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Sparx's Ultimate Guide to Writing & Character Design + Critiques!

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Dangeryena:
Greetings, all! For Thanksgiving, I have decided to give the gift of knowledge... By completely redoing this thread! It's been nearly a year, after all.

This thread is intended for users of all ages and experience levels.

Critiques are to be taken with a grain of salt. Nothing I may correct should be taken personally.

Being rude or arguing in the thread could get it taken down, so please don't. I'll ask for posts of this sort to be removed. Take it to PM if you want to argue/debate, please.

Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Grammar & Spelling
3. Literary Devices
4. Word Choice
5. Character Development
6. No-No's
7. Critique Time!

Dangeryena:
Grammar & Spelling
The best place to begin is with grammar and spelling, the most basic part of writing. Here's some basic grammar vocabulary to help you out.

Noun - A person, place, or thing. Ex: Wolf, tree, star.
Proper Noun - Specific name of a person, place, or thing, which is capitalized. Ex: Benjamin Franklin, Eiffel Tower, United States of America.
Verb - An action word. Ex: Run, bite, hunt.
Adjective - Describes a noun. Ex: Hot, scary, thirsty.
Adverb - Describes a verb. Ex: Fast, quietly, there.
Clause - A unit just below a sentence which contains a subject and a predicate.
Subject - Part of the sentence being described.
Predicate - Contains a verb and states something about the subject.
Independent Clause - A unit just below a sentence which can stand alone. Ex: He was quick. No one saw. The dog was black.
Dependent Clause - A unit just below a sentence which cannot stand alone and make sense. Used to add onto an independent clause. Ex: After he escaped. Longer than he intended. Where she was born.
Sentence - Contains a minimum of one independent clause.

In the spoiler below is a list of common spelling and grammar mistakes and their correct forms.

Dangeryena:
Literary Devices
Next up is literary devices. Literary devices are techniques writers use to create special effects in their writing. Below are some that you'd be using in roleplaying.
Metaphor - A comparison of two unlike things. Ex: She was a whale.
He had the neck of a giraffe. She was his sunshine.
Simile - A metaphor using "like" or "as". Ex: She was as big as a whale. Her fur was like silk. Her eyes were like ice in their coldness.
Personification - Giving human traits to a non-human thing. Ex: The sun climbed up the horizon. The fog crawled across the ground. The flowers danced in the wind.
Imagery - visually descriptive or figurative language that creates a clear image in the reader's mind. Ex: The crystal clear, cascading waterfall tumbled down the jagged rocks.
Alliteration - Repetition of a letter or sound at the beginning of words in close proximity. Ex: Crystal clear, cascading waterfalls. Dumbfounded, drooling dogs. Trees tumbling towards town.
Hyperbole - An over-exaggeration. May also be a metaphor or simile. Ex: Her tail was as long as a snake. Her ears were the size of mountains. Her eyes turned the size of moons.
Onomatopoeia - A word created from the sound it describes. Ex: Bang, sizzle, splash.
Idiom - A figure of speech whose meaning is not to be taken literally. Ex: He has a screw loose. Have you lost your marbles? It's raining cats and dogs.

Dangeryena:
Word Choice
Now, this is where things may get a lil' dicey, because it's opinion time. Please do not take offense, as I am not down-talking anyone, but rather stating my opinion and providing an alternative which I think is better, especially because I have seen a lot of wolfspeak users say that they don't know a better way to write. I am doing this largely for them as well as those who just generally struggle in writing. I want to help!

Repeating this here: Being rude (like making fun of those who wolfspeak) or arguing in the thread could get it taken down, so please don't. I'll ask for posts of this sort to be removed. Take it to PM if you want to argue/debate, please.
It's essential to mix up your usage of words (and sentence structure) to prevent your posts from getting repetitive and bland. I believe it's for this reason that people wolfspeak outside of Wolfquest, where everyday words are very limited. From what I have heard users of wolfspeak say, they don't want their posts to be too bland, and using large, fancy-sounding words spices up posts and makes them prettier. Not for me, but for some.

My issue comes in with the fact that:

- These words are being used in a way that is either grammatically incorrect or impractical for use in writing, like anatomical/taxonomical terms which are Latin and only used in their respected branches of science, not casual use. It makes it hard to visualize what you mean when you use those.
- Wolfspeak encourages a focus on switching up words and not other great literary devices which may leave posts seeming lackluster.
- A lot of people who wolfspeak use these words because they don't even know their true meanings (as has been the case with the more inappropriate ones), and that's not good in my eyes.
- Also, it looks silly.

This is not to say that I look down on or dislike anyone for wolfspeaking, I just disagree with using it. Would kinda like for people to stop using it, to be honest, and that's for the simple reason of... I don't think it's being a good writer, as many think it is. You can call it a style of writing, but that doesn't make it any less of a bad habit in my eyes.

My opinion in a nutshell is that if you want to be a really good writer, using a thesaurus to replace perfectly fine words with complex, unfitting ones is not the way to go. You are making it it difficult to picture what you are trying to describe, and the entire point of writing is to describe a situation. Pretty contradictory, if you ask me.

BUT HEY, if you're just casual about roleplaying or whatever and still wanna use it, I don't care. It doesn't hurt me or anything, I just think it looks silly and that your posts would look better without it. To be honest, wolfspeak is pretty fun to mess around with, though I don't use it seriously. I just want to give an alternative to those who do want to improve their writing by giving an alternative.

Instead of wolfspeak, I encourage the use of literary devices and words that make sense in that scenario depending on the mood. There are plenty of other options that talented writers use, mainly the literary devices I listed earlier. I'll list some examples of beautiful posts below that don't require wolfspeak to sound fancy.

Wolfspeak version: The condensations northward formed an ebon hue upon the lifeforms inferior to them. If Corvus truly must have been conscious whilst the hours remained diurnal, this was the only forecast the masculine would appreciatively partake in. His amber occuli turned skywards in inaudible indebtedness for this glorious day.

Non-wolfspeak version: The clouds above had formed a blanket of darkness, blocking the light from the creatures below. Everything appeared as if the color had been sucked out of it. Since Corvus could only be forced to be up during the day, though, this was the only weather he could enjoy. His fiery gaze was cast upwards in silent gratefulness for the overcast.

The first seemed very over-the top and took much longer to process due to the large words, to me. I used metaphor, simile, and adjectives to spice up my post.

Wolfspeak version: The lass' sleek fleece was a stunning azure-gray hue, dotted with rhythmic spots. She was small-framed, though she adorned long columns compared to the entirety of her form. Her icy pools bore into one's very soul, aided by her angular features. Parting her mandible to vocalize, her cords reverberated in a soothing, melodic fashion. "Going without me?" The lass jested, entering a trot gait to catch up to the large brute, silken banner swaying this way and that as she locomoted.

Non-wolfspeak version: Celeste's sleek coat was a shimmering blue-gray, like the sky just before a storm. It was dotted in patterned spots, giving her an even more regal look. She was small, but her stilt-like legs made her appear much taller and slim. Her icy blue gaze bore into one's very core, able to pluck the most valuable of information from one's lips. This was aided by aristocratic, angular features, her snout thin and perfectly straight. As she parted her lips to speak, it sounded as if a melody was performed. "Going without me?" Celeste toyed, graciously trotting upon slender legs to catch up to the towering male, long, silk-like tail swaying behind her as she walked.

See how much more detail I put in the second version and how much more you learned about her? This is because I was focused on describing Celeste in ways other than simply replacing words with "fancier" ones. I used similes, metaphors, adjectives, and adverbs to accomplish this.

Dangeryena:

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