Hey there, folks!

Let's start with some small steps...

  Back in Grade Ten I had this fantastic English teacher who just wanted us to be less lazy with our writing, because let's face it... Fifteen year olds are pretty lazy. She brought up two important points that have stuck with me all these years (and I didn't even realize I had been doing it the lazy way), the first being always capitalize "I". Pretty standard, right? You would be surprised how many folks don't do that - heck, I was a culprit.

  The second thing she taught me was when writing a number between one and ten ALWAYS SPELL IT OUT. You see, she explained that no number between one and ten were very long and shouldn't be a hassle (even seven is only five letters). It looks better and if you must be especially clear you can always add it in brackets after the fact for conciseness, for example;
"There were three (3) iPods in inventory."

• Their is personal and is directed towards things like ownership. (ex. Their ball, their personality, their life.)
  
• There is a direction or a place. (ex. Over there, she was standing there, he likes the food there.)
  
• They're is a combination of 'they' and 'are'. (ex. They're going to the movies, I heard they're both sick.)
  

  A lot is TWO words and should you avoid this tid-bit an Alot may come to visit you. (Google if curious; it's generally a harmless creature that varies in types.)

  Than is when you compare between two things, while Then is used as a passage of time. For example, "She ate her orange and then her apple rather than the big slice of cake."

  When you're trying to distinguish between Affect and Effect just remember that Affect is a verb, while Effect is more the noun of the two. Still tricky? Consider this next time you're stumped...
  Ask yourself "Do I mean affect as in 'this affects me or *person*? Or do I mean effect as in 'the special effects were really cool'?"

  Hey! You survived the small steps! Care to take on the more in-depth stuff? Then let's gooooo.

Now that we have those out of the way, what's next?

  Usually I notice folks overusing commas when showing me their writing through various means; don't worry too much, a lot of people do this and I wouldn't be surprised if it is slowly becoming the norm. Does this mean you should keep doing it? I would hope not! Don't jump on the bandwagon, try and turn the tide. The easiest way I catch myself is by something a journalist friend of mine mentioned when she reviewed essays for me in university;
  "People tend to use commas when they imagine taking a breath but those aren't the right moments to use a comma."

  When writing something out take a break after you have a paragraph or two and read it over. Does that comma REALLY need to be there? Can you read it properly without the comma? Even when writing this I've caught myself about to use a comma for a pause or a breath and noted how it wasn't strictly necessary. Don't believe me? Let's check out that last sentence one more time!

"Even when writing this, I've caught myself about to use a comma for pause, or a breath, and noted how it wasn't strictly necessary." 

  See the difference? This can help improve your writing in leaps and bounds, especially concerning how you word things if you want to avoid saying things you know you're prone to make a comma-minefield out of.

Okay, okay! Commas are overrated! ... Is there more?

  There's a tie-in with commas I feel the need to bring up, though I'm aware many of you will understand this already. Apostrophe usage! There are certain instances where folks use an apostrophe and it isn't needed - either that or they neglect to use one. I was terrible for possessive-fying things with apostrophes that didn't need it for YEARS, and to be honest I'm not really sure how I ever noticed what did and didn't need it anymore. When a person is writing and they have to add an "s" at the end of something they're very prone to throwing an apostrophe out there "just in case". The REALLY confusing part comes when something naturally ends in 's' and is being discussed as ownership (names more often than not) or words that naturally don't have a smooth pluralization like bus to buses. Just what do I mean?

  Take my name for example, Cassondra. Often times I'll shorten it to Cass (not all that uncommon, right?) but when discussing something of mine what would you put? Cass's seems like a plethora of the letter s, which is why in cases like that it's acceptable to simply put Cass'. It looks kind of funny at first and I admit you don't really think the situation pops up much, however it surprisingly crops up quite a bit as it can be used to personalize a groups ownership!

The ever-dreaded ; usage.

  This is perhaps one of the least-seen grammatical tools out there due to poor understanding; people simply don't know how or when to use a semicolon. One of the best lines I've heard describing it goes "it's a soft period to be used when connecting two similar sentences or clauses". That doesn't do it justice, but maybe it's starting to turn those gears? As far as explaining all the proper uses of a semicolon I find no one can do it more clearly than The Oatmeal in this article/comic:
The Oatmeal's "How To Use A Semicolon" comic.

Please for all that is good and holy in grammar check out that comic; aside from being funny and easy to follow it will hopefully will vanquish many semicolon fears you may have.

Synonyms are your buddy, pal, and friend.

  Yes everyone, Thesaurus' can be useful! Hahaha, to expand on this point a bit better what I mean is that another common writing mishap is redundancy. Generally people know what they want to say but (much like drawing) can't get it down the way they see it in their head. We go for the words we use most often and that are familiar to us which can cause many to pop up again and again...

  Remember back in the comma section I said to take a step back and review your paragraph or two for unnecessary usage of our little grammar buddy? This is sort of the same process, except instead of looking for a comma you'll be looking for words you used repeatedly nearby each other. Leave it to good judgement whether you should change it or not, but there is no harm in finding a synonym (which essentially is 'a word that means the same or nearly so to another word') to keep things fresh; the bonus of utilizing this writing tool is it will enhance your vocabulary and potentially clarify what you want to say even better than your initial attempt. Most word document programs have a built-in Thesaurus which various options of opening it, however I'm lazy and tend to just right click/highlight a word within the document (if I can't think of a better one to use already) and then hover on "Synonyms", opening a whole list of words that may be more effective. If you're not using a program that can do this - like Sta.sh - there are plenty of Thesaurus based websites out there for the picking.

  I'd just go with "thesaurus.com".

That's all the time we have today, but on a final note...

  It's been an absolute pleasure putting this all down for you guys, and I certainly hope it helps you out in any way. The final tool to your writing arsenal is something you've heard many a time throughout school, but will take the longest time to master and hone...

  Creative/Critical Thinking.

  What I mean by this is when creating something don't just glance at the surface of it - get in the nitty gritty; applying critical/creative thinking is about considering most aspects of the place or persona and writing it down cohesively. You can describe Jack Barker as tall with dishevelled black hair, striking blue eyes, of medium build with a chiselled jaw all you want - the appearance is only half (if not less) of the story behind WHO they are. Think deeper on them such as what does Jack Barker like? WHY does he like it? What doesn't he like? Why doesn't he like that? Do these likes and dislikes affect anything else about him overall, or taper into other interests and personality quirks? How does he treat others or how does his mind work typically?

  One thing leads to another and the real trick of the matter is not all details are important. You're painting a picture in someone's mind with words - literally creating an image in their head as they read, but if you have too many details they'll get forgotten and you'll appear long-winded.
 There's a happy balance of both descriptive and concise that takes all the time and practice I previously mentioned to learn properly.
 
  When describing people and places keep an eye out you don't go overboard; not a whole lot of folks like to read a paragraph about Sally's hair unless it's alive and can do menial tasks. At times we as writers can get very caught up in our environments and trying to paint that mind-portrait, so just be on the look-out your reader isn't spending 20+ minutes learning about "the park and its variety of wildlife, flora, and fauna".

That about covers everything I wanted to mention. Thank you again for your time, and good luck with any future writing projects!

Guide was written by Cassondra Snow (~Kaleana @ DeviantART) in May 2014.