How not to post a wall of text

Hi there i just looked through this forum for info on not posting a wall of text. I found stuff about links and avatars ect, but nothing on what i would like to know. I am thinking of posting a poem in the short stories forum. I left school at 14 so i didn't get to typewriter class ( they didn't have computers then) so i don't know all the tricks of the keyboard. I see someone wrote something about the enter key . So right now i will try it
ok so i pressed the space button and then the enter button and
it
skipped
a
line yeeha

i have worked it
out
thanks 1%

uhm your wall of txt was ok

(woodwork squeeks, out come the freaks) whats with ats tonight?

There is nothing wrong with using a keyboard in any manner you wish\n\nHowever if you refuse to make readable text, as is the case with a wall of text then you may not get so many people reading, or at least interested in what you have to say\n\nPersonally, I double space between paragraphs for some reason. But if WORD or some other rubbish application decides to double space between paragraphs, then I spend more time trying to turn it off than writing what I had intended to write in the first place.\n\n\nThere is nothing worse than a wall of text. I don't think learning how to use a keyboard changes what you type. Only how long it takes to get it there.

reply to post by Rikku


What do you mean that above or previous attempts at posting? I see a lot of complaints about people posting walls of text and it does hurt your eyes to read it. Thanks for the reply . cheers 1%

reply to post by my1percent

are you an idiot?
you dont make any sense, how can i reply?

reply to post by winofiend


it was nothing about what i write. I just wanted to know how to make paragraphs as i said i did not get to typewriter class at school. Plus i thought this might help other people ,show them how to do paragraphs , so there is less walls of text on here. cheers1%

reply to post by Rikku


No im not an idiot but you are very rude did you have a bad day good bye . i just noticed they took karma off me for that .did you get karma taken from u after all you attacked me not the other way round

"Enter, enter" at end of paragraph. brings you down two lines to start anew.

reply to post by rickymouse


Thanks for your civil reply yes i worked it out. Some dont have the privillige of an education. but they should not be breated for it thanks again cheers 1%

Good grief, you don't have to have a keyboard or a typewriter to know how to write a paragraph.

They're not constructs of the device you use to put words somewhere.

You create paragraphs with a pen, chalk, crayon or quill if you are so inclined.

I thought you were being funny, but seems I was wrong. I'm doing that a lot recently, wondering if it's me or ats in general now...

reply to post by winofiend


For goodness sake i know how to write paragraphs with a pen ,chalk ect. this was about how to make paragraphs with the computer keyboard so we dont get walls of text. I did not know how to do that and other people don't otherwise they wouldn't . This is not a good day to post people are angry 1%

So, you like writing stories? And you'd like to write better ones? Then you've come to the right page. Anyone can write a story, but writing a good one is not so easy. Writing my novel, The King Herself, is the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. Mind you, I've never climbed Mount Everest. Or had kids. But writing that book gave me immense satisfaction, and along the way I learnt a lot about the writing craft. And that's what this page is all about.When I was in primary school, like you, I wrote my first stories. One I wrote in year 4 (then called 2nd year Juniors) was in three chapters. It was called Fun in Moominland, and it was all about the Moomins, who are characters created by Tove Jannson, featured in 8 books. The teacher read my story to the class, and that was my proudest moment as an author so far. Perhaps it was also the seed which led me to start writing The King Herself 25 years later.So it's good to start young. Now's the time to get a taste for writing - to fall in love with it, learn some tips from your teachers, and from my web page, and write your own great tales. Who knows, maybe one day you'll be penning your own novel, and watching people grab it off the shelves of your local bookshop.1. Don't Bore Your Reader!The worst thing a book can do is bore you. It's okay if it terrifies you, or even makes you depressed (some people like that), but if it bores you, you'll chuck it away. Unless your teacher is making you read it. So whatever you do, when you write a story, make sure it isn't boring! Easy to say, but how do you make a story non-boring? Here's the essence of it: create a main character the reader will care about, and give them a problem or mystery to solve.If the characters are dull or annoying, without anything to like about them, the reader will get very fed up. Even your bad guys should have something interesting about them (Voldemort was at Hogwarts, for example)If the character has a nice, easy life, everything is hunky dory, no problem, the reader will fall asleep. To spice things up for the reader there should be some some sort of conflict, a difficulty with someone (a bully, evil wizard, monster, annoying brother, parents) or something (the sea, a desert,loneliness, an approaching asteroid, time running out).If there is no question the reader wants to know the answer to, he or she will die of boredom. You must keep your reader guessing - wanting to know what will happen next, what the answer to the big puzzle is. Whodunnit? Will the hero save the city? Find the treasure? Kill the monster? Win the girl's heart?This is one reason why JK Rowling is richer than the Queen. She is brilliant at making sure the reader is always trying to work out what on earth is going on. You can't put her books down because there's always some mystery to be answered.Clues and Red HerringsBut don't keep your readers totally in the dark - give them a few clues so they can make an intelligent guess. It's a delicate balance - the events and the characters in your story shouldn't be predictable, but what happens should make sense. A teacher may turn out to be a vampire, and this should be enough of a surprise to excite the reader, but there should have been the odd sign - a pupil with two little red marks on his neck, the teacher refusing to eat garlic in the school canteen, and so on.You can also give red herrings. These are false clues, meant to lead the reader to a false conclusion, so it's not too easy to guess what's going on. Another teacher might be really mean and have big teeth, so the reader suspects it's he who is the vampire - but it's really the teacher who seems very nice and friendly (but doesn't like crosses...)Your readers will have much more fun when they have a chance to guess what's going on - when it's not too easy, but not too hard, to tell what will happen.
2. Be ClearThis is one of the most important rules of any sort of writing. Say what you mean to say. Read over your writing and ask yourself, if someone else were reading this, would they understand what you're going on about? Is it clear?Partly this is a matter of using good grammar - putting your sentences together in the right way - partly using the right words, and partly not using too many words.Grammar'John saw the lion looking out of his car.' This sentence tells us that what John saw was a lion in a car, looking out. But perhaps what the writer really meant was that John was in his car, and looking out of it, he saw a lion. A better way to write the sentence would be: 'Looking out of his car, John saw a lion.'A lot of people write sentences like that which confuse the reader, because it's not certain what they were meant to say. So you must read every sentence you have written, and make sure it says what you meant it to say. If not, rewrite it. Words 'John slipped down the icy hill on his sledge.' Is slipped the best word here? Slipped usually means something accidental - you might slip on ice.

