Author has written 62 stories for Supernatural, Stargate: SG-1, Numb3rs, Simon and Simon, Emergency, NCIS, and Hawaii Five-0. I wrote lots in SG-1 fandom (under a different nom de plume and not here on ), and now I've become a bit inspired to write for Supernatural and Emergency!. Other things you don't need to know but that I'm going to share: I try really hard to avoid common grammatical blunders and if anyone spots anything truly horrendous I would definitely appreciate a note. Plot is (usually) important, so I try to have that as well. I will not ever beg for reviews. I adore them, but whether or not you give them is up to you and not because I've blackmailed them out of anyone. Just a few of my many grammar, uhm, hints: 1) Winchester's is not plural, it's possessive and shouldn't be used unless you're talking about a singular Winchester's car or something. The family together are the Winchesters. No apostrophe. This applies to other family names as well. Kthanxbye. 2) Bemuse and amuse do not have the same definition. Neither do definitely and defiantly, by the way. Don't let spellchecker be your final editor. It often gives inaccurate information. 3) It's not should have went. It's should have gone. This is nothing new. I don't know how this was missed by SO many friggin' people, but please spread the word. 4) Sink, sank, sunk. Drink, drank, drunk. Run, ran, run. Etc. 5) For the fifty thousandth time, I assure you intact is one word. Keep it intact. 6) It's not should of, would of, could of. I know it sounds like it due to lazy speech. It's actually should have, would have, could have. The former, you see, makes no sense while the latter makes perfect sense. 7) When you're trying to imply the backup/troops have arrived, you mean cavalry, not Calvary. Letter order isn't arbitrary. 8) Punctuation is important. I suggest you learn how to use it. No, I don't care if you're just writing for fun. Lack of punctuation makes you look silly, and that can't be much fun unless you're a clown or comedian. 9) Isn't it easier to say why rather than how come? (Okay, this one's personal. I have a deep-rooted hatred for how come.) 10) Your/you're. Simply, if you intend to say you are, then you should use you're. It's a contraction. All you have to do here is think for a fraction of a second. Brain farts happen, of course. This is why we edit. 11) Other than annoying a reader or 200, exclamation points don't actually add much to a story. If you write properly, you shouldn't need to use these in every sentence! Trust me!! wink 12) Less and fewer are not interchangeable. Please look into this. Helpful hint: the express lane at every grocery store I've ever been in has this WRONG. 13) It's/its. In this case, its is possessive and it's is the contraction of it is or it has. If you intend to say it has or it is, use it's. If not, skip the apostrophe. Simple. Yeah, so I'm a harpy. I really am, though I could honestly go on for a LOT longer. I understand that mistakes and typos are impossible to avoid 100 percent of the time. Avoidable, repeated mistakes are what make me cringe. Most of the above wank stems from the idea that, for me, at least half of the fun with writing is learning how to do it better. I loved (and was embarrassed) when I learned I mangled a common turn of phrase my WHOLE life, thanks to someone kindly pointing out the error of my ways. If any writers happen across my bio, I recommend this website: http:///~brians/errors/errors.html#errors. It goes over a multitude of easily correctable grammar errors, as well as plain ol' cliché mangling. |
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