Post by Trygon on Aug 27, 2008 7:38:01 GMT
This topic is basically made up of extra guidelines that a good forum member should always follow while posting. I thank The Nether for allowing us to use this, but then again they stole it off another site so... ah well...
Part 1: Spelling and Grammar: Any good writer knows that spelling and grammar are important. Sometimes, though, it’s hard to catch your own mistakes. Word and other typing programs are often fitted with spell checkers but those can only take you so far. When you’re typing a post, the first thing to do it either type it in Word or cut and paste it there to check everything for you. Because programs like this don’t always get everything for you, you need to read through your posts to make sure everything is what you wanted and you’ve used the right words. Here’s an online spell-checker for you. click me.
Ex: “I went to meat you and couldn’t here a word you said. Ant time you talk, I can’t understand you.” comes out fine in Word but what you really meant was “I went to meet you and couldn’t hear a word you said. Any time you talk, I can’t understand you.”
Part 2: NTSBWSW (No two sentences begin with the same word [in a paragraph]): This one’s hard. Long story short, vary your sentence beginnings. Someone reading your post doesn’t want to read “she did this. She did that.” “He did this. He did that” they want a varied choice. Try using the same sentence beginning no more than twice in a paragraph.
Ex: “Robert entered the Diner. He was hungry so he went to have a burger. He bought the food and sat down to eat it. He enjoyed the burger. He thought it was juicy and delicious. He finished and threw out the tray and left the cafeteria” doesn’t sound nearly as good as, “Robert entered the Diner. Hungrily, he approached the serving area and ordered a burger. As he left the area and paid for her food, dark haired man looked around for a table. He found one and sat at it. As he ate, he felt the juiciness of the burger in his mouth and declared the meat delicious. When he was finished, he got out of his seat and threw his tray away. Fuller than he was before, Dannie left the Diner.”
Part 3: Sensory Images/Imagery: Everyone appreciates a nice, long, descriptive post, especially the writer. It gives writers a sense of pride to write something long and descriptive. That’s where Sensory Images/imagery come in; writing that involves all of the five sentences. When you write, think about the following:
What is he/she thinking?
What is he/she feeling?
How does the thing he/she is touching feel?
What does he/she see? What colours are there?
What sounds does he/she hear?
What can he/she taste?
What are they wearing?
Things like this give the replier something to work with. Also, your best friend is a thesaurus. Look up words that are different from the ones you usually use.
Ex: “Robert walked into the Diner. He got a burger, sat down, and ate it. Getting up, he threw out his tray and left the Diner” doesn’t sound nearly as good as “Robert walked into the Diner, wearing a deep crimson uniform that announced his position as a high-ranked City Guardsman. The ear-splitting clatter of many other people chattering and eating noisily assaulted his ears as he whisked through the doors of the large room to the serving area. The entire Diner reeked of its most popular, and best, product: burgers. Briefly conversing with the serving maid, he paid for his food with a small note and picked up the meal. For half a minute or so he watched, looking for an abandoned table in the overcrowded room. Spotting one in the corner, the City Guard Corporal sat at it and picked up his large burger. He bit into it and almost smiled, the cooks at the Diner having lived up to his rather high expectations once again. The burger was delicious, juicy, with a sauce of something he couldn’t name that only added to the flavour. In a minute or so he devoured the burger and stood up, walking to the garbage bin and throwing the contents of his tray in, placing the wooden tray on top. Robert left the Diner then, the noise of the place still assailing his ears until he was a good twenty paces away.”
Part 4: Quotes: When you’re writing, quotes go into your paragraph. The only time a quote gets a new paragraph is if it is a new person talking. Seeing as your posts are all for one character, there should not be a new paragraph for a quote.
Ex: Robert turned to his left, frowning as he sipped from the pint mug of cider in front of him. It was a little bitter, and had probably been left in the barrel too long. He decided inwardly not to order “Sharp Apple” again, as the cider was called. More subtle flavours, like spiced wines. “Don Perignon” was one of his favourites. Or a warm spirit. “Stupid crap,” he murmured, poking a couple of crumbs on a still warm plate around.
“That was horrid!” Robert announced, pushing the nearly-untouched pint of cider away.
That’s not right. Try this:
Robert turned to his left, frowning as he sipped from the pint mug of cider in front of him. It was a little bitter, and had probably been left in the barrel too long. He decided inwardly not to order “Sharp Apple” again, as the cider was called. More subtle flavours, like spiced wines. “Don Perignon” was one of his favourites. Or a warm spirit. “Stupid crap,” he murmured, poking a couple of crumbs on a still warm plate around. “That was horrid!” Robert announced, pushing the nearly-untouched pint of cider away.
There’s no new paragraph just because she started talking again.
Part 5: Capitalization: When writing anywhere, capitalization is a general rule to remember. The first word of a sentence should be capitalized, any proper nouns (the names of persons, places, and things), or “I” when referring to yourself. If your posts are typed in Word, things it knows should be capitalized will often be automatically capitalized. It’s still a good habit to get into capitalizing things yourself, though. It should not be used excessively, either. If you write in all caps, people will think you are yelling. Unless yelling is what you really are looking for, emphasize words with bold, italics, or underline.
Ex: robert stepped into the store named jewel and asked for his friend, damien, to come out of the back room to help him with something. “i REALLY NEED your help,” he whined to damien.
This post has no capitalization except for the emphasis on need. What it should look like is:
Robert stepped into the store named Jewel and asked for his friend, Damien, to come out of the back room to help him with something. “I really need your help,” he whined to Damien.
