Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Fun with Polls I like read my Fanfic in...

I just want the writer to present to us their best work. Typos I can overlook, even on the archive, because I know that a few of my fics had some typos slip through even after the GE went over it, so what can you really do? I would just like writers to give us the best they can. If they have problems with spelling or grammar, they should get interested in learning about ways to improve. Read a book on the subject, take a class, join an online writer's group, find a fellow writer who's big on linguistics and ask for tips. Don't just be lazy and figure no one will notice or care... and continual ignorance is no excuse because there's plenty of info. out there. Of course when we write fast and mostly write for ourselves, anything goes. Everyone makes mistakes in early drafts. But what appears on the archive should be as polished as possible.

One of my favorite things to see is improvement from a particular writer over a time period of several years. It shows they really are working at improving their craft, which is a big blessing to the readers, of course.

I'd certainly agree here. I've been a notoriously bad speller since primary school. When pc spellcheckers came on the market I blessed the little cotton socks of its inventer. These days, it's even easier to get it right, with simple guides to grammar and punctuation only a mouse click away.

And I agree too on the blossoming writer. I know from conversations I've had over the years that few things impress an Archive GE or beta more than a writer who takes note of the mistakes they made first time around and doesn't repeat them the second time. Even if you start off from a rocky point, learning and growing will always earn you kudos and respect.

I know it wasn't the point of this poll, but I feel the need to point out something which is related and which is, I think, the cause of a lot of problems and confusion among new writers.

It's not mandatory that you care about presentation and format when you post a story here. ** Some writers just write for the sheer fun of it and don't want to put the effort into making sure the spelling is right or the grammar etc is correct. And that is a perfectly valid reason for writing. You're having fun with it and don't give a toss - go, you! Keep on writing and keep on having fun.

Where the problem kicks in, I think, is when such an author also expects to get lots of glowing fdk for their story or to win awards for it. Because it just isn't going to happen. As readers have made clear here - their attention requires at least a basic standard of presentation to be maintained.

Basically, you can't have your cake and eat it. If you just want to have fun, keep on doing that. But just be aware that it might limit your readership. If you want to write for the fdk or the awards, then try to ensure that your story is at the very least spellchecked, contains paras and watch those tenses! <G> Readers will forgive a whole passel of sins, especially if you're a new author just starting out, but those basics will gain you more readers.

Really, the choice is the writer's.

LabRat

** Note that this liberalism doesn't apply to the Fanfic Archive. <g> There we maintain the highest standard of presentation possible and our GEs are expected only to be 'polishing up' a story which has been all but beaten to death by the author and/or their beta before it's submitted - and the majority of errors already fixed.

Provided that the person knows how to use it.

Provided the person knows how to use a spellchecker, Kitty? I thought most, if not all, word processors on the market came with them included these days. I know all the programs I've used are pretty straight-forward ... you write your document, you select the spell checker, it highlights words that might be wrong and gives you suggestions for what the correct word might be.

I personally don't like to use the "check as you go" feature that beeps at me whenever I mistype a word because I tend to catch those mistakes as I type anyway and the beep distracts me when I'm already backspacing, but I know many others find them very helpful.

It's a sign of the times, though, that kids are learning computers in elementary school and that includes how to spell check. My daughter is 9 and in the 4th grade and she not only types her school reports and fiction stories, but she knows how to put together a full Power Point presentation!

(You could have knocked me over with a feather when she came out of her room a few weeks ago, having had her father scan in all her photos from a recent trip to Chicago with her aunt, and showed me a long Power Point she'd created, complete with humorous and informative captions for the dozens of photos! "Where did you learn how to do this??" I asked. "In school last year, Mom!" Amazing. )

Now I just need to get her to continue with the touch-typing lessons they started her on at the end of 3rd grade. That should be mandatory for all kids, I think! So vital these days.

Kathy (who also has "good but not perfect" preferences for MB posted stories because I, too, consider the MB to be a second level of beta-reading. And no, no one can catch *every* mistake on Archived stories, but having read stories in several otehr fandoms, I can say that our overall quality is outstanding. )

Hey Kathy - are you working in Word, by any chance? Because I think there's an option within the Spellchecker to turn off the "beep". Potential spelling issues are still underlined, but then you at least don't have that very annoying noise to contend with. Heck, if I had that on, my computer would sound like an entire flock of birds <g>. What I turned off the second I started writing - the stupid grammar/style check option. Gads!

Lynn

Good to know, Lynn, thanks! And agreed about the grammar/style checker. Majorly annoying.

Kathy

My voting seemed to be within the popular swing of things.