Writing & Mechanics

No, this isn't a post about people who work on cars. :P

I'm sure most people know that the word mechanics when used in relation to writing refers to syntax, grammar, punctuation and spelling. Now, some people find these subjects of great boredom, irritation, or outright dread. I am an oddity. I actively like grammar, and in fact spent a very pleasurable evening once teaching myself how to diagram sentences out of a grammar book I had picked up at garage sale. (What that tells you about my personal life is sad and pathetic, I know.) We used to spend a quarter each year on grammar in high school, and I looked forward to worksheets about subordinate clauses and misplaced modifiers with glee.

Yes, we have already established that I'm weird.

Now, I have had the goal of becoming a published writer in mind all of my life -- or at least since I was 12. I had fantasies at 13 of being published by the time I was 16. The age pushed off all through my growing up, and I never reached my goal. That has not removed the ambition, however. I would like to publish one day, but in the meantime, I am enjoying what I'm doing.

However, as I wish one day to publish, I view my fanfiction writing as a sort of training ground. I refuse to treat it with one jot less effort and attention than I do my original fiction. I feel very strongly that if I write lazily in my fanfiction, the bad habit will travel along into all of my writing. Bad habits are harder to break than to make, after all.

Now, I know that not all people feel this way. Some people write fan fiction merely for the fun of putting their ideas on paper, passing it on to others and enjoying the attention they get. They have no desire of ever writing original fiction, do not want to be published, and so feel that the effort they put into it needn't be great. It's a game and a lark, and to make it too much work would defeat the purpose. That's fine. It takes all kinds, after all. I probably won't read their stories, unless they're gifted with a natural ability to write clearly and have a basic understanding of grammar and spelling, not because they don't have good ideas, but because I can't get past a certain level of sloppy writing to find out if their ideas are good or not.

I guess what I'm really saying is this . . . respect your reader. Yes, there are people who will plow through sentences that are tortuously written, ignore copious spelling mistakes and disregard random shifts in verb tense, but why force them to? Why not spend a little extra time and get it right? Reread your story, make sure it flows. Spellcheck the darned thing. If you're not sure if the word suggested by the spellcheck is the right one, please, try a resource like www.dictionary.com if you don't want to go pick up a book. When you seek out a beta reader, try to find someone who knows a little more than you about writing, and listen to them.

Your readers are giving you a gift. Give them as pleasurable an experience as possible.