You want your writing to be easily understood, I am not the best at that,so here is what I learned recently by having a ton of eyes on my work.

Part One; Forget about the Frogs

This comes from what I call “Backstory Brain.” This is when you, the writer, understand your cast entirely down to their favorite color. Then you don’t mention anything about them because you already know what they are like; why do you need to say it?

When I write, I don’t often think of the audience. A bad habit that I am trying to get rid of. I want people to like my characters as much as I do, which means being vulnerable with your character ideas so that people can see them the way you dream them.

Why is this rule called Forget about the Frogs? I wrote a short story about a fox trying to impress some frogs with a card trick; he instead found a duck. No frogs appeared in the work. The frogs were a reference to another scene. Frogs did not need to be in my setting, and it confused everyone.

Part Two; Animals and Card-Tricks

Animals without hands have difficulty picking things up, especially playing cards. There are two distinct ways to address this problem of mine. The first option is to use it as a joke, illustrating how silly these characters are. Make them joyfully incompetent; after all, these weirdos are trying their best, which is all you can ask for.

The other is to ignore it completely. Just say they do something, then hope the audience accepts that it is a silly story that does not care how something happens in detail and instead pays attention to the reasons behind the actions.

Both of these, I think, would work. For my writing, I chose to ignore it completely. Of my fifteen reviewers, only one cared about the logistics of a fox doing a card trick. I am not sure that is good, but I take what I can get.

Part Three; My Grammar is “God Awful”

Yes, it is true. My grammar can be saved only with a robot reviewing all my work. Don’t be a wretch like me, where a Grammarly subscription is almost necessary to read anything I write.

My classmate told me my grammar is god awful. I have never laughed so hard.

To be sure, it was an honest review; the problem infuriated her. Her writing style tries to emulate old English novels, she says.

You can’t escape grammar, even if you write about silly animals.