Here is a quick reference for tips and resources for writing in this community, e.g. for Conceptualizations, prompts, and other character information. 

Writers of all levels of skill and familiarity with the English language are accepted, though we encourage members of our community to seek opportunities to improve their writing with guides, tools, and community feedback. 

Note that "grammatically incorrect" writing is not necessarily bad, so long as it's a stylistic choice and still reads well. If the staff have trouble reading and understanding your writing, however, we may direct you to this guide! 

Writing Assistance Tools

We encourage members of our community to use writing assistance tools to improve readability if necessary, though keep in mind that they are not absolute and may still make mistakes. When in doubt, you can search the web. 

• Grammarly - Offers real-time grammar, spelling, and style checking. The free version catches many common errors.

• Hemingway Editor - Highlights complex sentences and common errors, suggesting ways to make your writing clearer. Free to use, but only in the browser.

• ProWritingAid - Particularly good for longer texts and style analysis.

Essential Writing Tips

Paragraph Structure

Each paragraph should generally have one main idea, or one cohesive element of plot. When skimming, many people just read the first and last sentence of each paragraph. 

You should start a new paragraph when there is a notable shift in topic, a new speaker/character in dialogue or action, or a change in time and location. 4-5 sentences is good as a general guideline, but it isn't strict. 

Here's an example with dialogue: 

❌  No breaks: 

X laughed lightly as they watched the papers burn in their hands. "Is that all?" they asked. "This isn't even much of a secret to bury." Morph hummed, sitting back. "Maybe so, my dear. But it'll be much better for them, don't you think?" X's eyes became amused crescents. "Certainly. That's why I agreed." 

❌  Breaks, but not based on each change in character:

X laughed lightly as they watched the papers burn in their hands. 

"Is that all?" they asked. "This isn't even much of a secret to bury." Morph hummed, sitting back.

"Maybe so, my dear. But it'll be much better for them, don't you think?" X's eyes became amused crescents. 

"Certainly. That's why I agreed." 

✅ Breaks based on each change in character: 

X laughed lightly as they watched the papers burn in their hands. "Is that all?" they asked. "This isn't even much of a secret to bury." 

Morph hummed, sitting back. "Maybe so, my dear. But it'll be much better for them, don't you think?" 

X's eyes became amused crescents. "Certainly. That's why I agreed." 

Sentence Structure

Independent Clauses

An independent clause can stand alone as a complete sentence. When joining two independent clauses, you can use a period (.), semicolon (;), or comma + coordinating conjunction (For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So). You can also use an em dash (—) to join independent clauses. 

Examples:

• ❌ "Data analyzed the information they discovered many patterns."

• ❌ "Data analyzed the information, they discovered many patterns."

• ✅ "Data analyzed the information, and they discovered many patterns."

• ✅ "Data analyzed the information. They discovered many patterns."

• ✅ "Data analyzed the information—they discovered many patterns."

Long Sentences

As a general rule of thumb, try to break up sentences longer than 25-30 words. Anything more than two independent clauses is not recommended. 

You can also try to introduce variety into the sentence by making independent clauses into a dependent clause (which cannot stand on its own as a complete sentence). 

Here's an example of breaking up a long sentence: 

• Long: Life and Death have existed for a long time in many different forms, and they were worshipped as gods in many cultures, so they experienced what life and death was like all across the world.

• Split: Life and Death have existed for a long time in many different forms. They were worshipped as gods in many cultures, so they experienced what life and death was like all across the world. 

• Split with a dependent clause conversion: Life and Death have existed for a long time in many different forms. They were worshipped as gods in many cultures, experiencing what life and death was like all across the world. 

Dialogue

When writing dialogue, proper formatting helps readers follow conversations clearly.

Quotation Marks and Punctuation

• Use double quotes (") for spoken dialogue

• Use single quotes (') for quotes within quotes

• Commas go before the end quote when followed by a dialogue tag

• Periods, exclamation points, and question marks go inside the quotes

• For single-word and short quotes that aren't dialogue, punctuation goes outside the quote. (This is actually British English style—American English has punctuation inside the quote.) 

Examples:

• ✅ "I understand now," Data said.

• ✅ "Did you hear them say 'fascinating'?" Order asked.

• ✅ Possibility mentioned the word 'time'.

