Grammar and Style Resources

Over time the Challenge and Quality Committees have come to notice patterns of common errors and issues recurring in fanfics that are disqualified. This page outlines some of these more common problems, along with brief explanations and advice for finding and fixing these errors. Of course, this is by no means a comprehensive grammatical handbook, so we’ve also included links and names of some reliable resources at the bottom of the page, for anyone who has questions about things not covered here.

Just a brief disclaimer: This page was written by FrameofMind (frameofmind1701@gmail.com) , based on input from the members of the Challenge and Quality Committees—so if you take issue with any of the rules or advice presented here, she’s the one you should forward your complaints to.
Okay, on with the show…


Grammar Basics

  1. The Double Period

  2. Tense Shifting

  3. Comma Errors

    1. Independent Clauses

    2. Items in a List

    3. Parenthetical Phrases

    4. Direct Address

  4. Homophones

  5. Sentence Structure

    1. Run-ons

    2. Fragments

  6. Plurals and Possessives

  7. Subject-Verb Agreement


Other Issues to Consider

  1. Formatting

  2. In-text Author’s Notes

  3. “Fangirl” Japanese

  4. Point of View Shifts

  5. Ellipses


Helpful Hints

  1. Spell-Check

  2. Grammar-Check

  3. Thesaurus/Dictionary


Comprehensive Grammar Resources

  1. Online

  2. Books