Format

Hi, readers!

I've gotten a petition to revive my essays on English in a more colourful way. Fair enough. Let's cut to the chase with something important and actual: structure and format. I won't bother looking at modern English textbooks, because I've bothered to do that a few years back and wasted my time. Below you'll see real live examples of stories with improper characteristics.

Here is the schematic. The first four parts speak about more basic issues and how to format text on your screen. The fifth covers hectic details about small parts and creating paragraphs. This essay does NOT cover present tense writing.

1. Block
2. Centred
3. Mushroom Cloud
4. Chat

5. Dialogue
6. Thoughts.

1. So we begin with the block, otherwise known as the brick. This is a style that, well, lacks style. The text is not formated and it looks this way.

This occurs only when the author copies text from an unwelcome source or writes like a Pokemon. Text is a continuous single line without any divisions. Reading such stories is not recommended, because the uploading author clearly does not revise text after it has been uploaded. How to prevent it?

-Make sure you do not copy large pieces of text from other sources.
-Always preview your work before publishing.

A less extreme block. The author has revised the text, but simply doesn't know what to do with it. Honestly, I don't know why some people upload it this way. Maybe they feel sexy when their eyes pop up bloody red?

2. Centred. This is my favourite error. Bear in mind that the following commentary is not suitable for poetry. For poets, I suggest always suggest aligning text in the middle of the screen, as lines are short. Prose writers, move along.

This is a small example. And a larger instance. The problem with centred alignment is that it creates the Z effect. Lines are generally long, and this style requires the readers' eyes to travel a great distance to find first the end of one line and then the beginning of the next. It makes reading the story much more difficult and the audience pays less attention to the text. It is officially unrecommended for prose.

Very little effective prevention methods are known to counter this error:

-Align prose to the left. No exceptions.

3. The Mushroom Cloud is a funny format that I hadn't recognised until recently. You can also call it The Anvil for being a certain drop for your head. It seems to be a problem of many authors that excelled in academic writing. Like in this case. Though, it can also be an issue for those that are unable to describe things properly. Here's one example.

What's the problem, you ask? Simple as always. Text usually starts with enormous explanations of dull events. Often, it is philosophy without any events at all. You can find this to be the generic introduction to many high school essays with a general and detailed initial paragraphs. Both are a huge mental load and offer no hook for the story. There is nothing wrong if an author decides to make some psychical self-analysis of the main protagonist. It might be interesting. The real problem appears when the story begins from afar. In fact, the introduction seems so unrelated to fun, readers run away.

Another typical trait of this style is that after the initial anvil drop and brain damage, paragraphs turn anorexic and the author proves him or herself to be inept with handling dialogue, thus creating the mushroom's stalk.

How to dodge your story becoming this way?

-Preview your chapters to see the visual structure.
-Don't start with overly-elaborate descriptions of loosely-related pseudo-events.

4. A truly hideous format for prose is chat. Things typical to this format are: excessive dialogue, scanty narration, bad grammar, low detail level, the screen looks half-empty.

Here is an example. Mind you, because script format is forbidden, it's not included in the explanation.

As you read, you can draw a line to see how little is filled with text. This is typical to authors that used to write in chat format on DeviantArt and try to convert to prose, but fail. Why is it bad? Speech is not even half of information we receive in life. If everything in prose is speech, other senses are excluded. Consequently, it's assumable the characters do not see and can't make subtle movements.

Narration in such entries is very coarse. Usually, it only includes movement from point A to point B and only a major action, like blowing up a building. The author leaves no room for expressing feelings (not emotions) or anything beyond the obvious.

Prevention:

-Keep a steady proportion of narration and dialogue.
-Don't make your characters speak more than it is needed.
-Bear in mind that the reader loves colours! Let your story be a varied adventure.

That mentioned, I've spotted some mutations and mixes of faulty style. For example, this is a mix of Mushroom Cloud and Chat.

5. Dialogue. Now we reach a part that can be informative to someone who already wrote their first story. How to format dialogue properly?

There are numerous tiny rules and gadgets that one can stumble upon when writing.

a) Paragraphs.
b) Comments.
c) Punctuation.
d) Capitalisation.

Every example above had some fault in making proper dialogue. Let's take a random piece of dialogue from an unrelated story.

