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More creative writing tips!

I’ve encountered a number of writers lately that have me read their work for constructive criticism, with the emphasis on ‘it’s just a rough draft’. I think what they mean is that they want feedback on the content, not so much on punctuation. As a reader though, sifting through poor grammar and fragmented sentences is straining. I can read a story and focus on the plot and characters, but errors can irk me to no end.

I also find from my own experience that it’s important to write properly at all times. Grammar is habit forming, so slacking with proper sentence structure is just as much a part of writing as editing later to improve it. The Internet doesn’t help with the phonic and abbreviated style that is too often accepted.

Grammar includes not just the proper punctuation, but good spelling as well. One person wrote “What do you think of my righting?” on Yahoo Answers, only to be blasted with answers for not recognizing it is ‘writing’ not ‘righting’. Her response was that she misspelled the word. No, that is not a misspelling. She spelled the word correctly but the use of the word was completely off base.

Trust me when I say that submitting writing for publication will get your work thrown out if you have mistakes like that. Editors are overworked, and underpaid for what they do, and correcting the manuscript for grammatical mistakes is not their job; that’s your job. It is assumed you are a writer. It is also assumed you have a basic grasp of the English language.

Take the next few days to make a concentrated effort with your writing…in all your writing. See what mistakes you make, and correct them. After a few days, compare to see if your writing hasn’t improved in the meantime.