Codes for bold, italics, and underline:
Part 1: Spelling and Grammar: Any good writer knows that spelling and grammar are important. Sometimes, though, it’s hard to catch your own mistakes. Word and other typing programs are often fitted with spell checkers but those can only take you so far. When you’re typing a post, the first thing to do it either type it in Word or cut and paste it there to check everything for you. Because programs like this don’t always get everything for you, you need to read through your posts to make sure everything is what you wanted and you’ve used the right words. Here’s an online spell-checker for you. click me.
Ex: “I went to meat you and couldn’t here a word you said. Ant time you talk, I can’t understand you.” comes out fine in Word but what you really meant was “I went to meet you and couldn’t hear a word you said. Any time you talk, I can’t understand you.”
Part 2: NTSBWSW (No two sentences begin with the same word [in a paragraph]): This one’s hard. Long story short, vary your sentence beginnings. Someone reading your post doesn’t want to read “she did this. She did that.” “He did this. He did that” they want a varied choice. Try using the same sentence beginning no more than twice in a paragraph.
Ex: “Robert entered the Diner. He was hungry so he went to have a burger. He bought the food and sat down to eat it. He enjoyed the burger. He thought it was juicy and delicious. He finished and threw out the tray and left the cafeteria” doesn’t sound nearly as good as, “Robert entered the Diner. Hungrily, he approached the serving area and ordered a burger. As he left the area and paid for her food, dark haired man looked around for a table. He found one and sat at it. As he ate, he felt the juiciness of the burger in his mouth and declared the meat delicious. When he was finished, he got out of his seat and threw his tray away. Fuller than he was before, Dannie left the Diner.”
Part 3: Sensory Images/Imagery: Everyone appreciates a nice, long, descriptive post, especially the writer. It gives writers a sense of pride to write something long and descriptive. That’s where Sensory Images/imagery come in; writing that involves all of the five sentences. When you write, think about the following:
What is he/she thinking?
What is he/she feeling?
How does the thing he/she is touching feel?
What does he/she see? What colours are there?
What sounds does he/she hear?
What can he/she taste?
What are they wearing?
Things like this give the replier something to work with. Also, your best friend is a thesaurus. Look up words that are different from the ones you usually use.
Ex: “Robert walked into the Diner. He got a burger, sat down, and ate it. Getting up, he threw out his tray and left the Diner” doesn’t sound nearly as good as “Robert walked into the Diner, wearing a deep crimson uniform that announced his position as a high-ranked City Guardsman. The ear-splitting clatter of many other people chattering and eating noisily assaulted his ears as he whisked through the doors of the large room to the serving area. The entire Diner reeked of its most popular, and best, product: burgers. Briefly conversing with the serving maid, he paid for his food with a small note and picked up the meal. For half a minute or so he watched, looking for an abandoned table in the overcrowded room. Spotting one in the corner, the City Guard Corporal sat at it and picked up his large burger. He bit into it and almost smiled, the cooks at the Diner having lived up to his rather high expectations once again. The burger was delicious, juicy, with a sauce of something he couldn’t name that only added to the flavour. In a minute or so he devoured the burger and stood up, walking to the garbage bin and throwing the contents of his tray in, placing the wooden tray on top. Robert left the Diner then, the noise of the place still assailing his ears until he was a good twenty paces away.”
Part 4: Quotes: When you’re writing, quotes go into your paragraph. The only time a quote gets a new paragraph is if it is a new person talking. Seeing as your posts are all for one character, there should not be a new paragraph for a quote.
Ex: Robert turned to his left, frowning as he sipped from the pint mug of cider in front of him. It was a little bitter, and had probably been left in the barrel too long. He decided inwardly not to order “Sharp Apple” again, as the cider was called. More subtle flavours, like spiced wines. “Don Perignon” was one of his favourites. Or a warm spirit. “Stupid crap,” he murmured, poking a couple of crumbs on a still warm plate around.
“That was horrid!” Robert announced, pushing the nearly-untouched pint of cider away.
That’s not right. Try this:
Robert turned to his left, frowning as he sipped from the pint mug of cider in front of him. It was a little bitter, and had probably been left in the barrel too long. He decided inwardly not to order “Sharp Apple” again, as the cider was called. More subtle flavours, like spiced wines. “Don Perignon” was one of his favourites. Or a warm spirit. “Stupid crap,” he murmured, poking a couple of crumbs on a still warm plate around. “That was horrid!” Robert announced, pushing the nearly-untouched pint of cider away.
There’s no new paragraph just because she started talking again.
Part 5: Capitalization: When writing anywhere, capitalization is a general rule to remember. The first word of a sentence should be capitalized, any proper nouns (the names of persons, places, and things), or “I” when referring to yourself. If your posts are typed in Word, things it knows should be capitalized will often be automatically capitalized. It’s still a good habit to get into capitalizing things yourself, though. It should not be used excessively, either. If you write in all caps, people will think you are yelling. Unless yelling is what you really are looking for, emphasize words with bold, italics, or underline.
Ex: robert stepped into the store named jewel and asked for his friend, damien, to come out of the back room to help him with something. “i REALLY NEED your help,” he whined to damien.
This post has no capitalization except for the emphasis on need. What it should look like is:
Robert stepped into the store named Jewel and asked for his friend, Damien, to come out of the back room to help him with something. “I really need your help,” he whined to Damien.
Codes for bold, italics, and underline:
[b]wrap bolded text in this code[/b]
[i]wrap italics in this code[/i]
[u]wrap underlined text in this code[/u]