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[marcopolonian]

This might be unnecessary, but I just want to show this hilarious lack of a comma:

"Let's eat Grandpa!"
"Let's eat, Grandpa!"

Very nice tutorial.

[Kaptain J]

This might be unnecessary, but I just want to show this hilarious lack of a comma:

"Let's eat Grandpa!"
"Let's eat, Grandpa!"

Very nice tutorial.

Yeah, I saw that at college. I was actually planning on adding that example, once I create my punctual tutorial (How to Write a Story II), in which I take the comma section out of this tutorial and expand on punctuation in a whole new tutorial

[konestilo]

this is a very good tutorial
good job when you explain the bad dialogues is funny

[Kaptain J]

Thanks. Glad I could be of service. I'm actually working on a second tutorial at the moment, which takes the punctuation section out of this one and groups it with other punctuations in a full-blown punctuation tutorial. So stay tuned

[Artain]

I have a question regarding apostrophes. I have an idea of how it works, but I'm not certain.

In cases where a word is unique in plural and does not end with an S because of it, I believe apostrophes for ownership do not apply.
For example, the plural form of "table" is "tables", merely adding an S. As such, an apostrophe has to be used to determine whether it's plural, or ownership. "There are two tables", as opposed to "The table's four legs are made of iron".
However, the plural form of "man" is "men", and as such, an apostrophe is not necessary to be able to tell whether an S is added for plural, or for ownership.
Example, "The old man's walking stick was too short", and "The evil in mens hearts is always present".

Now that I typed it out, I'm quite wondering if one can even put it that way, or if it has to be "The evil in the hearts of men is always present".
So I guess that's a possibility, too.

So, yeah, to conclude my question: would it be "mens hearts", "mens' hearts", "men's hearts" or "the hearts of men"?

[Drunken Paladin]

I have a question regarding apostrophes. I have an idea of how it works, but I'm not certain.

In cases where a word is unique in plural and does not end with an S because of it, I believe apostrophes for ownership do not apply.
For example, the plural form of "table" is "tables", merely adding an S. As such, an apostrophe has to be used to determine whether it's plural, or ownership. "There are two tables", as opposed to "The table's four legs are made of iron".
However, the plural form of "man" is "men", and as such, an apostrophe is not necessary to be able to tell whether an S is added for plural, or for ownership.
Example, "The old man's walking stick was too short", and "The evil in mens hearts is always present".

Now that I typed it out, I'm quite wondering if one can even put it that way, or if it has to be "The evil in the hearts of men is always present".
So I guess that's a possibility, too.

So, yeah, to conclude my question: would it be "mens hearts", "mens' hearts", "men's hearts" or "the hearts of men"?

It would be "men's hearts." If a word (people, children) is already the plural, the apostrophe goes before the S. Although, technically speaking, there is nothing wrong with, "The hearts of men." Side-note: periods and commas go inside quotation-marks and outside parentheses (unless you are British, in which case it's "inverted commas" followed by the punctuation).

If there are multiple tables, as you said, it would be, "The tables' legs are made of iron." If one table, "The table's legs are made of iron."

This post has been edited by Drunken Paladin: Jul 10 2011, 06:51 PM

[Artain]

So the apostrophe goes before the S. That's good to know, thanks Paladin.

I know periods and commas go inside quotation marks in American English, but I'm rebelling against it.

The next sentence is supposedly correct:
He went to meet with one of his new "friends."

But the last quotation mark is part of the sentence, yet outside the dot marking its end. As such, it's logically wrong to write it like that.
He went to meet his new "friend," but he was nowhere to be found.

Now, that just looks weird to me; so, because of the forementioned logic, I don't write it that way either. I keep my periods and commas outside the quotation.

So even though I'm not British in any sense, I personally agree with their way of writing.

I also write "honour" instead of "honor", but I write "realize" instead of "realise", but then again, neither is "wrong" in the general sense, so I guess it comes down to personal preference.

Thanks for the pointer though; but I'll ask if I'm not sure about something (Most of the time, I think into things too much not to be aware if I'm doing something wrong, or whether there are more ways to do it that are still considered correct).

And yes, I know where to place the apostrophe on "regular" plural words, like table(s).

This post has been edited by Artain: Jul 11 2011, 01:54 PM

[Drunken Paladin]

You can rebel against it, but you, too, shall be consumed by it.

[Kaptain J]

Gah, I missed posts on my own tut? Sorry 'bout that. But thanks, DP, for answering that dude's question. As far as punctuation goes, I realize I'm a bit slow with it, but I'm writing a tut for that.

[chowdahrogansora...]

So, yeah, to conclude my question: would it be "mens hearts", "mens' hearts", "men's hearts" or "the hearts of men"?

It would be "men's hearts." If a word (people, children) is already the plural, the apostrophe goes before the S. Although, technically speaking, there is nothing wrong with, "The hearts of men." Side-note: periods and commas go inside quotation-marks and outside parentheses (unless you are British, in which case it's "inverted commas" followed by the punctuation).

If I may add, if a word is singular but ends in "s" (usually names like James or other words like ibis) you should add an 's to it, ie "James's" or "ibis's"
At first, it looks and sounds wierd, but you'd eventually see that it makes the most sense.
"Did you eat James' sandwich?"
speaking, that sounds like "James Sandwich," which doesn't make sense, so you would say [jame-ses] for the possessive.

ANYWAY, great tutorial! I already have some experience in writing, myself, but this reminded me of some important points like character development.

one thing I should comment on is your mention of Cliches. I understand that you said cliches aren't bad if executed correctly, but in that case, they aren't cliches anymore. A Cliche is like being evil for the sake of evil, or an out-of-the-blue Deus Ex Machina.
That aside, I recomment taking a look around this site:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HomePage

Tropes are hard to describe in words, but they're really good "tools" that are commonly used when writing, while at the same time not (necessarily) being cliches. Still, good execution is most important no matter what you use.

[hkoz]

Thanks for the tutorial

[hkoz]

Thanks for the tutorial

[Kaptain J]

Why thank you.

[Numinex]

Here's a question that's kind of difficult to even put into words: How do you write a non-story? For a non-character?
There's an old-ish hacker simulator in which within the first 15 minutes of gameplay you're offered a mission for this huge corporation, which begins a huge conflict, and blah blah blah, BUT you can decline the mission without any consequences and that huge conflict happens with only minimal involvement from you. Basically I want my potential players to be whatever the hell they want to be. The main character is just an empty shell, which the players put on like a jacket.

P.S. Looking forward to that punctuation tutorial.

[Kaptain J]

You mean like a choose your own adventure type thing?

[Numinex]

That would've been far simpler to say, wouldn't it?
Basically, yes. My main concern is how do you keep track of all the facets of the story. I want more than just "Involved" and "Not Involved". I want to have everything in between too.

[Kaptain J]

Well, for a choose your own story thing, I would write the story like a tree with branches. Like, write out the first part, then write several "next" parts. Then just branch out from there. It may be a bit difficult, but that's how ya do it.

[Numinex]

That is a boring, if functional, advice. XD

[ImperialSunlight]

Thanks a lot for this. While I knew most of it already, it is useful to go through tutorials like these while thinking of ideas. It helps build inspiration. It gave me a really good idea that I'll eventually turn into a game .

It was very well written too. I really liked the examples, they were quite humorous.