Dialogue Tags

Dialogue tags can help indicate a speaker or tie dialogue to another clause. Some notes to keep in mind: 

Lowercase the tag if it's part of the same sentence as the dialogue, even if there is punctuation such as a question mark or exclamation mark: 

• ✅ "What do you mean?" asked Order.

• ❌ "What do you mean?" Asked Order.

Capitalize the tag if it's a new sentence: 

• ✅ "That was amazing." They reached for the sky.

• ❌ "That was amazing." they reached for the sky. 

Words like "said," "asked," "replied" are dialogue tags. These specifically indicate the subject speaking and not doing some other action. Actions are not dialogue tags and should be separate sentences/clauses. 

• ✅ "Follow me," Morph said.

• ✅ "Never." Crown turned away.

• ✅ "I only want to help," Morph called, reaching out to them. 

Thoughts and Telepathy

Italics without quotes can be used for thoughts. You can also use italics or some other way of styling, such as bold + italics, to indicate telepathy, but be consistent with your styling. 

Examples:

• I should investigate this further, Data thought.

• Telepathy - potential stylings:

  • We need to talk, Order projected telepathically.

  • We need to talk, Order projected telepathically.

  • «We need to talk,» Order projected telepathically.

Common Grammar Points

Tenses

In a single piece of writing, try to use the same tense unless there is a reason for a change in tense. For instance, in a character's backstory, you might use past tense, and then switch to present tense when you talk about what they are currently doing in present day. 

Make sure to match your tenses in the same sentence as well, unless the sentence refers to different points in time. 

Example:

• ❌ "Order was organizing society and creates new rules."

• ✅ "Order was organizing society and created new rules."

• ✅ "Order organizes society and creates new rules."

• ✅ "Order organizes society, having created new rules in the past."

Possessives

In general, add 's for singular possession, and add s' for plural possession. 

For names ending in s, either option is correct, though adding apostrophe + s (e.g. Omephagos's) is more common. 

Note that pronouns may have specific terms for possessives. 

• For it/its pronouns, its is the possessive, while it's is a conjunction for it is or it has. 

• For they/them pronouns, their is the possessive. They're is a conjunction for they are. 

Pronouns

Normative pronouns, such as he/him and she/her, are singular—"he is, she is". Most neopronouns are singular as well; for instance, xe/xem is a singular neopronoun—"xe is". 

The they/them pronoun set is grammatically plural but can be used to refer to a single person. In a sentence, you would use plural grammar, e.g. "they are." 

If a character uses neopronouns, you can link to or create a reference for each term in their pronoun set. For instance, Auspice created a page on pronoun set on pronouny.xyz for Eilah's pronouns, ei/eim/eir/eirs/eimself (though there are other websites that can do this). These can be helpful for you and others to refer to in order to ensure the grammatically correct usage of neopronouns. 

Common Issues to Avoid

Run-on Sentences

These are sentences where two independent clauses run together without proper punctuation or appropriate conjunctions.

• ❌ "Sanctuary created the space it was peaceful everyone felt safe they stayed there."

• ✅ "Sanctuary created the space. It was peaceful, and everyone felt safe. They stayed there."

Tense Mixing

Unless truly necessary and accurate, try to use the same tense consistently. 

• ❌ "Morph was transforming when they see a request and had granted it."

• ✅ "Morph was transforming when they saw a request and granted it."

Unclear Pronouns

If characters use the same pronouns, be sure to use their name when necessary for clarification. Some characters use multiple pronouns; you can deliberately choose different pronouns for clarity. 

Epithets (such as "the Edeia," "the man," etc.) are not recommended, but can generally be used without issues if the narrator or the character you write from the point-of-view (POV) of does not know information about the entity in question. 

• ❌ "When they met them, they gave them their power."

• ✅ "When Ideation met Val, they granted him an Idea."

AI Assistance

AI tools that can generate text like ChatGPT and Claude can help refine writing, but should be used as learning tools rather than relied upon entirely. They can be used to help improve writing for character profile info and Conceptualizations—if you use it to write or rewrite any part of a Conceptualization, please disclose that you did. 

AI-generated text is not permitted to be used directly for prompt writings. However, you can still ask AI for feedback and write the text yourself.   

You can consider asking these AI systems questions like, "How can I improve the clarity and style of this writing?" or "Do you have any suggestions for how to restructure the story to improve readability and flow?" 

If you do use AI assistance, please always review AI suggestions critically and try to understand why changes were made. Learn from the differences between your original and the AI's suggestions, and do not simply make the AI write the character's entire backstory for you.