A tip for story writers

Postby chloroformmeplease » Wed Feb 02, 2011 8:07 am

I have seen so many stories where people write things like, "I like tieing people up", seriously the only word I can think of where you keep the "E" when adding "ING" is the word "canoeing", the correct spelling is "tying" not tieing. Dating not dateing and so on and so on.

Just a tip not trying to single anyone out. I am merely attempting to be helpful not harmful.
Treat others as you wish to be treated. Having said that I will not sit idly by while someone is disrespecting another just because they think they are better than everyone else.

Re: A tip for story writers

Postby Jason Toddman » Wed Feb 02, 2011 9:57 am

English is so full of delightful contradictions like that, isn't it? :quirk:
While we're at it, I've noticed lots of people confuse the words captor with captive on this site; making the captor the one who is tied up! I saw this in a new post just today in fact!
No no no! The 'captor' is always the one doing the tying; the 'captive' is always the one who gets tied up!
Dare to be different... and make a difference.
To boldly go where no one in their right mind has gone before...

Re: A tip for story writers

Postby SamanthaBoundx » Wed Feb 02, 2011 4:40 pm

I tend to agree :)

I'm the kind of person who gets annoyed and easily distracted by poor spelling and grammar. So, when I'm reading a story, it's hard for me to concentrate on how great it is when I'm too busy thinking "They used the wrong version of their/they're! AGH!" xD

Re: A tip for story writers

Postby snobound » Wed Feb 02, 2011 6:42 pm

Proofreading is indeed an lost art..... if you git the ironie.
Try out the TUGs chat! http://chat.mibbit.com/#tugsnet

Re: A tip for story writers

Postby Jay Feely » Wed Feb 02, 2011 8:08 pm

Yes, I agree. I use spell check on a seperate word document, but here is what it cannot catch.

1. Homophones: Words that sound the same, but has different meanings:
- Imagining writing something like this: I like to go bear foot

2. Misplaced Modifiers
-Imagining writing something like this: Covered in wildflowers, Aardvark pondered the hillside's beauty.

So, be careful when you write something. Always double check your writing before you post.

Of course, no one is perfect, especially if stories is long.

I admit my weakness is grammar and inability to follow logic, and I will try to work on that for future stories.
You will have to subdue me to restrain me. I been a bad boy so make sure you torture me too with anything but pain.

Re: A tip for story writers

Postby chloroformmeplease » Thu Feb 03, 2011 9:38 am

I agree that no one is perfect and I tend to make typos a lot. My hands are typing so fast that sometimes of comes out like "fo" instead. I try to catch it but I do not always catch it.

Then I might go back into the first chapter that I wrote of a fictional story and if I catch it I click on edit and fix the mistake no matter how long ago I wrote the story. As I said we are not perfect and I do not always catch the typos.

There was a brilliant story on utopiastories forum and it took a lot longer to read then it normally would have. There were important words missing and wrong names put in places and the spelling and grammar was horrible. The story itself was good but the mistakes took much from the story as a whole.

I stopped writing stories in this forum for various reasons but none of the above had anything to do with it.
Treat others as you wish to be treated. Having said that I will not sit idly by while someone is disrespecting another just because they think they are better than everyone else.

Re: A tip for story writers

Postby Jason Toddman » Thu Feb 03, 2011 11:15 am

I tend to get lazy checking for typos myself, but usually with comment posts like this one where I am typing this directly in the Post A Reply box. Story posts I'm better with because I type those on my computer and thus can use the spell check function and can take my sweet time checking for errors which I cannot always do here. Even so, I also frequently do 'fo' rather than 'of', transpose letters or add letters (for some reason I keep spelling Snobound Sniobound!), skip words (sometimes to embarrassing effect when that word is 'not') and so on. I'm probably more than a bit lazy in this regard as I write so cussed much, but hopefully not to the point where it distracts anyone. Chances are that MY stories will be distracting for entirely different reasons anyway. :twisted:
Dare to be different... and make a difference.
To boldly go where no one in their right mind has gone before...

Re: A tip for story writers

Postby chloroformmeplease » Sat Feb 05, 2011 9:24 am

Speaking of writing, :big: yes I know we already were. The worst for me is when I get writers block. I mean to say there is always a story somewhere within me but sometimes it will not come out in the proper words so I stumble and write and re-write and then get furstrated and have to walk away for a while. It might be hours or days or sometimes months.

