emoticons, bad graphic placement, and author's notes —

When writing there are several things that really get me. Those things are far from good. They’re actually really bad and can be a major turn off depending on who is reading your writing. I like emoticons; they’re really cool looking and provide emotion that you can’t get when you’re texting instead of talking on the phone (when you can hear tone of voice) or when you’re in person (and can see facial expressions and tone). With writing this is a big no-no; the same thing with placement of links, miscellaneous graphics, and author’s notes.

I’m not afraid to admit, I do use links in some stories. However, it is rare of me to do so and I only place them in stories that I think someone might not know what or where something is. I have linked Wikipedia pages before. I prefer not to use links that lead to graphics because they can be bothersome, but I have once or twice before. It is one hundred percent preferable if you don’t use links because it’s annoying to have to stop reading in order to click on a link to see what the author cannot describe.

Another thing that has to do with graphics is the placement of graphics. It makes an odd break in your paragraphs and slows your flow down immensely. It’s different in books because it all matters on where you place these graphics. In books you can turn pages when on the Internet, tough luck, you can’t. People may assume that hyperlinking the images will make things neater, which it does, it still slow down your flow.

Back to emoticons now; I’d say I’m pretty happy right now. I’m sitting at my kitchen table typing this while listening to SHINee. But you don’t see me sticking happy emoticons (“:)”) in between my text. It throws things off and makes you writing sloppy. Are we all learning as writers, hell yeah we are. However, if you’re too ignorant to understand that I’m not complaining but attempting to help then you shouldn’t have read this far into my tutorial.

It’s really easy to depict in writing general expressions. Smiling and frowning are probably two of the most common expressions in writing. It might be because you just have really happy (or sad) characters (or plotline) or it could also be because you can’t write anything else. I’ve also noticed that people use emoticons to express a character’s feelings somehow and reactions. They all relate because you all see these ‘expressions’ on your countenance (face).

If you write a chapter and have author’s notes in the middle of your damned text, take it out and rewrite the whole entire chapter again. It will be the biggest pain in the but it will pay off because things will flow much better in your text. If I was just writing away and I put … (a/n: Blah, I’m wasting space and time) … which most wouldn’t do anyway (but it’s an example so deal with it, it looks awkwardly placed and gets in the way of my reading.

Save all a/n’s for the end or beginning of your chapters! Do not place them anywhere else because they get hard to read.  Author’s notes that are just placed willy-nilly drive me up the ing wall guys. I will seriously not read your story if someone has emoticons or randomly placed a/n’s.