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ExaggerationElimination took the time to make an absolutely wonderful audiobook out of Sapphyre Raven Beaauetiful Jackson. You can listen to it here.

~About~

I am a female under the age of twenty-five who enjoys reading, writing, and proper grammar. I have a large collection of useless skills such as stilting, unicycling, knitting, and cupcake decorating, and a smaller collection of useful skills (editing, graphic design, photography, childcare, piano/guitar). I spend an estimated 12 hours a day in school or studying. About half of the time remaining is devoted towards trying to make the Internet a slightly more intelligent place. (Unfortunately, it's a losing battle.)

Feel free to contact me through PM or e-mail. I only bite if you kant speel or UsE punCTua.s?hu!n or if you're an idiot. If the first case applies, your time may be better utilized in a remedial English class and/or reading the rest of this profile. If the second case applies, your time may be better utilized getting yourself some Common Sense and/or Life Experience.

Okay, g'bye now. On to the Grammar Guide.

Hey, guys, did you hear of this really neat invention called the "Shift" key? It's used to make capital letters. You can find it at the bottom of your keyboard on the far left and the far right. Cool, isn't it? :D I'd like to take a minute to refresh your memory of basic grammatical skills.

A brief refresher on capitalizations:

-The first word in a sentence is always capitalized.

Good: The sheep are tired.

Bad!!: the sheep are tired.

-The pronoun "I" is always capitalized.

Good: My name is Sheva and I am a girl.

Bad!!: My name is Sheva and i am a girl.

-Proper nouns (i.e., names of places or people) are always capitalized. (Thanks to SilverCyanide for the correction.)

Good: Did you know that Arkansas is a state? My friend Mary lives in Arkansas.

Bad!!: Did you know that arkansas is a state? My friend mary lives in arkasas.

-Anything that is not the first word in a sentence/a proper noun should not be capitalized. (Thanks to The Seventh Horcrux for suggesting this one!)

Good: Anna sat down with her friends, though her mind wasn't on their conversation.

Bad: Anna saT doWn WitH hER Firends, Though Her Mind wasn't on TheIr ConvErsatiOn.

Now that we've covered the "Shift" key, let's move on to the punctuation marks! The ones we'll be covering are called the "comma", the "period", the "question mark", the "apostrophe" and the "exclamation point".

The Comma:

-This is a comma: ,

-You can find the comma key on the bottom right of your keyboard.

-Commas insert sort of a stop in your sentence. They separate things.

-Items in a list are always followed by commas.

Good: I bought milk, eggs, and ham.

Bad!!: I bought milk eggs and ham.

-Other examples of usage would be:

Good: I found my hat, which had been missing for ages.

Bad!!: I found my hat which had been missing for ages. (Well...that's not such a great example, but whatever...)

Good: "Hey, did you hear? I'm moving to Canada!"

Bad!!: "Hey did you hear? I'm moving to Canada!"

The Period:

-This is a period: .

-Periods go at the end of sentences. That's right, THE END. If it doesn't need a question mark or an exclamation point, it will use a period.

-I don't think I need to give you examples, there are enough of them already. _~

The Question Mark:

-This is a question mark: ?

-It is used at the end of the sentence to indicate a QUESTION. (Wow, who'd have thunk it? O_O I mean, it's not at all obvious from the name.)

The Apostrophe:

-This is an apostrophe: ' (Not to be confused with quotation marks " or commas ,.)

-Apostrophes are used to indicate possession of something.

This is the singular usage:

Good: The boy's horse. (aka the horse belonging to the boy)

Bad!!: The boys horse.

This is the plural usage:

Good: The boys' horse. (aka the horse belonging to the boys)

Bad!!: The boys horse.

-Apostrophes are also used for compound words such as "it's" (it is), "she's" (she is), and so on and so forth.

The Exclamation Point:

-This is an exclamation point: !

-Exclamation points are used at the end of sentences to indicate a stronger emotion than a period/comma would convey--for example, excitement.

-All dialogue is put in quotation marks.

Good: "Hi there," I said. "What are you doing here?"

Bad!!: Hi there, I said. What are you doing here?

-As you might have noticed, in the second example it's extremely difficult to tell what the character is saying, and what he or she is thinking. That's why we use these guys. (")

-If the sentence would normally end with a period, and it's something the character is saying, it will end with a comma. For example, the sentence, "Okay, then." would use a period if it was being written normally. But if you're having your character say that to someone else, a comma would be used at the end instead.

Good: "Okay, then," she said.

Bad!!: "Okay, then." she said.

Bad!!: "Okay, then" she said.

