This article has nothing to do with this month’s topic. I couldn’t think of a way to tie female warriors into a writing column, so I’m taking this as an opportunity to address an important, if dull, issue: the basics of writing. You can outline, avoid clichés, and write all the great description you want, but it won’t do you any good if you’ve no grasp on the fundamentals of writing. This article covers mechanics and some common technical mistakes.

Mechanics

Mechanics are the basics of the basics. This includes grammar, punctuation, and spelling—all those tedious aspects of writing that English teachers like to use to put you to sleep. As dull as they are, though, mechanics are important. Most readers won’t read beyond the first paragraph if your story is rife with mechanical errors.

• Spelling: Most word processors have a spell-checker. Use it. It only takes a few minutes and will help prevent driving away your readers before they’ve even begun.
• Grammar: Some word processors have a grammar check, but it can’t always be trusted. It’s better to just read a lot and pay attention in English class. Grammar in fiction isn’t nearly as strict as essays. For one, you have dialogue and characters who "don’t talk right." For another, fragments and occasionally run-ons can, if used well, enhance your writing. If you have a shaky grasp on grammar, however, stay away from fragments and run-ons until you know what you’re doing. You need to know the rules before you can bend them and break them.
• Punctuation: This includes commas, colons, semi-colons, hyphens, parentheses, etc. Word processors typically correct punctuation errors for you, but they don’t catch everything. This is another area where you have to read a lot and pay attention in English, as distasteful as that may be. I myself am a little shaky on colons, semicolons, and hyphens; that’s why I’m sending this to Redwall Digest’s resident proofreader, Highwing.

There are some mechanical errors I see time and again in otherwise good stories. Anyone who talks to me on AIM knows that these errors make me twitch. I don’t like twitching. I have to alleviate it by telling the author what they’ve done wrong or going off to read something else that has good mechanics. Don’t drive off your reader with careless errors.

• It’s worried about its pet fungus: One exceedingly common error is the confusion of it’s and its. It’s is the contraction of it is: it’s raining, it’s pouring, it’s the end of the world as we know it. Its is the possessive: its car, its dog, its pet toe fungus.
• You’re not going to get your contractions and your possessives mixed up: Or at least you’d better not. I’ll hunt you down and yell at you. You’re is the contraction of you are: you’re happy, you’re said, you’re driving me insane. Your is the possessive: your story, your readers, your deafened ears.
• Dialogue tags: Don’t mess this one up. Please. I’ve seen so much dialogue with incorrect punctuation and it makes me twitch like nothing else. "This is incorrect." She said. When a piece of dialogue ends in a period followed by a dialogue tag (dialogue tags are the words around the dialogue that indicates who’s speaking), treat dialogue and tag as part of the same sentence. Comma, lower case tag, period. "This is correct," she said. "Note the comma and lower case ‘she’?"