Fellow Writers... I beg you...

[Arkain]

Please... please please please...
Use a dictionary!
Use a thesaurus!
Find some nice grammar websites and USE THEM.

I beg you, for the love of Eurypides' pen!

I s'pose I may be able to forgive you for being a casual writer and only posting one story for fun, sure... as long as it can be read, that's great!

But if you're going to be writing stories consistently... please, I beg of you, approach it with the reverence that the art deserves.

I'm not even talking about cliches or whatever... just make it proper English and immediately the story is many times improved.
Once you've accomplished that, once you sound like you know what you're talking about, then you can start developing your own voice and experimenting...

But please, it really isn't that hard to learn. I'm not even holding it up to college standards.

Trust me, it really works.

Oh... and... for the love of Shakespeare... please don't overuse the thesaurus. That's almost as bad as not using it at all!

[Monogatari]

Please... please please please...
Use a dictionary!
Use a thesaurus!
Find some nice grammar websites and USE THEM.

I beg you, for the love of Eurypides' pen!

I s'pose I may be able to forgive you for being a casual writer and only posting one story for fun, sure... as long as it can be read, that's great!

But if you're going to be writing stories consistently... please, I beg of you, approach it with the reverence that the art deserves.

I'm not even talking about cliches or whatever... just make it proper English and immediately the story is many times improved.
Once you've accomplished that, once you sound like you know what you're talking about, then you can start developing your own voice and experimenting...

But please, it really isn't that hard to learn. I'm not even holding it up to college standards.

Trust me, it really works.

Oh... and... for the love of Shakespeare... please don't overuse the thesaurus. That's almost as bad as not using it at all!

not to start a flame war, but i'd rather have an actual flowing story with spelling mistakes than one that is terribly laid out and executed, but spelled well. May i instead recommend a bubble map and a couple rough drafts with peer review instead?



disclaimer: i havent read any fanfics in about 5 years, i gave up hope of any of them ever being worth a damn.

[Mistress Guendolen]

How about shooting for the middle of the road and using the spell-checker?... It's really not that hard. Though peer review always helps, of course.

[Arkain]

I fail to see why they're mutually exclusive.

[Taralynn]

I don't think she was saying they were mutually exclusive. I think she was just saying "At least use a spell checker. And if you can get someone else to go over your piece even better." I just think she was going for a little bit of a sarcastic tone so it was easy to misunderstand what she meant.

I have a question for you Arkain, who is Eurypides?

[AnimaVex]

Greek playwright. That's all I know. He's pretty good, I think. Or, at least, I remember. *wiki's it*

And you misspelled it! It's Euripides! <.<

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euripides

[Mitera Nikkou]

Eh... I never liked the spell-checker thing. Especially if you set it to automatically fix things.

But, as stated already, having good spelling helps. I wonder why anyone would let the very obvious ones go, such as having "defiantly" instead of "definitely." (It's amazing how many times I've come across that mistake.) If not a spell-checker, the dictionaries, whether paper or 'Net variety, are useful to have around.

A thesaurus is good to have as well, when you want some more variety. However, as I've found from personal application, it seems better to stick with one word for the same thing. For instance, if you refer to the rain as being drops, keep on referring to them as drops unless it's actually necessary for the mood, or if there's an actual difference in the rain in a proceeding occurrence of it. Especially if the description of something is based on a character's perception: make sure they see things as they should, unless they have a reason to see something differently. One character will call it a thingamabob, and the other a thingamajig; it's a good way of keeping the reader on track, when it comes to directing them through the story.

As for grammar... Well, I'm no good at it at all, so... <.<; Still, be sure to apply punctuation when necessary. And while it's better to use punctuation correctly, it should be fine so long as the reader can distinguish when something starts, transitions, and ends. Keeps stuff orderly.

Okay, enough of my nonsense. This is Dr. Stupid, layman extraordinaire, signing out. XD;;

[Arkain]

Don't ever, EVER set a spell checker to automatic.

If you don't use your own judgement with a thesaurus it's worthless.

Especially easy to do with good grammar!

And, finally, Eurypides. My mistake, I meant Sophocles, who wrote Oedipus Rex and others.

[Monogatari]

whoever uses firefox 2.0 + it comes with a spell checker. i recommend looking into it.

i guess the spelling mistakes will get fixed after all! (^-^)b

[ElanaSilvereye]

I choose to ignore for I am the greatest writer whom ever lived XD MWUAHAHAHAHAHA

bow before me, all shall despair, and love me '-_^

[AnimaVex]

Modest much?

Ah, all right. I know that one. Had to read Oedipus Rex for spanish class. >.>

And spell checkers only complement your own knowledge. Otherwise, they're not very good. And I never use it in auto, so I wouldn't know about that.

Correct grammar's a pain in the rear. I hate that part in English. I'd probably learn it better and faster without my teacher... well, teaching it.