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Apparently a lot of people get dialogue punctuation wrong despite having an otherwise solid grasp of grammar, possibly because they’re used to writing essays rather than prose. I don’t wanna be the asshole who complains about writing errors and then doesn’t offer to help, so here are the basics summarized as simply as I could manage on my phone (“dialogue tag” just refers to phrases like “he said,” “she whispered,” “they asked”):

“For most dialogue, use a comma after the sentence and don’t capitalize the next word after the quotation mark,” she said.

“But what if you’re using a question mark rather than a period?” they asked.

“When using a dialogue tag, you never capitalize the word after the quotation mark unless it’s a proper noun!” she snapped.

“When breaking up a single sentence with a dialogue tag,” she said, “use commas.”

“This is a single sentence,” she said. “Now, this is a second stand-alone sentence, so there’s no comma after ‘she said.’”

“There’s no dialogue tag after this sentence, so end it with a period rather than a comma.” She frowned, suddenly concerned that the entire post was as unasked for as it was sanctimonious.

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Don't forget to feed your wip some lines of fresh words today and then let it roam free in your head.

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okay here's the video from the tiktok post from earlier!

Like I said I appreciate the clickthrough but this is being posted in straightup video format for all of yall who ain't going over there

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There are two wolves inside you.

One wants to write in first person, the other wants third.

There is also a random rooster demanding second person present tense.

We're not sure where the rooster came from and why it hasn't been eaten by the wolves yet.

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Fun writing challenge I accidentally made for myself: Write 3 different characters' POV with overlapping scenes.

Things I've discovered because of this:

I can focus just on the character's environment and their perception of the other characters; physical descriptions of characters are told primarily from the POV of the other characters.

I get to experiment with the disparity between the characters' perceptions of themselves vs. the other characters' perception of them. This is fun because they're all keeping secrets from each other with varying degrees of success and only the reader really knows exactly how much.

Because scenes and chapters overlap, I need to see both perspectives at the same time to make sure they align temporally and factually. If I had another monitor, I would probably have all 3 POVs up at any given time. I also now have to leave little notes for myself in the body of the text to anchor key scenes.

All of this causes me to get lost about where or when something happened and how much anybody actually said and I get a little dizzy if I don't take breaks.

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I'm gonna invent a new aesthetic, I'll call it collector core, and it's just collecting things you enjoy used from thrift and charity stores

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Your Protagonist is a Liar. If your story follows only the main character, we see things how they see them. A main character is an unreliable storyteller, if they mean it or not. We, just like the MC, aren't in other characters' minds. So, moments are misinterpreted. Your main character sees the world through their own biases. We only know the main character's impressions of the side characters, and the villains. We read only their perception of these characters.

That doesn't make them a villain, its normal. It's realistic and purely understandable. They can't fill gaps of information simply because they weren't there. So, they make assumptions, they make judgements, they remember things incorrectly. Memory isn't perfect, details are changed or forgotten. It's only natural.

Let your protagonist lie. Maybe they don’t even realize they’re doing it. Maybe they do. See what happens.

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5 Game-Changing Beliefs That Give Me Strength in Writing

When you feel like you are going nowhere, constantly coming back to where you started, or you feel like you are continually updating your skills but not flying high, you question yourself. Anxiety and self-doubt grip you. Though this is not exclusive to creative professionals, we writers go through this feeling once in a while. Being a writer for over a decade, I have had this feeling gnaw at me…

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A great villain doesn’t wake up thinking, Ah yes, time to be a terrible person today. They believe they’re doing what’s necessary. Maybe they’re trying to fix a broken world. Maybe they’re protecting someone they love. Maybe they think the hero is the real villain. And that’s where it gets interesting, because when a villain has a point, it forces the protagonist (and the reader) to question everything.

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Your first draft is garbage.

Accept it.

Your second draft is slightly more organized garbage.

Keep going.

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Write the Scene Like a Camera Lens Is Controlling It

Zoom in.

Zoom out.

What’s the most important detail in the moment? Is it the way their hands shake on the steering wheel? The single drop of sweat trailing down a temple? Or is it the massive wildfire on the horizon swallowing up the sky? Focus determines impact. If you describe everything equally, nothing stands out. Control where the reader’s eye goes.

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Raw emotion isn’t about saying he was sad or she was furious. It’s about what their body does before their brain catches up. Does his throat tighten like he’s swallowed glass? Does her hand grip the table so hard her knuckles turn white? People feel before they name it. Write the feeling first.

