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I am getting tired of seeing so much unreadable works published that can be greatly improved with a simple spell check. I request Erin, Cat, and Piper please add a spell checker to the posting pages for those directly entering to the site. Beyond that, most word processing programs also include a grammer checker as well. Editing the paragraph sized run-on sentences would be the other major improvement to works that are enjoyable to read. If you don't have MS Office, Open Office is free and works just as well. Otherwise there is Google Documents for those that don't want to install anything. I implore people to please check your work before posting. This simple act with proof reading will go a long way to making better writers.
Thanks
AF-Katelynne
Comments
Yep.
Spill chick woks grate! Well..... most oh the time!
Seriously don't most browsers have it built in now?
a spool chocker?
whot a novell idea.
Stupidity is a capital offense. A summary not indictable.
Spell Checkers Have Their Limitations
I'm shore your hart is in the rite plaice. I putt awl my work threw spell cheque.
I agree with you regarding run-on sentences, they're really annoying, I don't know what we can do to discourage them, maybe have negative kudos points or something.
More seriously, long passages of uncredited dialogue are what usually stop me reading. Just every so often have one of the characters walk over to the window or narrow their eyes or hesitate before replying. It makes a huge difference.
Run-on sentences
There are one or two authors. Who are guilty of the exact opposite. Mannerism which is that they chop. Whole sentences up into unnecessary parts!
Penny
Err?...Grammer?
Physician, heal thyself.
Tsk tsk
Whether she is guilty of not doing it is irrelevant, she is at the very least not a story writer. One usually spellchecks a work outside of a blog entry so I would suggest she be given a pass on this. It is one thing to enter a comment on a spur of the moment versus having a leisurely time of thinking over and massaging a work.
That said, there are authors here who don't spellcheck their work and get their backs up when you request that it be done competently. This occurs even when it was only suggested that they do so prior to 'publishing' it on kindle where people are paying for it. I refuse to pay 6 bucks for a 'copy' of a work that is in such a state.
Employing a proof reader would be a big help as well.
I know how it is. As an author, the first thing you want to do after writing "The End" is publish the thing. However, I'm appalled at the grammatical and punctuation errors I find in my own works when when I go back to them six months or a year later.
My problem is that I don't know anyone to inflict with the task of proofreading or maybe it's I'm apprehensive about turning my baby over to someone else.
When reading others' work, I download it into my word processor to read later. I'm a compulsive editor. I simply can't read by the errors. I go back and correct them. Sometimes (rarely) I rewrite a sentence so it reads the way I think the author intended it to. Sorry if I butcher the work, but I can't help myself.
I'd be glad to do that for someone who wants a second set of eyes to spot errors. However; I'm picky about the kind of works I read and so my help can't be to broadly offered.
If anyone is interested in a proofreader, feel free to PM me about what kind of stories I'm willing to proofread.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin eine Mann
Was that done deliberate?
"...and so my help can't be to broadly offered."
P.
To Officially address the question of Spell Check...
The is currently no suitable Spell Check module for Drupal 7 (the software that runs this site) that does not require the installation of a module called WYSIWYG.
Installation of WYSIWYG would actually BREAK editing of all older stories, and actually ANY story/blog/forum/comment/etc that was submitted before WYSIWYG was installed.
We have been working on trying to make WYSIWYG work with our content configuration for AGES as we feel it could offer an opportunity for more people to have better editing access with a WYSIWYG/Visual editor (What You See Is What You Get).
So the short answer is, unless we have a generous person that is willing to code, or sponsor development of said module (figure 20+ hours at $75/hour) we will not be installing a spell check module.
On the flip side, most modern desktop browsers (Chrome and Safari that I know of for sure) offer built in spell check (they underline miss-spelled words in red, you then right-click to fix them). And most modern smartphones and tablets offer auto-correct which is sometimes actually correct.
-Piper
also
Mozilla's Firesux and Seamonkey Suite have that same spell check functionality.
That means all the "skinned" firesux like Flock have it.
and yes, with the completely user unfriendly interface, firesux is the only name that fits.
google chrome/chromium has an even worse interface design.
Stupidity is a capital offense. A summary not indictable.
Built-in spell-checkers
Have a singular drawback, and that is they can't know the author's intent.
The example I offer is Somewhere Else Entirely, which I am attempting to write using US English. I don't always get it right but the checker picks up most of the worst ones I miss.
However, I'm in the UK and any browser spell-checker might therefore assume I want a UK dictionary. It might be possible to select a different dictionary but why bother when I already have one set appropriately in my word processor (LibreOffice in my case)?
