Paragraphs

Being a Better Writer: Checklisting

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Hey readers! Welcome back to another installment of Being a Better Writer. Not only that, but it’s a normal installment! That’s right, the Summer of Cliche Writing Advice is over and done!

It was a huge hit too, especially with some of the more common sayings. However, just because it’s over doesn’t mean that if you missed it all is lost. Just check out the tag ‘Summer of writing advice” to locate the whole set once more if you’re looking for them.

So, we’re back to regular Being a Better Writer posts, which means we’re back to discussing the topic of writing and all the various aspects of it we can improve at. So, for today? I’ve got an interesting topic for all you readers and writers out there. Readers, I’m sure, have noticed it, as I myself have found it on display in more than one book. And writers? Well, let’s just say this is a common error that anyone can slip into. Even with Jungle I’ve found this issue cropping up more than once and had to make some edits. Today’s trap is something all writers, novice and experienced, can fall into.

Today, I’m talking about checklisting.

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Being a Better Writer: Creating a Paragraph

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Welcome back readers! And welcome to the year 2019! Which, as we all know, is either infested with replicants or about to become the battleground once again between that blue robot known as Megaman and his nemisis, Dr. Wily.

Huh, now that I think about it, a lot of fictional movies, games, and books with robots took place in the “20XX” date arrangement. Granted, Megaman at least has some leeway with a few of their titles because “20XX” is nebulous enough to be “2047” but Blade Runner on the other hand …

Then again, mad replicants could explain a lot of our politics and news commentators.

But enough about politics, it’s 2019, and my holiday break is over. Which means that it’s time to once again resume posting Being a Better Writer! A day late, but let’s face it, thanks to my constantly chaotic shift schedule, BaBW is practically a Monday-or-occasional-Tuesday feature rather than straight Monday anymore. But that aside, what’s today’s topic?

Paragraphs.

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Being a Better Writer: Sentence Construction and “Run-ons”

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Sentence construction is one of those touchy things with a lot of novice writers. Personally, I blame the education system for not doing an adequate job explaining things, but the truth of the matter is that there are a lot of young writers out there (or worse, novice critics) who pass judgement on their own or others work without knowing much about what they’re actually passing judgement on. In the best case scenario, this leads to confusing feedback. In the worst-case scenario? Bad feedback, the kind that can harm a young writer and actually make them worse at their chosen craft.

And do you know what the worst part is? A lot of the time, those novice critics don’t know they’re wrong because they’re technically correct.

Again, this, I think, goes back to a failing of the education system, but a lot of these problems stem from the inability, disinterest in, or just general failing of schools to educate on the differences between formal and informal writing. Many students graduate high school in the US with, as far as I can tell, little to no understanding of the differences between the two types of literature.

Worse, a lot of schools love to give out things that aren’t actually true, such as in the case of “I before E except after C.” It’s a cute saying … but it’s 100% wrong. Not that this has stopped educators from using it … in fact I could recall teachers at my own high school using it right through high school, giving it out as common advice.

That’s not the only thing they get wrong, either. Which is why today’s topic is what it is. You may have been wondering why I started off with such a bashing of the public education system, and it’s because we’re going to see a theme in that vein through the entirety of today’s post.

Because simply put, when it comes to sentence construction in stories, a lot of people get a lot of things wrong thanks to that lackluster education. They hobble themselves, cripple their own story based off a misapplied teaching. Or they cripple others stories, acting as authorities on the internet or in reviews and criticize something that is actually correct as being incorrect (this, FYI, is why you should always take random internet book reviews that claim to find a number of grammatical errors in the text with a grain of salt; a lot of people don’t actually know what they’re talking about, and will incorrectly label correct English incorrect).

For example, one of the first—and more common, especially in some circles—things you’ll hear online when looking for writing critiques is discussion of the dreaded “run-on sentence.”

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