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Your Protagonist Needs to Be Wrong About Something Big

A compelling character arc isn’t just about growth, it’s about realizing they were wrong. Wrong about themselves. Wrong about the world. Wrong about someone they loved. A character who starts the book believing one thing and ends it with a shattered worldview? That’s how you make it unforgettable.

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Best Writing Advice I’ve Ever Received

1. “You can’t edit a blank page.”

This advice hit me like a ton of bricks when I first heard it. It’s so simple, yet so powerful. Writing something—even if it’s not perfect—is better than writing nothing at all. The idea is to get the words out, even if they’re messy, and then fix them later. There’s always room to improve, but the hardest part is starting. So, don’t wait for perfection. Just write.

2. “Show, don’t tell—except when you should tell.”

It’s one of the classic writing rules, and yet, I found this piece of advice to be both a game-changer and a huge relief. So often, we get stuck on the idea that “showing” is the ultimate goal. But sometimes, telling is just as effective. It’s about knowing when to lean into subtlety and when to give the reader exactly what they need upfront.

3. “Write the book you want to read.”

This was one of the most liberating pieces of advice I’ve ever received. So many times, we get caught up in writing what we think people will want to read, or what we think is “marketable.” But when you focus on writing a story you genuinely want to read—one that excites and moves you—everything else falls into place.

4. “Don’t compare your first draft to someone else’s final draft.”

This one is a tough one to swallow, especially in the age of social media where we’re constantly exposed to the polished, perfect versions of other people’s work. It’s easy to feel like you’re falling behind when you compare your rough drafts to someone else’s masterpiece. But every writer starts somewhere, and your first draft is just that—a draft.

5. “Make your characters want something, even if it’s just a glass of water.”

This advice came from a workshop, and it’s one that I’ve come back to time and time again. It’s a reminder that characters need motivation—whether it’s a big goal like saving the world, or something small and personal, like finding a glass of water in the desert. A character without desire is a character that feels flat and uninteresting.

6. “The best way to improve your writing is to read more than you write.”

This advice took me a while to fully understand, but it makes perfect sense. Reading other authors’ work, especially those whose writing you admire, teaches you things that can’t be learned through theory or workshops alone. You’ll pick up on pacing, voice, structure, and what makes a story truly captivating—all while expanding your understanding of storytelling.

7. “Your first draft is just you telling yourself the story.”

This was another gem of wisdom that I didn’t fully grasp at first. It’s easy to fall into the trap of wanting your first draft to be perfect, but it’s not meant to be. The first draft is for you—to explore the plot, the characters, the world. It’s your chance to get everything down and see where it leads, without worrying about perfection.

8. “Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open.”

This is one of Stephen King’s rules of writing, and it’s a brilliant one. When you’re drafting, don’t worry about anyone else reading your work. It’s your time to be raw and experimental. But when it comes to revising, open that door—let others in for feedback, because the revision process is where the magic happens.

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Tips from a Beta Reading Writer

This one's for the scenes with multiple characters, and you're not sure how to keep everyone involved.

Writing group scenes is chaos. Someone’s talking, someone’s interrupting, someone’s zoning out thinking about breadsticks. And if you’re not careful, half your cast fades into the background like NPCs in a video game. I used to struggle with this so much—my characters would just exist in the scene without actually affecting it. But here’s what I've learned and have started implementing:

✨ Give everyone a job in the scene ✨

Not their literal job—like, not everyone needs to be solving a crime or casting spells. I mean: Why are they in this moment? What’s their role in the conversation?

My favourite examples are:

The Driver: Moves the convo forward. They have an agenda, they’re pushing the action.

The Instigator: Pokes the bear. Asks the messy questions. Stirring the pot like a chef on a mission.

The Voice of Reason: "Guys, maybe we don’t commit arson today?"

The Distracted One: Completely in their own world. Tuning out, doodling on a napkin, thinking about their ex.

The Observer: Not saying much, but noticing everything. (Quiet characters still have presence!)

The Wild Card: Who knows what they’ll do? Certainly not them. Probably about to make things worse.

If a character has no function, they’ll disappear. Give them something—even if it’s just a side comment, a reaction, or stealing fries off someone’s plate. Keep them interesting, and your readers will stay interested too.

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I just had to remind myself that a first draft doesn't have to be readable in any way. The sentences don't even have to be fully formed and if no one can follow the sentences or dialogue then that's a problem for the 2nd draft or the 15th. Don't listen to the people that tell you it should be good immediately. Gem stones have to be polished in order to be pretty but that doesn't make the mining less important