Note that this is more of a guide that says how to write a good story that is canon and more of aims for the story to makes sense so there will be almost be no talking about changing whats canon from what's there. This is to give people a check list and new people a place to start from and to write something that is canon and makes sense. Also if some of what I say is hard to pull off no one ever said writing a good story was easy. After all a majority or writing is how you write something and I can't help you there.
Summery
Don't ever say "I'm bad with summaries" in your summary. I know its been said a lot but do not do this. Your summary is to make your reader interested in reading your story and saying you don't know how to write a summary is not a good way to say your story is worth reading. Its just lazy.
You can take a piece from the story that sums it up. Your summary is there for you to say what your story is about. You can put down the basic plot or if you're introducing a new character, talk about said character.
Also never include a couple name in your summary. If you make a summery thats about romance then we probably can see the romance coming from a mile away. if "person x is having a problem" and "person y is helping them or is new the bad boy or the opposite type of person and they meet" then anyone who has read a few stories or has looked and some of the stories on this website will obviously know who going to go with who or who is the main couple of your story and is an obvious spoiler or will tell your reader that you'll pretty much spend every waking chapter focusing on the chapter more than on your plot.
(I'll touch on the subject of romance in stories later on)
Title
Try to avoid exclamations in your titles or hanging sentences as your titles. Your title is there to give an idea about what your story is about(though less than the summary), but be interesting to wonder what its about. If you look at any other book, you'll notice that the titles says what the entire book is about. The Lightning Thief is about a thief who stole lightning, The Chamber of Secrets is about finding said chamber and the list goes on.
Content per Chapter
Yes this really matters. You want every chapter get through a decent amount of the plot and to pace your story which is helps your reader stay engaged with your story. Too little content in your chapter and your reader has little to anticipate and to worry about even if you pull a cliffhanger and also hardly anything happens so if you're trying to build up anything like excitement then its very hard to do so since there is very little to build off of.
Add too much and your reader gets information overload or it seems like a giant block of text(avoid this figuratively and literally) and everything doesn't seem to mesh well since its not broken up. Each chapter is like one thought and each chapter end is like an end to a thought. Which means know when to end the chapter. 2,000 words minimum is a good target to aim for, since its enough to get a stretch of plot done. Mind you, its minimum.
How to organize your Text
Always start a new paragraph when someone new is talking and always break up your paragraphs into readable chunks. After a certain point a paragraph turns into a blob of words if it doesn't have proper spacing(why do you think teachers have you 1.5/2 space out your essays?) A general rule is every new character thought is a new paragraph.
Authors notes
Please add authors notes at the start or end of a chapter and not right in the middle. If you add an authors note in the middle its disruptive. Its like you're reading something and someone yells irrelevent info to what's happening at the moment and disrupts the flow of words. Also don't make an entire chapter that's an authors note unless its you running into an issue that either requires reader feedback or patience. If you're running into a personal problem that will put the story on hiatus or a very long delay then an authors note is appropriate.
Putting an authors note simply to say sorry for laziness and that you're writing a chapter with slight hitches along the way is something you should save for the start of your next chapter, note as a chapter itself. (In fact thats a site guideline)
Ratings
Rating something because you are paranoid is not a good reason to rate it T. If you rate something teen then there is content that if a kid were to read then they would ask their parents about what something means or something they can't comprehend. M is for content that is for people who are older including things like describing every excruciating detail when someone does harm to another person or has explicit content. Those who write these stories would know what qualifies as explicit. Teen the middle ground and I like to think of it as M but toned down and leaves more to the imagination rather than outright saying what is going on and the manner its unfolding.
If you find any grammar or spelling mistakes please tell me as its not exactly my strong suit and I would like to improve that. Also please tell me if what I say actually makes sense and is correct or wrong. I will add any edits when I upload a chapter