If you ever suffer from this what do you do to get back to writing and rid yourself of the block?
Treat others as you wish to be treated. Having said that I will not sit idly by while someone is disrespecting another just because they think they are better than everyone else.

Re: A tip for story writers

Postby dreadnaught3200 » Sun Feb 06, 2011 1:23 am

Oh the joys of editing! So annoying yet so necessary. I like the rest of you quite often write faster than my brain can correct, so there are misspelled words, missing words and in some cases words that are just completely wrong (Like I'll mean to write something like 'chair' and it'll come out 'stand'. It's bizarre). Of course since my stories tend to be pretty long and wordy, picking errors out is often akin to finding a needle in a haystack. Especially since the mind knows the story and what the content of every sentence is supposed to be and automatically fills in the word gaps, meaning you don't notice them. Which is why I usually wait a day or two before I proof read so I'll have fresh eyes. Though quite often I'll still miss plenty!

chloroformmeplease wrote:If you ever suffer from this what do you do to get back to writing and rid yourself of the block?


Haha, there's no easy way out of this one man. In my case, if I get bad writers block on a particular story, I'll generally have to stop and ask myself if I really love the idea. If I don't love the idea and really want to put it to paper passionately, generally it'll come out sloppy and dull or not at all. But if I'm totally sold on the idea but I just can't find the words, generally I do one of two things:

1. Wait for a completely new idea (a new story) to pop into your mind and start writing it down. Once the creative juices start flowing in your mind, you can go back to your original story and it should come more naturally than it was.

2. Take a book by an author you enjoy and make sure its one that you don't mind emulating to some degree. Read the book for around an hour or so and try to be somewhat analytical. Think about what the author is doing and let yourself think about how you can apply that to your own writing. Once you've read for a solid while (An hour or two at least), go back to your story and start writing as if you were the author of what you've just been reading. It's amazing how much you'll emulate their style and in my experience the block will loosen up and you can keep going.

That's what I do anyway, I have no idea if that'll work for everyone.
There's a permanent tension in music isn't there? On one hand you have three chords, you know, four four and three chords. Then there's the people like me, who say "Well, why don't we add a fourth chord and put it in five four?" - Bill Bruford

Re: A tip for story writers

Postby Boundgal08 » Sun Feb 06, 2011 4:17 pm

Chloroform, I totally agree with you, it can be on the irritating side when you read such illiterate writing.... the spelling police need to come out me thinks :)
BOUNDGIRL!
Probably the kinkiest woman you will ever meet!
I am a switch, I like to put a man in ropes and also have a man put me in ropes!
I am the 'Queen of bondage'

Re: A tip for story writers

Postby sarobah » Mon Feb 07, 2011 1:18 pm

The old adage about 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration is true.
My guiding principle has always been this: If I expect other people to read and appreciate my stories, then I have a responsibility to proofread, edit and revise, as much and as often as is necessary.
Remember – the spell checker, the grammar checker and the thesaurus are your friends.

~ Sarah
Words, like Nature, half reveal and half conceal the soul within.

Re: A tip for story writers

Postby Jason Toddman » Mon Feb 07, 2011 2:10 pm

All this is true, but there's really only oe thing that really hacks me off about some not terribly skilled writers: when you try to point out how their stories could be improved (better spelling, better grammar, or whatever), some of them act like you tried to assault them and get all bent out of shape about it. I've given feedback to a few people here (whom I won't name; they know who they are) that was less than 100% praise, usually polite constructive criticism about grammar, spelling, rushing the story, etc., or perhaps just asking them to explain some vague point and they'd react with extreme rudeness. I don't mean the plot of a story; I mean like simple things like avoiding run-on sentences (a problem I have myself sometimes) or asking how old someone in the story was when the story happened; a civil question/comment that I don't feel deserves a "How dare you question how I write? $%^&*$#@^%!!!" kind of crap.
People whose feelings are so easily hurt that they can't take honest criticism or constructive suggestions definitely shouldn't post stories on sites like this regardless of their writing skills; and usually these over-sensentive types had had little in the way of such skills to brag about.
One other thing; I'm not an absolute grammar/spelling purist either. For some writers here, English is not their first language, and so their writing skills may seem less polished than they really are. There are even one or two (Chris12 comes to mind) whose stories are quite enjoyable, humorous and entertaining as they are despite the frequently (sorry Chris) flawed spelling and grammar. I don't think they should be held to quite the same level of English grammar purity (or whatever) we hold ourselves to, any more than I'd want to be judged by my skills in writing in their primary language (in this case, Dutch).
Dare to be different... and make a difference.
To boldly go where no one in their right mind has gone before...

