in a sentence: 'the drive lasted one hour'. 

If you have an important time skip, at least one day, wait for the start of a new chapter to announce it. For instance: 'two weeks had passed since the last time they had seen each other'. Also, do not overuse time skips. It's better if your story follows a small timeline. It makes things more fluid. 

Next, after choosing your POV, you need to decide which time you will be using. I used the present for my first story and would say it's easier. The only thing you need to be careful with is to not forget the 's' after the third person singular. 

I'm now using the past time for my current stories. It's a little harder because you sometimes make mistake with the preterit, but I think using the past time looks more professional. Anyway, when you're reading a story, you often stop paying attention to the time so you can do whatever you prefer, it won't change a lot of things.

Now, something that is really important but that some people forget is the punctuation. Do not forget the capital at the beginning of a sentence nor the point at the end! It's simple but it can change everything. Do not hesitate to use commas either. If one of your sentence is too long, using commas can make it better. 

Concerning the paragraphs, I personally dislike when they are too long. My paragraphs usually never exceed five or six lines. Moreover, if something really important is happening or being said in your story, you can use a one-line paragraph to have more impact on your reader.

Finally, I can't really tell you how to write or how to form a sentence, but I can show you different ways to do so. For instance, 'he smiled and told him it was okay' can be written: 

'He smiled as he told him it was okay', or 'smiling, he told him it was okay', or 'he smiled, then told him it was okay', or 'he smiled, telling him it was okay', or 'he smiled while telling him it was okay'...

Try to vary the way you form your sentences. Using adverbs is also a great way to make your sentences less simple: 'He smiled softly, almost sadly, then told him it was okay'. I personally love to use adverbs and adjectives whenever I can, but still be careful not to overuse them. 

I know some people think that the more complicated your sentence is, the better it is, but that's not true. At least, I don't think so. If your sentence is too long or too complicated, your readers will find it tiring and annoying. They will quickly lose their concentration and may even stop reading your story. 

People are often reading a story to have a good time, so the most important is to have a fluid writing style. Remember that!

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I hope this helped you a little. As always, don't hesitate to ask if you have any question.

See you in the next part ;)