This guide was really helpful. :) I pretty much knew all of it but it's really helpful to people who are just starting. I'll definitely take your advice. :)

For the record, there's some great slash out there. 'You sir bee wear' lol. I suppose you could address the user as "You sir." Notepad doesn't have spellcheck, actually, but it's a great lightweight program. I agree that that's no excuse to not use spellcheck when writing stories. Thanks for the dialogue clarification.

Good essay. I liked the advice about formatting a character's thoughts; that's one thing I always have trouble with.

A solid, comprehensive essay with a lot of good advice. It's also written with a unique voice that makes it interesting to read. And the last line made me smile.
A small note, however-- If I remember correctly, in the U.K. most authors use single quotes for dialogue. You could clarify that, but it's not really neccessary.

It's a nice essay. I hope it helps people. I even found something that I forgot from high school.

::laughs:: Good to know I'm not the only overly-neurotic grammar-nazi on the face of the planet.

I'll be honest, If a writer doesn't capitalize or punctuate correctly within the first paragraph (for those who even bothered having paragraphs), I won't read it. I assume that their plot is equally neglected and therefore unworthy of my time. Not to be snobbish, it's just my reaction. I understand and forgive the occasional typo; I just can't deal with the excessive laziness that people show when they post work that you have to wonder if they were typing with their eyes closed after drinking a bottle of vodka.

The part about 'You sir bee wear/User beware' reminded me of something my English Prof. pointed out. He says he hates spell check for one reason: "Spill chick" (for anyone who didn't get that, think: 'spell check vs. spill chick'-both will be correct as far as spell check goes, but only one makes sense)

Just a side note about the ways to correctly write thoughts...I've also seen it done with nothing at all.

Example:

I can't go any further, he thought. I just can't.

Hm...I think this is just as effective if done correctly...but that's a big 'if'.

~Lucky~

"The simplest way to avoid this is to create a new paragraph each time a different character speaks." Not new paragraph; new LINE. That's the only mistake I found and there's also an invisible rule for not to start a line with "But" or "And". I think that's got nothing to do with this essay, lol, but I wanted to tell you all the same.
I started, yesterday actually, to write a Harry Potter fanfiction story. now, I was ( before) against them because I thought that it's better to get even the names from your mind... instead of copying what a writer wrote and do the same subject, just another plot. It's in spanish so I can't upload it in FanFiction... lol ='(. You gave good tips here and the thing about " I don't believe you." She said. I always do that! And I really don't find any difference.
The capitals are very important and the spelling and grammar thing is in every Word version! =P Great essay though! =)

Hey, thanks very much for writing this essay, I learnt from it.
This is very good for people who want to put their stories online.

Wow, a nice and intelliagntly written essay. It has a good balance to it, neither over critical or over sympathetic. Good

You know, it's really sad that something like this is needed. And wow, is it EVER needed! People should read this before writing whatever they feel like. Or they could try paying attention in their first grade english classes... How very, very sad. But I guess we can't all be English majors...
Anyway, you bring up some very good points! I hope at least one or two people read this, because it could help them greatly! ^_^

Very helpful. =D

~Isay

This is a very helpful, constructive, well written article. Good on you!

I like your advice, especially as these are some of the errors that can make a fanfic immediately unattractive to a reader. Nice essay.

I've read a lot of these types of essays, and I find this one very well-written and accurate. There are a few more points I would have added, such as the use cliches and writing style, but you also had a lot of valid points I wouldn't have thought about putting in. And I find all of these points (especially those about grammar) very true and am so tired of reading fics with no form of grammar whatsoever.

I have to admit, I'm guilty of spelling a main character's name wrong (because my word processor keeps automatically changing it. Stupid computer), but that's about it. But still, I think if all the writer's on ff.net read this, we would all be better off. Great essay. Thanks. O:)

I don't think I can really disagree with any of that. Lots of excellent advice in there. *Particularly* the comment at the end about the necessity of knowing your source material. In those few fandoms I know really well, it's generally obvious almost immediately whether the fanficcer knows their stuff.

Of course, you *could*, if you wanted to be really evil, confuse people utterly by pointing out that both:

"Possibly," she laughed.

and

"Possibly." She laughed.

are okay, but that they don't mean quite the same thing...

I must admit that I don't generally mark thoughts out at all, though - it's just

"I wonder," she thought.

with me. Maybe I'm just dull.

The only extra piece of advice I think I'd give is to remember that ffnet is an international site (same goes for fpnet). For example, I had someone pick me up on the word "quietened", saying it should be "quieted". In American English, maybe... but in British English, "quietened" is the correct spelling.