Editor needed as i'm stumped.

I just had one of my stories for spelling/grammatical reasons and I have no idea why. I've gone over it a couple of times and it has no spelling mistakes, one thing that comes to mind is that I used the French word "magnifique" once when a character is pretending to pay compliments to the chef after she's finished eating a meal he cooked. I'm not sure if the editors would have an issue with a single French word in a story marked as being in English.

Other than that there's the fact that for some reason the dictionary for the site's story submission section didn't recognise goujon as a word. It is and I spelt it correctly so I'm not sure. Even the forum dictionary doesn't recognise it in fact as my spelling of it in this paragraph is apparently incorrect too.

The story is approximately 5000 words long and is almost completely in English other than the part mentioned above.

+ as it turns out there was a single spelling mistake towards the beginning that I somehow missed. Will see if that was why it was rejected, I've resubmitted it.

Chances are good that it was rejected for some other grammar or presentation reason than spelling. Maybe the quotes not done as this American-system Web site wants them? Someone with experience in posting stories to Literotica probably needs to look at it for you--and they probably would want to know what category it is.

Usually helps to post a paragraph or two here for review since we can't see the story.

jaF0 said:

Usually helps to post a paragraph or two here for review since we can't see the story.

Click to expand...

Right, so you can see what my grammar is generally like. As far as I can tell it's the same as what i've done for my other stories but I will just in case.

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"Yes, i've been a waiter here for almost a year now. So are you guys ready to order yet?" Trying to suppress the possibility of a lengthy conversation with her and her family I switch topics away from me as fast as I can.

"Now Marie who's this? is he a friend of yours?." Her mother chimes in and I just stand there looking down at my pen and paper.

"Yeah he's a friend from university. I see him around sometimes and we talk about all kinds of stuff, he has some social anxiety so maybe best if we just give him our orders."

They give their orders and I mouth a silent thank-you to Marie, who I don't think I had even known the name of before now, before continuing with my routine. She had her fun bringing me up but she thankfully isn't cruel.

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The clunky nature of the first line is deliberate as the guy isn't very comfortable talking to people for extended periods of time. From another skim of the story the grammar here is consistent with the rest of the story and is consistent with my other stories.

I won't claim I found enough in this to think anything here should cause a posting rejection, but there are a few problems with what you have provided:

"Yes, i've[I've. The "I" should be capitalized] been a waiter here for almost a year now. So[comma] are you guys ready to order yet?" Trying to suppress the possibility of a lengthy conversation with her and her family[comma. Introductory gerund clause] I switch topics away from me as fast as I can.

"Now[comma] Marie[comma. Direct address] who's this? is[Is. sentence opener; "I" should be capitalized] he a friend of yours?.[delete period. Only one terminal punctuation mark]" Her[her. Lowercase "h" as this is a slug combined with the dialogue before it into a sentence.] mother chimes in[comma. Compound sentence with two independent clauses.] and I just stand there looking down at my pen and paper.

"Yeah[comma] he's a friend from university. I see him around sometimes and we talk about all kinds of stuff,[period and new sentence, instead of the run-on sentence] he[He] has some social anxiety[comma. Compound sentence with two independent clauses] so maybe best if we just give him our orders."

They give their orders and I mouth a silent thank-you to Marie, who I don't think I had even known the name of before now, before continuing with my routine. She had her fun bringing me up but she thankfully isn't cruel.
[There are a few other compound sentences where it's iffy whether or not they should be set up with a comma, but since it's iffy, I didn't mark them. I don't thing Lit. would have a problem with any as given]

sr71plt said:

I won't claim I found enough in this to think anything here should cause a posting rejection, but there are a few problems with what you have provided:

"Yes, i've[I've. The "I" should be capitalized] been a waiter here for almost a year now. So[comma] are you guys ready to order yet?" Trying to suppress the possibility of a lengthy conversation with her and her family[comma. Introductory gerund clause] I switch topics away from me as fast as I can.

"Now[comma] Marie[comma. Direct address] who's this? is[Is. sentence opener; "I" should be capitalized] he a friend of yours?.[delete period. Only one terminal punctuation mark]" Her[her. Lowercase "h" as this is a slug combined with the dialogue before it into a sentence.] mother chimes in[comma. Compound sentence with two independent clauses.] and I just stand there looking down at my pen and paper.

"Yeah[comma] he's a friend from university. I see him around sometimes and we talk about all kinds of stuff,[period and new sentence, instead of the run-on sentence] he[He] has some social anxiety[comma. Compound sentence with two independent clauses] so maybe best if we just give him our orders."

They give their orders and I mouth a silent thank-you to Marie, who I don't think I had even known the name of before now, before continuing with my routine. She had her fun bringing me up but she thankfully isn't cruel.
[There are a few other compound sentences where it's iffy whether or not they should be set up with a comma, but since it's iffy, I didn't mark them. I don't thing Lit. would have a problem with any as given]

Click to expand...

Right, thanks.

I'll make no claim that my grammar is perfect especially with my use of commas but this is pretty much the standard that passed before for me. It could be the lack of capitalisation in the I but I doubt it.