The other problem, more likely when creating alien worlds, is that almost every name I use is unknown. I have had to make my own local dictionary of Anmar-specific words to cater for the thousands of non-English place, animal and personal names. Doing that in a browser would probably be a lot less easy.
Penny
Edit: Oh, and if I find a spell-checker defaulted on in any browser I immediately turn it off. It's too distracting.
Auto Complete (Ugh!) and Spellcheckers
These are the bane of my life. For those who don't know, I write software for a living. A recent update to my favourite (Uk spelling ok!) code editor has introduced auto-complete and spell checking. The latter has only a US dictionary. The Auto-complete can't be turned off!
Needless to say I have voiced my complaints to the producer. This has met with a stony silence.
I have therefore cancelled my maintennance contract with the producer. This is a shame because I have been using this tool for the past 15 years.
This leads me to another gripe.
A lot of US companies seem to refuse that there is a world outside the lower 48 states that does not use US grammar, spellings etc.
We don't all live in Cities you know.
Some countries have more than two lines in their address.
We don't all use Zip Codes (that are only numeric)
How many times have you seen 'We do not ship outside the USA'?
I know that this is digressing but it really would not hurt to consider the world at large before imposing
artificial restrictions on life, the universe and everything.
And then criticising those who use a different dialect or language.
You will pull your hair out
I often write in a sentence pattern that is consistent with the nationality of the person I am depicting. We are all amateur writers save for a half dozen of us. This is not English class. You'll go crazy when I publish a story.
nope
your method adds to the characters because they are using the speech patterns people of that nationality do use.
Stupidity is a capital offense. A summary not indictable.
Thank yew, M'deah!
Your encouragement is most gracious.
Gwen
proofing stories
It is very difficult to adequately police your own work. I know I read my own several times and still there are errors.
That is why I posted for an editor in this blog. I was fortunate in getting a good one who not only catches many of my obvious errors but who is slowly and painfully making me better writer (I hope). Seriously, don't try to edit your own work exclusively, it can't be effectively done.
I now have two editors who review my stories and I am still finding punctuation and word use errors after I have posted. I am trying to fix those problems when I find them, but it is embarrassing to me that I'm having to fix them after posting.
It's no crime to ask for help, and many people here are more than generous with their time and energy.
So ask. The worst that can happen is no one answers!
Waterdog
Story writing methods
I don't officially outline, but I do use post it notes on a board. Perhaps owing to my Aspie nature, an editor is not often used, and it usually takes about 4 edits to make the story seem right. I don't "officially" know enough about sentence structure to recognize certain errors, so my writing is mostly done on instinct.
Certain people here have lovingly and helpfully corrected glaring issues with my stories and so far have mostly not taken out cultural sentence structures that I had intended to be there. It has been grating on my nerves when I have used UK spelling in a story where the character was from the UK, and some American has "corrected" it. Having travelled a bit, I no longer entertain the delusion that America is the only way.
Best
Gwen
Proofreading
I had an odd thought about proofreading as related the typical genre of stories on this site.
The wrong kind of proofreader just might add certain types errors.
Is anyone here familiar with the story of funny thing that happened in the editing of the original "Star Trek" pilot?
*giggles*
~Hypatia >i< ..:::
tell meeeee
No I dont but im a sucker for startrek trivia.. so what happened?
SciFi!
Being unfamiliar with Science Fiction, the "film processing department" kept correcting the skin color of the "Green Orion Slave Girl" to a more normal color. And Roddenberry kept re-shooting the scene with different makeup to get her to appear Green. It took a while before someone realized what was going on.
>i< ..:::
Suggestion for writers.
Write it up, but then _walk away from it_. There's a reason for the editing cycles. It's not just sending it to someone else, then going back over it yourself - it's to put some distance between you and the original writing.
Write something else, or sit down and read a good book. Get your mind out of the creation point for that story, and then go back. That lets you look at it from a different angle.
Instant gratification is a failure in almost everything - even in sex :)
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
Ask and ignore
A couple of times I've answered when a writer just desperately needs someone to go over their story. This last time I was the only person that volunteered in a reply to the request. I don't know if the writer got tons of replies via PM or not, but I never heard a peep from the writer. Somebody that checks a story for fails and suggests correction is not going to rewrite your story. Under the 'any port in a storm' system, why not pass them a copy and see what you get back? You're not obligated to use anything the test reader offers up, so take a shot.
I'm thinking also people that offer to help that you're going to refuse deserve at least a short "thanks but no thanks" reply. It just seems the courteous thing to do. It also informs that kind person that they are no longer bound by the offer. I've had it happen. Writer A asks for help and four people offer. In my book that means I shouldn't take anything else on because I have committed myself.
