Writing Tips · 10:29am Nov 22nd, 2017
I have a sinus headache and don't feel up to working on any of my stories. So here are three tips based on things I've noticed in some of the stories I've read here. I don't know if anyone might find this useful--or even read it. This is probably just shouting in an empty room. 
Digits in Dialog
For simple numbers it feels disruptive. "I can clear those clouds in 10 seconds flat!" This would read more like natural dialog when written as a word. "I can clear those clouds in ten seconds flat!" Though for complex numbers and dates it does make sense to go with digits for clarity sake. "In nineteen twenty five I ordered forty three thousand five hundred and twenty five cupcakes." vs. "In 1925 I ordered 43,525 cupcakes."
Stretching Dialog Using Letters You Can't Say in a Stretched Way
Emphasizing a word by stretching the last letter regardless of if someone could actually say it that way or not. Rainbow Dash yelled, "I'm such an idiotttt!" What? She spoke it like "idiotuh-tuh-tuh-tuh"? Nope, people don't talk that way. It makes more sense to stretch a vowel in this case. Rainbow Dash yelled, "I'm such an idiooot!" Vowels are usually a good bet for this but there are stretchable consonants as well. "Mmmhmmm, there are." When in doubt I try saying the dialog to see if it works.
Plethoras of Commas
Orange Background walked into the bar, looked around, she sighed and felt like another night of drinking, that would be a bad idea, but she was going to do it anyway. Way too many vaguely related ideas crammed into a single sentence and linked with a comma. It comes across as half-baked and rambling. I suppose that could work, depending on the story and mood you're trying to create, but it's better to breakup those ideas into their own sentences or at least murder a few useless commas. Orange Background walked into the bar, looked around and sighed. Another night of drinking would be a bad idea but she was going to do it anyway.
Fluttershy likes animals, and is the best pony. We don't need a comma for every instance of "and". Fluttershy likes animals and is the best pony.
This might be a helpful resource for comma wrangling: How to Use Commas: A Summary Though it does use a lot of fancy-pants terms like "subordinating conjunctions" and "nonessential appositives". Ugh! Frankly, I'm terrible with grammar rules and I struggle with my commas. I just write whatever reads smoothly, rewrite it several times, hope for the best and let Grammarly warn me when I dun goofed. 
From personal experience, I seriously wouldn't use Grammarly. I disabled it after a few months because it just got too irritating and the corrections it suggested were plainly daft and unnecessary. It kept suggesting edits to me that were worse than what I actually put down to begin with, but the major con of using software or programs such as Grammarly is that you shouldn't need a program or piece of software to tell you how to write, even if it offers pointers, which, to be fair, are terrible to begin with.
As an experienced writer, I can tell you that using software to help with spellings and general grammar isn't a necessity to have handy. Instead, you should be able to learn from mistakes and use your brain to help you correct things. Normally, errors will show up every now and again with first draft stories or written work, but that's the whole point. Only worry about it when you get to the editing phase, which will naturally come shortly after you have finished your work.
I used that same method and approach to get me to where I am with my writing skills today. I'm proud and happy with how my skills evolved and how fast I've come to notice and edit my wording around to make it more effective and even enjoyable when I write stories, poetry or music.
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With love, from England,
- FireRain 💛
Hi, from The Great White North.
I agree with you that Grammarly can be quite annoying with some of its suggestions. So, I only use it sparingly. I'll write a chapter or two, edit it a few times, maybe show it to a friend for their insights, before tossing it at Grammarly to see if I missed something obvious-but-somehow-hard-to-spot like like repeating a word. It and spell checking software help me to learn from my mistakes, by pointing them out to me.
YMMV of course.