""Oh no, time to get away!" Eggman cried as he went aboard his hover seat, running away from the all powerful hedgehog, though he followed after him. They chased him across the ship destroying it bit by bit as well. Eggman could put up as many walls as he could, but Super Sonic burst through them like they were paper. After minutes of chasing, the force of an explosion caused Eggman to fall out of his hover seat, hitting the steel floor in a giant room. Super Sonic entered the room, and levitated down, letting Amy hop off him, staring at the doctor. "S-sonic, Amy!" Eggman stuttered. Amy glared at him, tightening the grip on her hammer. Eggman gulped. "L-looked, Im sorry ok, just g-go easy on me" he begged. "I-Ill turn over a new leaf I swear, I didnt mean to do any of that stuff, just give me a chance!" He was now on his knees.

"Well this is new" Sonic grinned. "Well Egghead, if you played nice, I wouldnt have broken all your toys"."

Let's start with a). Paragraphs with quotations are small, unless a character goes on a very long uninterrupted tirade (examples would take WAY too much space). I don't recommend such writing in creative text, because it is acceptable for long philosophies or general monotone. Normally, a writer turns a speech that is too long into a narrative or put commentary to break the paragraphs into smaller parts and describe the changes in tone or stance.

Also, the fundamental rule: NO MORE THAN ONE SPEAKER PER PARAGRAPH.

This enables the reader to visually understand where a character stops speaking and to switch to new information clearly on the next paragraph. Were two people conversing within a single paragraph, you would have the brick I've covered earlier. The author of the example above made another paragraph for Sonic, the second speaker. It looks like this:

"Well this is new" Sonic grinned. "Well Egghead, if you played nice, I wouldnt have broken all your toys"."

Let's not pick on repetitions, grammar and general originality of this excerpt. Notice how this speaker is given one paragraph, while there are two speeches. This is acceptable.

Often, you will have to interrupt a long speech with some comments to describe the way something is said or to make a pause. When the pause in time is NOT long, two separate speeches can be placed in one paragraph. This puts them closer sense-wise and lets the reader relate the two (or three).

I do NOT suggest using more than three separate quotations from the same person in a single paragraph. Often, it is necessary for more actions to come between speeches and it's becoming a brick if you spend too much time on uni-paragraph talking. Sometimes it's useful to create a physical response to the words, thus creating more parts. It could be a nod or a grin from another character. Even surroundings might interrupt prolonged speeches.

How small should a quote paragraph be? Such a part usually has the speech itself with ( b) Comments) two versions of commentary. The first version comes before the quotation, whilst the second - follows. Quotation paragraphs describe what is said and how it is said. No more, no less (with certain exceptions).

I would not recommend writing more than three sentences connected to the quotation (from the end). The huge paragraph in the example would have to be cut, as most of it does NOT describe how the character speaks nor does it cover an closely-related reaction (that is the exception).

"Oh no, time to get away!" Eggman cried as he went aboard his hover seat, running away from the all powerful hedgehog, though he followed after him." Is all the writer should have left. Well, less actually. That sentence is a sneaky run-on that tries to connect with the rest. Some authors would put enormous sentences as commentary, such as: 'Eggman cried, and jumped to dodge Sonic's attack, who was heading straight at him with a homing attack ready.' Too much information.

""Oh no, time to get away!" Eggman cried." is perfectly simple and suitable. This is a second version with a single sentence.

He frowned at the hedgehog. "Oh no, time to get away!" Eggman cried. is a longer variation.

He frowned at the hedgehog, clenching both fists. "Oh no, time to get away!" Eggman cried in a high-pitched tone, but a cough prevented him from saying more. is even longer. Notice how everything is related in time or space to speech.

What are the perks of comments before or after the quotation? Commentary before a quote lets the reader get ready for a particular tone (like the upside-down question or exclamation mark in Spanish) and understand the speech better. Though, if you comment after the quotation, the words are visually easier to identify. A paragraph that starts with a quotation is generally easier to read. Try variety!

Exceptions in comments. You don't always have to comment a speech. Sometimes it's just obvious, especially when two people are screaming at each other. When there are only two people conversing, it's good to add an explanation of who is speaking only once-in-a-while. This shortens the amount of time needed for lighter conversations. With three and more people involved, you should comment everything that the reader could potentially credit to a different character.

The further we go, the more exceptions we see. Don't worry, there are examples from actual published books below, so you'll see it done by professionals.

Let's cover c) and d) together, as they are often closely related.

Have an imaginary example: "I will kill him, her, your mother, and myself," he said, "and that's not all!" (or "I will kill him, her, your mother, and myself," he said, grinning threateningly. "That's not all!")