-The word after the final quotation mark (i.e. the word after the character finishes speaking) is NOT capitalized.

Good: "What's up?" the girl asked.

Bad!!: "What's up?" The girl asked.

However, if you're writing a story or something and the dialogue goes like this:

"Okay, then." He glanced over at me, gauging my reaction.

then it IS capitalized because it's a new sentence.

Titles and Summaries:

Let's start at the very beginning of a fanfiction-with it's title and summary.

Things to do/acceptable use of a title:

-Use correct spelling, grammar, capitalization, and punctuation.

-Pick the most important part of the story and whittle it down to title format.

-Pick something that has a clear connection to the story.

-Pick an original title that HASN'T been used thousands of times before. If you look up your title in the search engine there shouldn't be twenty something pages of fics.

Things NOT to do in a title:

-Title the fic something like, "Title suggestions, anyone?" or "Can't think of a title".

-Misspell words, poorly punctuate it, or improperly capitalize it. (More on this later.)

-Use the title of one of the books. There are so many "The Last Olympian" fanfictions out there it's impossible to distinguish them from one another.

Things to do/acceptable use of a summary:

-Use correct spelling, grammar, capitalization, and punctuation. It’s a proven fact that fics with neatly written summaries get more reviews than ones with summaries like “persy and annybeth go 2 camp”.

-TELL ABOUT THE ACTUAL STORY, FOR GOD’S SAKE! Summaries are meant to be just that-a summary of the story so that the reader can tell what the fic’s going to be about without having to look inside.

-Make it interesting. Spend a little bit of extra time working on getting that perfect wording down. After all, summaries can mean the difference between life or death. (That is to say, having someone read your story or pass it by.)

-It’s permissible to put in things such as, “Completed” or “On Hiatus”.

-It’s also permissible to discreetly remind the reader to review. For example, “R&R, please” or even just “R&R”.

Things NOT to do in a summary:

-Write in chatspeak. One of the biggest turnoffs for a story is if the summaries is, “OMG DIS IS MY FIRST FANFIC so yah no flams plz tx u”

-Say “No flames!” or “Don’t flame me!”. It’s like holding up a neon sign that says, “FLAME THIS AUTHOR”. Trust me, it will backfire every time.

-Put in “This is my first fanfic.”. We don’t care if it’s your first fanfic or your hundredth; you’ll be judged the same way regardless of whether you’re a newbie or not.

-Say, “REVIEW OR I WILL KILL MYSELF!!” or some such nonsense/threat. That’s not going to make people want to review...

-Say, “I’m not very good at summaries, just read it”. If I got a penny for every author that said that I would be a rich, rich person indeed. If you’re not good at summaries, spend some extra time working on it. Ask for someone’s help, but please don’t just put up some half-assed sentence.

-Write something like, “PERCABETH PERCABETH PERCABETH PERCABETH!!” Telling us what the shipping is once. We don’t need to be bashed over the head with it.

-Type in all caps. Did you know that typing in all caps takes 30 percent longer to read? No, I did not make that up...

Tips For Writing a Good OC Story:

Below is a list of common mistakes as well as some advice for first time writers.

a) Either get a beta-reader or thoroughly proofread your work. One of the main deterrents in a story is if it's horribly spelled, punctuated, capitalized, etcetera.

b) Do NOT use the same plot as one/all of the PJO books. What this means is don't have your character claimed right at the end of a game of Capture the Flag, or find out they're a demigod when big, mean bullies that are actually monsters try to kill them during a dodgeball game. Oh, and I almost forgot: please refrain from having your OC's teacher turn into a monster. It's incredibly overused.

c) There are a lot of stories about the daughter/son of Artemis OR one of the Big Three OR some new/obscure/different religion (think Egyptian and Amazonian) god/goddess, and it's just getting boring. You might think you're being original (oh, look! She's the daughter of a Norse god!) but...

That's not to say there aren't some well written stories about any of the above. (The authors Zoe Nightshade and Thai M. Zoofquesque come to mind.) But if you're a first time, inexperienced author, I really wouldn't try it.

d) This is the most important one of all. Don't make your OC a Mary Sue or Gary Stu who has "great, new powers and is destined to save the world" yadda yadda yadda...

Seriously. Every good character has flaws. Nobody is an awesome fighter and really powerful, with lots of friends, and a great and terrible destiny.

e) Please. No self-inserts. Just...no.

f) Do NOT start with "Hi, my name is...". That is the number one most cliched way to start an OC story. Seriously, don't do it. (Credit to Zoe Nightshade for suggesting I add this one.)