There's NO bad author's on Lit

I didn't complain about your cheerleading, although it did seem to be in danger of getting a little pushy. For starters, if you knew anything about what I mostly wrote under this account name (although I do write across the board), you wouldn't assume I be interested in reading what Exescort writes in any event.

Ha! Fair point. I really didn't think that one through, did I?
 
Thanks very much, it’s good to know I’m not alone with errors.

My main problem is probably that I get overexcited about stories. Then when I’m proofreading I fail to see blatant basic errors until it’s published.

The blame lays squarely at my feet.

Also bad comments are good for me, pushing me to learn more, but there are limits for some of us.

If I were to write in my native Glaswegian tongue? Nobody would understand a word except other Scots, so the effort is there, the finesse will hopefully come in time.

Wall of text is hard to read even in posts.

Sorry about that, but... :D

On self editing. Finish the story and let it sit for a while, anywhere from several days to a week. Change the font or change the screen colors, or both. Make the eye brain work on a different problem. reread it. You will find more errors that way. Read it aloud. That will show places where you trip yourself up and catch even more errors. Another pair of eyes is also another big help, even if they are not an editor.

Every little bit helps.
 
...

On self editing. Finish the story and let it sit for a while, anywhere from several days to a week. Change the font or change the screen colors, or both. Make the eye brain work on a different problem. reread it. You will find more errors that way. Read it aloud. That will show places where you trip yourself up and catch even more errors. Another pair of eyes is also another big help, even if they are not an editor.

Every little bit helps.

I find that printing a hard copy in a different font helps me to spot flaws.

My heavy duty shredder works overtime. :rolleyes:
 
This (bolded) part made me smile. I can relate.

I don't like keeping flawed drafts as hard copy. I have them as 'old drafts' on my hard drive. That's enough.

Some of those old drafts can be mined for future stories, particularly the drafts that deviated far from the intended story. I made a mistake early in my writing of deleting earlier versions of a story when I changed it drastically. The changed version didn't work and the earlier version might have... But I'd deleted it. :eek:

I have regrets about that missing version. I started it back in the 1980s but its long gone. It could never have been a Literotica story because part of the premise was revenge for detailed and specific sexual abuse of the hero when a child. His revenge was going to be similar abuse of his multiple abusers when he became adult but he changed it to letting them know he could - but wouldn't.

I couldn't rewrite it now. It was technically bad and I have changed too much. But that deleted version still nags at my consciousness.
 
I've never given negative feedback as I don't feel qualified to do so.
I'd already stated that I've actually only ever scored 5 as I only score on works that touch me personally.
I was interested in the reasoning behind low scoring and nasty comments that are left on stories. That's all.
Please don't be offended by my poor attempt at being humorous.

I'm not offended, just fairly straightforward about my opinions when it comes to rating fiction. It's not intended to be about judging your own preferences, just about sharing mine.
 
That's what brings me here. Do you, as an accomplished author on here, vote with your heart or purely from an academic perspective?

Not an accomplished author by any means, but I vote with my heart. Well, that is to say, if the story doesn't speak to my heart, why am I even reading it? I mean, it may be great, but maybe I'm just not into werewolf BDSM (we all know that's a lie: I gobble that shit up). So if it doesn't speak to my heart or some other organ, I'm not going to be reading the story in the first place. Ipso facto, no votes at all.

That being said, if I start to see a bunch of spelling mistakes, then it's a pretty good sign that I'm not going to enjoy the story. I just find authors who are careful with their language to also be authors who craft interesting and compelling stories. (This is where I should be extra careful that I'm not making any mistakes myself.) There's no necessary connection between the two: it's just a correlation.

I probably would knock off a star for sloppy mistakes. Maybe that makes me a snob, but I appreciate people who are careful.

EDIT: Fixed an absolutely humiliating spelling mistake.
 
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I made a mistake early in my writing of deleting earlier versions of a story when I changed it drastically. The changed version didn't work and the earlier version might have... But I'd deleted it. :eek:

I've done that too. And prior to my knowledge of jump drives (they may have been out there back then?) I had 3.0 floppies full of partially finished stories and "ideas".
 
If I were to write in my native Glaswegian tongue? Nobody would understand a word except other Scots, so the effort is there, the finesse will hopefully come in time.

I totally just finished Trainspotting. Is that at all close? Cause after a while (of being befuddled) I got used to the dialect and started digging it.
 
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So if it doesn't speak to my heart or something other organ, I'm not going to be reading the story in the first place. Ipso facto, no votes at all.

That being said, if I start to see a bunch of spelling mistakes, then it's a pretty good sign that I'm not going to enjoy the story. I just find authors who are careful with their language to also be authors who craft interesting and compelling stories. (This is where I should be extra careful that I'm not making any mistakes myself.) There's no necessary connection between the two: it's just a correlation.