Notice that there is NO PERIOD after the quotation. Periods are replaced by commas when a comment follows. The comment does NOT have a capital. Same applies to the following:

"I will kill him, her, your mother, and myself!" he yelled.

"I will kill him, her, your mother, and myself?" he asked.

"I will kill him, her, your mother, and myself," Shadow said.

Now, the same, with a comment at front.

Shadow said: "I will kill him, her, your mother, and myself."

Shadow glared at the audience. "He will kill him, her, your mother, and myself!"

See the capital 'He'? That's the way you can use.

Now, don't forget English is a very liberal language when it comes to tiny rules. Some of them are merely recommendations. (Should you wish to find utterly complex issues, try em and en-dashes or double-spacing and double titles.)

Shadow glared at the audience. "He will kill him, her, your mother, and myself!"

Notice the visual and semantic appearance. The first sentence is a lot more detached from the quote. You can even imagine that there was a pause between the glare and the words. Now, let's deal with a double quotation to see what can go where.

"This is new," Sonic grinned. He walked up to the doctor, alert as always. "Well Egghead, if you played nice, I wouldn't have broken all your toys," the hedgehog gloated, winking at Robotnik. (mind you, the name is not Robotnic nor Robotnick)

Notice how the final comment is always attached to the sentence, while the first version allows you more freedom of choice, giving you a timeframe for activity.

6. Thoughts. Some of you must have questions on how to portray thoughts. Let me tell you that doing the I think he's good or 'I think he's good' is bad for you. Italics are used primarily for emphasis and titles. Single quotations are used for a quote inside a quote.

Authors tend to narrate thoughts similar to speech, which means:

Watermelon is tasty, he thought.

Yes, a thought is treated just like speech with separate paragraph and other routines. The difference is that there are no quotation marks (you will find an example of a thought below, bolded for you). I must point out that published classicists rarely put thoughts in raw format. Usually, they are incorporated into narration as reported speech or description.

Now that you've gotten the basics, let's quote a few books to see authors exercise these liberal rights with typical sentence constructions and dialogue description.

EXAMPLES


Here are a few by Oscar Wilde from The Picture of Dorian Gray:

"It is your best work, Basil, the best thing you have ever done," said Lord Henry languidly.


"Harry!" exclaimed Hallward, frowning. (most is done in the back)


"Dorian," he said, "my letter-don't be frightened-was to tell you that Sibyl Vane
is dead." (double-comma interruption)


'"She will never come to life again now," muttered the lad, burying his face in his hands.

The head-keeper came running up with a stick in his hand.

"Where, sir? Where is he?" he shouted. At the same time, the firing ceased along the line.' (long comment; separated action; sentence related in time)

"The world goes to the altar of its own accord," was the answer. (using 'was' instead of 'said')

"What is that?"

"Disillusion."

"It was my debut in life," she sighed.' (no descriptions; little need for comments)


Georgette Heyer, Lady of Quality

'She looked amused at this. "Certainly I am Miss Wychwood. You must forgive me if I ask you why you should doubt it?"

And if that doesn't make you apologize for your incivility, nothing will! she thought, waiting expectantly.

"Because you're by far too young, of course!" he replied, disappointing her. "I came here in the expectation of meeting an elderly woman—or, at least, one of reasonable age!"' (see the middle paragraph for thought rendering)

He flushed darkly, tried to meet the challenge in her eyes, looked away, and replied, with a sheepish grin: "Well—yes! But," he said, making another recover, "I knew Papa would approve of my choice, and he did!" (classic clunky reply of :" ; double-quote with an interruption.)


"Well, that's good news, at all events!" said Miss Wychwood. "I collect he is now relieved of his pain, for I heard no screams of anguish when I entered the house." (comment with a period before the next quote)


He shook his head. "Ah, she is never one to complain of feeling out of sorts" (detached with a period)


Lady Wychwood was moved to put an arm round her, and to give her a slight hug. "I know how hard it is for you, dear child," she said sympathetically. (before and after - comments [see how periods are more popular at front])


Herman Hesse Demian


He scrutinized my face and said: "You've grown, Sinclair." He himself seemed quite the same, as old or as young as ever. (related comment in the end with period)


"My dear Sinclair," he said slowly, "I didn't intend to tell you anything disagreeable." (notice how it's popular to interrupt after a greeting)


That should be enough for now. If you find any errors, irregularities or parts of my essay are confusing, do contact me at FanFiction.Net as Lord Kelvin.