Hello thar! Sorry I took so long to update, real life (read: obscene amounts of homework) took top priority for a while. BUT ANYWAY! You don't want to hear about that, you want:

Chapter Two: So you want to write a story

First off, plot. If it has no plot, it won't be interesting. End of story. Your plot has to be intriguing and original, or at least as intriguing and original as you can come up with. And this might be just me, but I for one am sick and tired of "Country X Receives and Answers Letters." Enough! It's been done to death by way too many writers. If you want to write something mainstream and easy to write, go ahead, but be warned: with this genre, it has to be really, really, really good for it to stand out. Readers want to be pulled into the plot, and they want to be concerned about what happens to the characters.

Speaking of characters, a little out-of-character-ness is fine once in a while, but if you portray Latvia as a horrible child molester with Sealand as his poor, unsuspecting victim, your readers will laugh and probably flame and/or troll you. Be as accurate as you can with the characters, and you'll get good feedback. Don't get me wrong, I love alternate character interpretation as much as the next reader, but don't make them too out there.

Next up, and you'll probably want to punch the computer screen for this one, is grammar. I know, I know, we're in the age of the internet and most people don't give two shits about whether it's your or you're, but still. Horrible grammar is instant reader repellent. This includes, but is not limited to:

Spacing: Properly formatted paragraphs have become an endangered species here lately. Don't let them die out!

Spelling: You know those little red lines that appear under some of your words? They're not just there for their health. Pay attention to SpellCheck: it exists to serve you. Proper spelling also means using the right words. Collage and college look very similar, and it might not be too obvious at the moment, but readers will be confused when the characters start attending pieces of artwork made of various objects and images.

Also, punctuation is very important. You"ll start getting sentences. like this; It's very annoying isn"t it. This means dialogue, too. If it starts with ", it has to end with " too, but only when the spoken part ends. Examples:

GOOD: "The author is annoying the ever-loving crap out of me," said the girl in front of the computer screen.

BAD: "I wish she'd just get to the chapter on lemons, replied her friend." Or: It isn't too much fun reading her drone about grammar," she continued.

Okay, I'll stop with the grammar now.

Another thing about stories: They have to make sense. If there's no consistency, readers will get confused. If a character is in the kitchen one minute and in the middle of the street the next, with no line breaks to show that some time has passed, readers will be left in the dust.

I'm typing this on a school computer and Study Hall is over soon, so I'll leave it at that for now. See you soon!