hey everyone, I'm planning to edit my novel again, because English is not my native tongue I make many grammar mistakes in my writing. however, I don't know what mistakes I'm making what tense do i need to use when writing? I saw many novels use past tense so am I? is that wrong? I know there are many grammar mistakes but I want to know it can be ignored while reading or it's destroying the novel please if you can just skim through a few chapters and point out what mistakes I'm making especially the grammatical ones https://www.webnovel.com/book/16129893106084105/Emperor-of-Kings https://www.scribblehub.com/series/90677/emperor-of-kings/
Well I can see a few problems from that chapter with the Gods talking... but WebNovel huh. Imma just leave. There should be someone here nice enough to help.
I suggest that you buy an app online called: Grammarly. It's not perfect, but you'll get the general grammar corrected. Note that not everyone reading your novel know a perfect grammar either. You'll need to be a professional English teacher to do that. Even an English native speaker makes mistake a lot.
i posted my novel on scribble hub too pls give it a try https://www.scribblehub.com/series/90677/emperor-of-kings/
yes im using it and also the google grammar checker the problem was english readers said the grammar mistakes can be ignored as it not hinders the story very much but one reader used translator to translate my novel into spanish i think and said the grammar destroying the novel,at this point im pretty much confused
Did your reader use a machine translator (MTL) to translate it? Then, no wonder the grammar would be all over the place. You have to understand that MTL is not even close to the minimum requirement to properly translate. Even the best English writer would not be able to do that. If your Spanish reader translated it manually, then I don't think your grammar has any effect on your novel. It will highly dependent on how much that Spanish reader able to portrait your work into his translation. Note that it is completely impossible to achieve 100% translation, unless you're doing the translation yourself.
i think he must have used google translator or anything like that i myself used google translator to translate my novel into my native tongue oh man it was horrible beyond words
From the way I've seen your English, I think you already achieved the standard grammar of High school student. You only need to improve your ',' (Commas) on your sentences. If you really want to improve your grammar to the next level, then you will need a professional assistance from an English native. You're no longer at the level where you could get help from a local English teacher and average English speaker. English is not my native language either, so I could totally understand your problem.
That's your answer there. Google translate can't translate the novels perfectly. It still need a human touch.
For Web Novels you don't need perfect grammar. Don't get me wrong, it is a plus in your column but it shouldn't deter anyone if your grammar is not perfect. Now what will make or break you is flow. You need good flow. This may be harder if English isn't your native tongue. But instead of focusing on Grammar first I'd focus on flow. Good flow will get you a basic grasp on grammar. Great grammar can still give your novel terrible flow. Just read others works. Get used to when there should be pauses, changes in ideas etc. Read what you write aloud and if it sounds weird... redo it. Everyone reading with their inner voice will catch it if you don't. This may all be personal preference but I can easily forgive poor grammar. But I'll drop something in a second if I see poor flow. It's why I can't bring myself to read MTL. To solve your issues with tense. Just be consistent above all else. Stick to your guns. Another easy drop for me with a novel is when people use tenses randomly and interchangeably with no reason. Best way to combat this starting out. Read others works. Get a feel for it. Aside from that have a dictionary on hand and whenever you use a verb you don't know like the back of your hand check it in the dictionary to see if you tense is correct. You'll catch mistakes and quickly learn when it is appropriate to use each word.
100% agree with you and at far as ive read my novel the flow seems ok not perfect but its not breaking the reader's interest,some people beta read my chapters and said the flow is ok too the main problem im facing now is the grammar and the showing rather than telling. and i mostly read novels i NU bcz the novels in amazon or the western novels are too professional and its our of my league if i tried to mimic that it would end up in a disaster
Use Grammarly to see some basic mistakes, but don't take it too seriously, because sometimes the "redundant" part of the sentence gave a perfect meaning that we wanted to convey. Advanced mistakes also should be ignored, as they are not for fiction-writing, but more for business-writing. About tense, you can use either Past Tense or Present Tense, but you have to keep sticking to it at all time.