How to Become a Better Writer: A Wattpad Guide

TIP #4: Using Proper Grammar

Hey, guys, young and older (LOL), the grammar and its rules exist for a reason—so that we might use them. There's nothing worse than going into a story with the hope of finding a gem only to have those hopes dashed because you can't get past the disregard (it would seem blatant) for using proper punctuation, sentence structure, word usage, and the like. 

I realize that:

1) There are lots of rules and exceptions in grammar. I can neither refute this little fact, nor can I take credit for having created said language. Moving along. 

2) Homophones are the devil!—those tricky little words that sound alike, but are spelled differently and have different meaning and, therefore, screw up your sentence if used incorrectly.

3) In the rush to get your story put up on Wattpad, you either disregard punctuation, or you don't bother because you just don't know how to punctuate properly.

4) You're confused by some contractions and possessive pronouns (showing ownership), especially in cases where you must use: its and it's. Okay, so I will help you out here, so listen—uh, I mean read—very closely. 

- Use its as a possessive pronoun that is gender neutral: The dog wagged its tail. Its is used to describe something that is connected to an animal or an inanimate object. In this case, its is a possessive pronoun for dog. 

- Use it's as a contraction of the words "it is": It's raining out or It is raining out. This is the only use for this. So, to write: 

The dog wagged it's tail.

Is actually conveying to a reader: 

The dog wagged it is tail. Now does that make sense to you? Thought not!

5) You can't bother with any of this confusing stuff because you're just having fun and this is not real and you only care about creating the next best fan fiction and it doesn't have to be great because only teens read your stuff, and other teens don't really care about stuff like grammar.  

If this is you, then why are you reading this guide? Get out of here, will ya? 

Look, I realize that Wattpad is a cool and groovy place, but I'm hoping that there are those out there who really want to sharpen their writing skills because they truly want to become better writers. Grammar is key to this, and the internet has amassed a collection of web sites about proper grammar usage and sentence structuring and paragraph development. Take the time to learn a little bit of that stuff that you ignored during English class, or have forgotten. 

[NEED HELP?]

Need specific grammar help? Shoot me a comment. Will try to assist you as best as I can.

Please, for the love of gawd, don't ask me to read your entire story or help you write it. Honestly, peeps, I just don't have the time. If you are unsure about particular word usage or punctuation or the structure of one of your sentences, then I can help you.