Why is dialog punctuated incorrectly and is it the job of the editor to correct it?

elof69

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This applies only to the US, (I don’t know the rules in other countries), but I consistently see a period inside the quote only to be followed by a capitalized dialog tag. “Stop it this instant.” He said. vs. “Stop it this instant,” he said. “he said” is part of the sentence and as such should separated by a comma and the dialog tag not capitalized.

It is, literally, no extra work to do it correctly. Perhaps it makes no difference for 80% of the readers, but that mean 20% get pulled out of the story.

And the misuse of ellipses – don’t get me started. Two hundred thirty-six ellipses in a 3500 word story is….

(I'm not talking about an occasional error. No one can catch them all. I'm talking about the authors who's standard practice is to put the periods inside the quote, then add the dialog tag.)

Is this something Literotica editors (I'm talking about the editors an author asks to look at his/her manuscript. The editor of this fantastic site has many more important things to do.) address when working on someone’s manuscript?
 
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Depends on the editor. I certainly do flag issues with speech punctuation, but the knowledge and quality of editors is highly variable, so no guarantees that they'll catch anything.
 
This applies only to the US, (I don’t know the rules in other countries), but I consistently see a period inside the quote only to be followed by a capitalized dialog tag. “Stop it this instant.” He said. vs. “Stop it this instant,” he said. “he said” is part of the sentence and as such should separated by a comma and the dialog tag not capitalized.

It is, literally, no extra work to do it correctly. Perhaps it makes no difference for 80% of the readers, but that mean 20% get pulled out of the story.

And the misuse of ellipses – don’t get me started. Two hundred thirty-six ellipses in a 3500 word story is….

Is this something Literotica editors address when working on someone’s manuscript?

I tend to write most of my work (work? - Ha!) on a phone notepad, so it's quicker to write dialogue without the quotes, then add them in after when I proof read it. If I miss a period (where there should be a comma), that can auto-capitalise the next word, and I don't always spot it - but here's the thing...

I can proof read my own work half a dozen times, and when I'm happy that it's all perfect, I submit it. As soon as it gets published, of course, I find another error. We're all human, and I think the problem here is that you become 'snow-blind' to errors when you've read your own text too many times. It needs new eyes.

I've said before, it would be a massive help if there were a group of volunteer proof-readers on Lit (it would save ages ;))

Is there?
 
I correct it whenever I see it, but it's in all sorts of posted stories despite the site's insistence that one reason for rejecting a story is improper punctuation of speech. Maybe Laurel's just given up, or maybe there's a grammar program out there that either allows it or fails to catch it, but it shows up in a lot of authors' work.
 
Literotica editors are volunteers. I don’t think the word “job” applies to what they do.

Regardless, I have this gut hunch that iOS autocorrect is the reason we see so many capitalized dialogue tags. I know from personal experience the iOS keyboard automatically caps-locks after a period. Even when the period is followed by an a quotation mark, the caps lock is still set automagically. (Just like it ignores a space after a period.)

Maybe Android does it too. It’s infuriating.
 
TIs this something Literotica editors address when working on someone’s manuscript?

Maybe we should first clear up what you think is meant by "Literotica editors." The Web site only has one editor and she doesn't correct for anything like this. She would reject the story and send it back to the author for rework on this issue if she saw it, though.

But, let's go back to what you think is being done here in terms of editing--and by who.
 
Maybe Android does it too. It’s infuriating.
Various Android keyboard apps are available often providing punctuation options. I use the SwiftKey app. Its settings include many language choices, on-off for auto-correct, quick period, auto capitalize, and prediction. Predictions and corrections appear in preview tabs, not directly in your text, so it's easy to input exactly what you want.

The generic Android keyboard is eh. SwiftKey suits my needs. I use it on both tablet and phone.
 
Proper English

LOL. This is really quite funny to me.

"It is, literally, no extra work to do it correctly. Perhaps it makes no difference for 80% of the readers, but that mean 20% get pulled out of the story."

Seriously, are most of the readers going through the stories reading for English writing skills. No, when I'm reading these stories my hand is on my cock or my wife is reading while fingering herself. We really don't give a flying F##K if their is an grammar or spelling issue.

It is the outcome we are looking for. If somebody is really worried about grammar they need to be reading college essays and thesis statements.

War Bonds Swingers
Paul
 
It is the outcome we are looking for. If somebody is really worried about grammar they need to be reading college essays and thesis statements.
There are writers who strive to provide good quality writing with a higher objective than mere stroke in mind. That's why there's an Editor's Forum and a Feedback Forum. You might not value it, others do.
 
LOL. This is really quite funny to me.

"It is, literally, no extra work to do it correctly. Perhaps it makes no difference for 80% of the readers, but that mean 20% get pulled out of the story."

Seriously, are most of the readers going through the stories reading for English writing skills. No, when I'm reading these stories my hand is on my cock or my wife is reading while fingering herself. We really don't give a flying F##K if their is an grammar or spelling issue.

It is the outcome we are looking for. If somebody is really worried about grammar they need to be reading college essays and thesis statements.

If you don't care about English writing skills, what on earth are you doing in the Editor's Forum?
 
When writing a story I always have to stop and have a few strokes every few paragraphs.

It’s only when I finish and read the story again that I try and fix all my mistakes.
 
I've seen this, and other unconventional things in dialogue, but I've never seen it as a US thing. I'm in the US and have always used the comma followed by lower case dialogue tag.

I can't speak for everyone, but I can speak for myself and, I would guess, a sizeable minority of readers when I say punctuation matters, even in a stroke story. Things like this pull me out of the story; I find them jarring.

Writing is a communicative act, between the author and the reader. Knowing and following the basics of punctuation and spelling and grammar make the communication easier. Maybe not for everyone, but for many -- certainly for me. A wealth of information exists on this site in the form of essays about punctuation and dialogue form, etc. It's not that difficult to scan an article on dialogue form and get the basics down.

Nobody should expect perfection on Literotica, but it does make a difference to your success in reaching as many readers as possible to follow some basic rules.
 
I don't think that punctuation error is particularly common.

What bugs me is mixing up "whose" and "who's" :)
 
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I don't think that punctuation error is particularly common.

What bugs me is mixing up "whose" and "who's" :)

In my experience it's a lot more common, in drafts for editing as well as in posted stories, than you'd expect, more so than who's for whose or vice versa, or maybe it's just that we're sensitized to different errors.
 
When writing a story I always have to stop and have a few strokes every few paragraphs.

It’s only when I finish and read the story again that I try and fix all my mistakes.

I don’t get horny when I write smut. For some reason, writing something with the goal of turning a reader on is a different mental exercise for me than fantasizing something to turn myself on.
 
I don’t get horny when I write smut. For some reason, writing something with the goal of turning a reader on is a different mental exercise for me than fantasizing something to turn myself on.

So, you only post your personal fantasies on CumberbatchAsAPony.com?
 
Nobody should expect perfection on Literotica, but it does make a difference to your success in reaching as many readers as possible to follow some basic rules.

Exakly!! My primary concern when reading a story is did I enjoy reading it? If so then any mistakes must have been minor in nature because they didn’t interfere with my enjoyment.

Surely it’s only major mistakes that matter? Not pedants who notice the aircraft in the background of Henry V.
 
I constantly have to correct this mistake with one of my authors who I have been working with for a long time. Others it's a hit and miss situation.
 
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