I probably would knock off a star for sloppy mistakes. Maybe that makes me a snob, but I appreciate people who are careful.

*wink*
 
EDIT: Fixed an absolutely humiliating spelling mistake.

Happens to us all. I have a story just gone up that has this little pearl:

"Soinsert comma here Australian Alex..."

And sure enough, in my Beta reader edited copy, there it was in bright red font, but I'd somehow managed not to see it... nor run spell check that one last time, sigh. Another Beta commented, "you've just been edited by Slartibartfast, dentarthurdent." Lol. I claim it's the deliberate error, just to see how closely people are reading...

Lit publishing Rule 1 - even when you thought you'd proofed it one hundred times, you'll spot the last remaining error a microsecond after Laurel presses the "publish now" button. Sod's Law.
 
I understand absolutely. You're saying to proofread it one hundred and one times. Good advice.

Quality Assurance professionals know that 100% inspection will not find 100% of flaws. We all have to decide to accept something less than perfection. What matters is whether the flaw is critical.

A one word typo, a missing carriage return, a missing quote mark - they don't really wreck the story.

A missing paragraph, an inadvertent name change (an oggbashan speciality!), or confused plotting - they can make the reader back-click.

Multiple errors are annoying to readers.
 
Yep, no such thing as *prefect* copy--even by mainstream publishers.
 
For me, it felt like everything I ever post ER feels the need to correct me publicly.
Thus belittling me when I’m fully aware of my faults.

Yes. I was wondering if the quality of her bulletin board posts was the same in her stories. (I have not read them, and with this many errors I do not plan to.)

This is a bit off topic, but pertaining to the OP. Exescort, your av has been found on other sites. Is it of you? TinEye Search Results

For the record, this was a shitty thing to do. Exescort made it clear that she was feeling targeted and ER not only continued that targeting but escalated it. (How is her av remotely relevant? Did she ever claim it to be a photo of her?)

I was enjoying her stories, and I'm pissed that she appears to have been bullied off this site. By somebody who apparently hasn't contributed a single story of her own.

edit: and particularly disappointing coming from somebody who's a mod on this site, albeit not on this particular forum.
 
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I agree that it is very much too bad if a writer feels they are being harassed to the point that they leave Literotica. Exescort has received considerable stroking for her stories, though, and she raised the questions on technicals herself.

To be fair, I don't think the avatar question is unreasonable, in general--though it is as piling on and/or singling out. The Web site is allowing forum members to be very loose with copyright on avatars, I think, which certainly shouldn't be done on a writing site. If an image belongs to someone else and is being used without permission, that's a copyright violation and theft. Literotica doesn't follow up on that much at all (besides letting posters violated its rules on using graphic sex bits as avatars). We occasionally have complaints here about people's stories being stolen and reposted elsewhere when exactly the same thing is being done here with the copyrighted works of others.

Piling on and/or singling out, though, isn't good.
 
To be fair, I don't think the avatar question is unreasonable, in general--though it is as piling on and/or singling out. The Web site is allowing forum members to be very loose with copyright on avatars, I think, which certainly shouldn't be done on a writing site. If an image belongs to someone else and is being used without permission, that's a copyright violation and theft. Literotica doesn't follow up on that much at all (besides letting posters violated its rules on using graphic sex bits as avatars). We occasionally have complaints here about people's stories being stolen and reposted elsewhere when exactly the same thing is being done here with the copyrighted works of others.

Piling on and/or singling out, though, isn't good.

As you say, it's not an unfair question in general. I've certainly commented before about the irony of authors using unlicensed, uncredited copyright images in their avatars while complaining about people who pinch their stories :) It's just the context that makes it bullying here.
 
Ah.... Asshole mods are always plentiful.

ER, if you're reading this, I have recently started reading and enjoying Exescort's story. If, by any chance, she feels bullied by you and your nosey antics, I'll fucking make sure you are reported over and over to Laurel until you're removed as a mod. Don't for a fucking moment think you're immune.

Making a big issue of a trivial thing like an AV, on which Lit itself is very, very loose, is childish, obnoxious and unbecoming of a mod who fucks up from time to time herself (deleting comments when it suits your business, trolling other forums ad nauseum)

So, don't be a biatch and control your self-righteous urge.


Peace
(☞゚ヮ゚)☞
 
Making a big issue of a trivial thing like an AV,

So, someone stealing someone's story from here and reposting it elsewhere is just a trivial thing too, right? If not, what's the difference?
 
So, someone stealing someone's story from here and reposting it elsewhere is just a trivial thing too, right? If not, what's the difference?
That isn't even the same thing. Lit Forum isn't an art gallery. 'Stealing' pictures means jackshit here. No monetary value, no recognition or anyone going "ooh, I like your AV and I'd like to commission you for a book" bs.
 
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