Re: A tip for story writers

Postby xtc » Mon Feb 07, 2011 2:34 pm

As eye've sed elswear, Chris 12's English (and Likho's and various others' two) is a dammed sight better than that of sum of hour native righters.

Wha's Ale?
Xtc
Boxer shorts are cool,
but little speedos rule!

More by the same author: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=22729

Re: A tip for story writers

Postby xtc » Mon Feb 07, 2011 2:40 pm

Oops sorry, should have been a capital EYE.
Boxer shorts are cool,
but little speedos rule!

More by the same author: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=22729

Re: A tip for story writers

Postby Cantieup » Tue Feb 08, 2011 5:08 pm

I've only posted a few times on here. I sure not mind constructive criticism. My problem is I usually write late at Night or early in the morning on my iPad. Lol. I try to go back later an edit on my computer when I can.

Re: A tip for story writers

Postby Jason Toddman » Tue Feb 08, 2011 7:13 pm

xtc wrote:As eye've sed elswear, Chris 12's English (and Likho's and various others' two) is a dammed sight better than that of sum of hour native righters.

Wha's Ale?
Xtc


Yer meen 'a dame site butter', don't ye laddie? :twisted:
And I fully agree with that assessment too. I don't even bother to read (let alone offer feedback to) people who claim English as their primary language who write in actuality what we're just pretending to be doing. A few honest typos/mistakes are one thing, but some of the stuff I've seen is so atrocious I despair for our public school system!
Dare to be different... and make a difference.
To boldly go where no one in their right mind has gone before...

Re: A tip for story writers

Postby Fesselfan » Wed Feb 09, 2011 12:19 am

Cantieup wrote:I've only posted a few times on here. I sure not mind constructive criticism. My problem is I usually write late at Night or early in the morning on my iPad. Lol. I try to go back later an edit on my computer when I can.

Thanks for your statement :) Just a question for my understanding...do you post your stories from your ipad and edit them later on online here?

Cheers

FF
There are 10 kind of people in the world.
Those who understand binary numeral system, and those who don't.

Re: A tip for story writers

Postby Fesselfan » Wed Feb 09, 2011 12:21 am

sarobah wrote:The old adage about 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration is true.
My guiding principle has always been this: If I expect other people to read and appreciate my stories, then I have a responsibility to proofread, edit and revise, as much and as often as is necessary.
Remember – the spell checker, the grammar checker and the thesaurus are your friends.

~ Sarah

Like so often, I can just wholeheartedly agree to Sarah here. Esp. with the mentioned tools it's easy and quick to improve your stories grammar etc. When someome doesn't spend even that 5 minutes....well I think then he doesn't respect his readers.

Cheers

FF
There are 10 kind of people in the world.
Those who understand binary numeral system, and those who don't.

Re: A tip for story writers

Postby Cantieup » Wed Feb 09, 2011 4:55 am

Fessiefan.... Yes. But it will not all me to scroll in preview. So I have to post. Then edit. Here's a dumb question. How do you guys post what some one wrote? Like you just did up there? Is that in quote?

Re: A tip for story writers

Postby Fesselfan » Wed Feb 09, 2011 5:06 am

Cantieup wrote:Fessiefan.... Yes. But it will not all me to scroll in preview. So I have to post. Then edit. Here's a dumb question. How do you guys post what some one wrote? Like you just did up there? Is that in quote?

Yes, that's "qoute" :-)

Just a tip for you... NEVER write stories directly into the interface of this website (I never do this). Just write it with a word processor of your choice (I.e. MS word...or whatever) and copy&paste it into the interface here. You can do all spell checking etc in the word processor, works much smoother than online for me.

Cheers

FF
There are 10 kind of people in the world.
Those who understand binary numeral system, and those who don't.

Re: A tip for story writers

Postby Cantieup » Wed Feb 09, 2011 10:27 am

Thanks for that. I bet that will work better. I will try that on my next couple of chapters.