Hello! I'm gonna use a few things from
Holocene as examples and show you what you can do to really get the improvement going.
First off, proof read a thousand times over. If you think it's a time consuming thing and don't want to do it, then slap yourself because it's a huge way to improve. Your mind and muse is easily subject to change compared to when you started that post, got to the middle, end, and then when you finish it. Proofing will help you find those points that seem a bit funky, forgotten words(if English isn't your first language as is for myself, forgetting a word is really easy), grammar errors, and allows to rewrite things so they sound better.
Example:
In our thread, I wrote, "As expected, the child has a quick, flickering tongue that has yet to discover the ability to lock away secrets and thoughts."
Having reread it, in my mind, it suddenly hits me I could of written "As expected, the child bares a rapid, uncontrolled tongue, moving without the ability to hold secrets and exclude inner thoughts, another one of the vices of childhood behavior."
It's a huge change. A good order to do your thought processes is this:
1.
Rewrite the post as you read it: That probably sounds difficult to do, but read a sentence or maybe a paragraph that you're unsure of the sound or don't think is very well written multiple times over, kind of write it in your brain and put it in. Rewrite the parts around it to make it fit more and try to improve them as well. It probably sounds annoying but the majority of the time, sacrificing an extra minute on a post to do this helps a lot.
2.
Take care of grammar issues: Use Google with this, please. If you don't feel comfortable about the spelling of a word and your browser doesn't have spell checker, then type it into Google and let the suggestions spell the word for you.
Commas, since you mentioned you have an issue with them simply break your thoughts so that they don't carry on endlessly like this. When I was in elementary school, one of my teachers told me that when it comes to commas and you're not sure if one goes there, speak the sentence out loud or speak it in your head. Do your thoughts stop or change? Put a comma where the change happens. Are you stopping or taking a barely noticeable break in your speech pattern? Put a comma at the break. I was told the comma 'is to allow your reader to take a break.'
If two and two don't fit together between the
and, then add a comma before
and on the first word.
Commas can also cut out
and for you.
3.
Find repeated words/replace words: This is the English language, and I swear, we have fifteen different words for every noun or verb that gets more specific each time. If you want to use a word but don't want to see bland with it, this is
website is the BEST. I use it all the time if I want to use a word but worry about it looking too bland or just 'meh.' It works brilliantly with descriptors and adding more "umph" to your posts, widens vocabulary, makes you appear more desirable as a writer, the list goes on.
4.
Check past/present tense: This one drives me nuts and can be hard to catch, and I really can't say much, but if you're unsure as of something, asking anyone for help on this is a big step. My friends are my slaves in terms of past/present tense when I'm writing history essays.
Next,
DON'T BE SCARED OF THE SEMICOLON AND COLON, THEY'RE SO IMPORTANT AND HELPFUL.
God, no one uses them either because they don't know how to use them(shame on your teachers, I was taught this in eighth grade and it's a boss to use), or worry about messing them up.
Semicolons break two sentences that are completely different but can't stand alone.
Example:"The anxiety that wracked her mind still remained an alien feeling. She knew not how to wrap her head around the giant that seemed to hover over her at every moment." to "The anxiety that wracked her mind still remained an alien feeling; she knew not how to wrap her head around the giant that seemed to hover over her at every moment. "
Colons can list something or explain it out.
Example:"Arya couldn’t comprehend the appeal in sitting in that water. It couldn’t have the soothing appeal like the hot springs in her home." could be written as "Arya couldn't comprehend the appeal in sitting in that water: it couldn't have the soothing appeal like the hot springs in her home."
Finishing it off with this: You use the same type of sentence structure repetitively, but that's something everyone does and can be a bit difficult to fight. Everyone does it, so don't feel as if you're the only one.
Ways to fight this little monster is to find sentences that are together and fit into one another, but are being separated by a pesky period(aren't they always pesky? Haha. xD), then blend them into each other.
Again, if you don't mind, pulling a few from your posts.
Example: "
She watched the mare rise from the ocean. Arya couldn’t comprehend the appeal in sitting in that water. It couldn’t have the soothing appeal like the hot springs in her home. She assumed it was more like the lake which was cold as a frostfall wind."
Can be made into
"She watched the mare rise from the ocean, unable to comprehend the appeal in the sitting in the water," right here, don't be afraid to define what water they are sitting in, "assuming it was more like the which was as cold as the Frostfall winds."
Doing that will also help your improvement with commas and punctuation as well as cleaning up a post from repetition.
If I was in any way harsh, I hugely apologize. There were no intentions to be whatsoever, it's just that I tend to have a harsh style of speaking/writing.
Really hope this helps you out, though!
.svg/2000px-Google_Chrome_icon_(2011).svg.png){kind=icon}
