Creepypasta Wiki:Style Guide for Writing

Welcome to Cleric of Madness's Center for People Who Can't Write Good and Wanna Learn to Do Other Stuff Good Too

Okay, pasta writers everywhere, it's become apparent that no one is following the rules about posting and getting feedback. It's also apparently that many people have either not paid attention in English class or have not left Middle School yet. This is a wiki that contains all manner of scary stories, so people are going to read these things. To not use proper grammar and spelling is disappointing. So, I have created a list of rules for writing.

Capitalize Your Titles
This has been explained before, so I will repeat myself for a final time. Read some book titles, Google it if you really have to, but learn how to properly capitalize titles. Some words are iffy and aren't always capitalized, but usually you can get away with capitalizing them regardless. NOUNS and VERBS really need to be capitalized in titles, along with the FIRST and LAST words (always, no matter what) in titles. Furthermore, DO NOT ADD A PERIOD TO THE END. It isn't a statement, it's a title. Question marks and Exclamation points are fine to use, however. (TL;DR: http://www.lmgtfy.com/?q=How+to+capitalize+titles )

Capitalize Your Sentences
This should be clear to anyone who has ever had an English class in their life, or who has ever had to write an essay. As clear as possible: EXCEPTION: When the quotation is split by a speaker action and continued in the same sentence, then do not capitalize the second half. ("Mother you know ," said Bob, pausing to point at the table, "there are no cats on the table.")
 * Capitalize the first word of a sentence.
 * Capitalize the first word inside a quotation if it is something someone is saying. (Bob said, "When are we going?")
 * If your quotation ends in a question mark or exclamation point, do NOT capitalize the word that follows it if it is still part of the same sentence. If your sentence does not end at the quote, do no capitalize after it ("Wow!" he said with a gasp.)
 * Capitalize the word "I"! There's not reason to ever not capitalize "I" when referring to yourself. I'd, I've, I'm. You're the most important person, so that's why you capitalize I.

Do Not Capitalize Like This
Do not under any circumstances capitalize the first letter of every word of any amount of sentences. That's called using the Title Case, and it's the grammar/style equivalent of murder in terms of how wrong it is.

Fun with Punctuations!

 * Put a space after your punctuation! This is a critical writing ability. After every punctuation mark (comma, semicolon, colon, period, exclamation point, and question mark) put a space.
 * Spaces after the end of sentences! The standard is TWO spaces after a sentence, but it's okay to use just one sometimes.
 * Use a COMMA to end a sentence in a quote if there is more after it. ("I love you," he said with a smile.)
 * Use a PERIOD to end a sentence in a quote if it is the end of the sentence. (He looked at her, smiled, and said, "I love you.")
 * Periods go INSIDE the quotation marks.
 * Commas go inside the quotation marks.
 * Question marks go inside the quotation marks if it belongs in the quote. (Bill said, "Where are we going?"
 * Question marks go outside the quotation marks if it belongs to the part of the sentence outside of the quotation. (Have you ever wondered about the people called "nerds"?)
 * If you're quoting or putting air quotes around something inside of quotation marks, use a singe quote mark around the quote. ("And then I used the 'spray gun' on him," he said.)

Paragraphs!
You use paragraphs (breaking up the text onto a new line) in the following instances:
 * After someone speaks.
 * Changing speakers.
 * Transitioning from one subject to the next. (Talking about a murderer and then talking about something else)
 * To break up long parts of text based on idea transitioning. (When writing a long bit about one thing, make new paragraphs to emphisize different parts of that one bit..

Pro-Tips

 * To kill the Cyberdemon, shoot him until he's dead.
 * Do not use ellipses (...) instead of spaces either between words or between sentences.
 * If you start a sentence with a word that begins with an apostrophe to show abbreviation, you do not need to capitalize that word. ("'ello and welcome," he said.)
 * If you want to add emphasis to a word, instead of writing it IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, try using italics instead. It's the professional and less eye-gouging way to add emphasis to a word or phrase.
 * Don't end your sentences with prepositions. The Grammar Police will beat you unmercifully. Don't make me show you my badge.
 * Avoid Run-ons and Comma Splices at all costs, they are terrible things. (Like what I just did in that sentence.)
 * Do not under any circumstance use "of" instead of "have" like in should have, would have, could have. Should've, could've, would've, et al. all sound like "should of," but they are all abbreviations for should have, etc.