But John meant to go down the icy hill on his sledge, so a better word is slid. 'John saw some animals in the field.' The reader would really like to know what kind of animals John saw, so say 'John saw some cows in a field.' Or 'John saw some giraffes in a field' would be more interesting. Give specific details in your stories - don't just say 'they ate', say what they ate (but don't go on and on about it, unless it's really interesting).Also, avoid abstract words - that is, words which don't have a very definite meaning, like 'beautiful' or 'ugly'. Instead give enough concrete description that the reader can see that the character is beautiful (see Show Don't Tell, later)Not Too Many Words. Readers are easily bored, and one sure way to bore them is to write long sentences with too many words in. When you've written the first draft of your story, it's almost certain that you'll be able to shorten it a lot by taking out words you don't need. The first draft of my novel was 155,000 words - the second 122,000 - and the final draft is 92,000. So I cut out 63,000 words! And it's much better now because of that. Here are a few ways to cut out words: a. Boring dialogue. When people meet they say things like 'Hi', 'how are you?' and 'I'm fine, how are you?', but in a story we don't need to say all this. Get right to the important bits of the conversation - the bits which have something to do with your story, or the bits which tell us something interesting about the characters. Of course, if your characters say 'how are you' and 'I'm fine' in a nasty or sarcastic tone of voice, this might be important.Said is another word which can sometimes be taken out. It needs to be clear who is speaking, however. Look at this: 'Why are you so late?' said John.'I'm only fifteen minutes late,' said Jenny. 'Fifteen minutes is a lot.''Don't be daft.'It's clear who said the third and fourth lines, so we can leave out the saids. But if this goes on for a long conversation, the reader might forget who's talking, so you may need to include a few more saids.You can also use action to make it clear who's speaking, without using said. Look at these:Jack opened the fridge door. 'There's no cheese left! Has that giant mouse been at it again?'Katy turned away from him. 'Very funny.' b. Boring descriptions. You don't need to describe everything - just the interesting and important stuff. We don't need to know the colour of everyone's hair, or the kind of curtains in every room, or the scent of every flower. Of course any of these details might be important, say in a murder mystery. But long descriptions usually bore readers.If you do want to describe someone or something, try to think of something unusual. Don't just give the standard list of how tall they are, how pretty, and what colour their hair was. Give one or two details which are unusual, but which tell us a lot about someone. One of my characters has a 'mouth made for sneering.' And Harry Potter's lightning-shaped scar is certainly memorable.A better way to give descriptions is to include them in an action. Instead of 'The church had a tall slate-covered spire,' say 'The rain slid down the grey slate of the spire.' See how I took the word 'tall' out? Was it really needed? (see later for more on describing places)c. Long-winded sentences. Some sentences say in a lot of words what could be said in fewer. 'John sat down on the wooden chair and thought to himself what a lovely sunny day it was that particular day.' Phew! Why not just say 'John sat and smiled at the blue sky.'? It says more or less the same thing but in much fewer words.How about this: 'Walking down the street towards him John saw a big ugly man with a mean expression. He looked like he meant business and might hurt John, maybe punch him or kick him or something.' Here's a shorter version: 'A big ugly man approached John, staring at him viciously.'Look over all your sentences, and try to make then as short as possible, while keeping the same meaning. Your writing will become clearer and more powerful.To show you how you can cut out boring bits, here's another example from my Moomin story: One day Snufkin asked Snork if he would like to go to the zoo. 'I would like it. Ask Moomintroll if he would like to go.'So Snufkin went and asked Moomintroll.'I'll go and tell Moominmamma,' said Moomintroll, when Snufkin had finished talking to him. When Moomintroll came back he said: 'Moominmamma said that we could go and we could have a picnic as well.' 'Oh good,' said Snufkin.So all the morning they arranged about going to the zoo. At last they had finished. They all went out and started their journey. Most of this is not very interesting and could be cut out. Here's a shorter version:One day Snufkin felt like going to the zoo. He asked everyone, and they all said yes. After preparing a picnic they set off.See how much was cut out? Here's another example: So they all went to the nocturnal house. They saw a bush baby, a fox bat,

reply to post by NeverMind2013


Hi thank you for your reply . It is really hard to read your post. Can you please break it into paragraphs lol. It looks an interesting read as far as explaining grammer use. Yes i have a convoluted way of writing . I am not sure but did you think that i am stiil in school. No i am 44 left school at 14 after a very abusive chilhood. Anyway somehow people have misunderstood me . When i did this thread i did it to experiment with the keyboard to find out which button makes paragraphs. I wish after finding out i deleted the thread then i wouldn't have been attacked, for helping myself and others. I am stunned by the response to this , don't know what to say. Thanks again for trying to help 1%

reply to post by my1percent


I cant say that Im stunned by the responses, but at least you took the time to ask. Dont let that halt anything you do here, its great that you are trying to even find out. So good luck with your story, and take care.

Peace, NRE.