Not hearing a thing, after a week or so I (or you) decide the writer isn't interested and accept a different request from Writer B. A week later (this is two or three weeks down the line) an email shows up with a 70,000 word story attached. The email says "Thanks for offering, I need this back in two days!" In all likelihood A is going to get rejected and ugly words will follow.
Just don't leave us hanging, a yay or nay is all that is needed and would be greatly appreciated.
I went outside once. The graphics weren' that great.
I was trying to decide how
I was trying to decide how how to add my own penny's worth of comment to the Pill kecker debate.
What I would add to the debate is that I was appalled someone wanted to play school teacher with NEGATIVE Kudos points as punishment to those who annoyed others with their pilling mistocks. What better way to drive people away from writing than negative kudos points. After all what is Erin's number one rule for BigCloset.
KEEP IT FRIENDLY
Sophie
Thumbs-up
The current kudos module is called Thumbs-up but it allows for multiple values both positive and negative. It's been my experience that allowing more than a simple equivalent of "like" leads to cliquism, lo-balling and unfriendliness. I've tried several other ways of doing a reader's simple feedback and the system we have now works best. Kudos, comments and PMs give us a nice range of feedback with a minimum of friction.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
I wish...
...Kudos points were private, so they couldn't become bragging points, and that we could give multiple points for stories we love. Kudos points would become more like audience applause - a little for something enjoyed, or a lot for something loved.
But it only would work if only the author could see it, otherwise you'd get people spending all day clicking themselves, just to wind up the kudos.
You can't click Kudos more than once.
There's a value in public kudos but private ones might be valuable too. But multiple points just mean that lesser values are seen as negatives. I'll think about this idea.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
But what dictionary should we use?
Centre or Center? (actually both are in Chambers)
After having to grate my teeth and spend years writing technical manuals using US English for products that were never going to be sold in the US, I refuse to use US English for anything I write these days. That applies to technical documents at work but as our Corporate HQ is in Geneva it does not represent a problem.
IMHO, the real problem isn't the spelling but the grammar especially things like
your are
your're
your
Which is correct?
In some systems, there's even
In some systems, there's even a Canadian English dictionary. Probably Aussie English too - that way people can spell 'chunder' and 'stubbies' properly, I suppose.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
Not a grammar terrorist
I know there are BCTS readers and writers from several English speaking countries with different dialects and speech patterns that I need to keep in mind as I read the multitude of stories. When I first stumbled into this site I thought some of the wording, spelling, and sentence structures seemed clumsy to my reading ear, but as I enjoyed more stories I saw it was merely the difference between British English and American English. Now I see/read it not as something wrong but as regional accents from the world spanning English language.
That being said, sometimes the wrong ~there – their – they’re or your – you’re ~ can be jarring. But, as one of my teachers told me; “If what you are writing is interesting and hold my attention I will miss the errors, but if the story is not interesting or does not flow, I get bored and see all the grammar and spelling mistakes,”
For some of the members English is not their primary language or first language so come on give them a big break. I know it is sometimes hard to translate what is in the mind and heart to words on a page and I shudder to think about the difficulties of doing that in another language.
If using a word-processing program I suggest you go to its properties and change the grammar/spell check from the default to a stricter level. I also turn off the autocorrect function to make sure I must make an active decision on which word is inserted.
I am not a grammar terrorist; I try to give the writer the opportunity to sharpen their skills without quashing the spirit. It takes courage to expose yourself on the altar of public opinion and I know I have neither the talent nor the courage to write any of the stories I have read here.
If you are so offended by grammar and spelling mistakes start with a private message explaining the errors and how to correct them, offer to assist in the editing, or privately choose not to read any more of their work. Some of the “correctors” seem to take pride in slicing the heart out of a writer’s efforts.
Thank you all for your stories!
Jeri
Jeri Elaine
Homonyms, synonyms, heterographs, contractions, slang, colloquialisms, clichés, spoonerisms, and plain old misspellings are the bane of writers, but the art and magic of the story is in the telling not in the spelling.
Yeppers!
I endorse "turn off the autocorrect". I type terribly and have found that auto correct will often insert a totally different word, completely messing up your meaning. And be careful about suggested corrections with programs that do that. However stricter levels is a good idea as long as it is not autocorrect.
I suspect a lot of the wrong word type errors we see in stories here om BC were actually created by autocorrect when a typing mistake occurred.
>i< ..:::
PS. Don't you just hate grammar & typing nazis in an RP environment,
who insist if you can't type well you are not RPing* properly.
.
*PPS. Anyone know if there is a proper format for adding endings to acronyms?
RPing, RP-ing, RPing, "RP"ing
Most people do it just like
Most people do it just like you did - use the upper case, then add the 'ing' or 'ed' in lower case.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.