Story rejected?

[Yogma]

Hi, I'm wondering if anyone might have some insights into this.

I've just had a story rejected, which was a shocker, and whilst I'm absolutely sure it wouldn't have been for content reasons, I think it might have been for how I've depicted an "entities" manner of speech. In my story the protagonist is possessed by a benign ghost, so to get over the issue of having multiple people speaking as well as a ghost voice in the protagonist's head, I have formatted all spoken speech as "Hello", whilst the ghost speech is enclosed in square brackets, i.e. [Hello], to differentiate it as being a different type of speech.

Do you think this might be the cause of rejection?

Thanks.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Unlikely.

The notice of rejection should have included the reason for it.

 

[THBGato]

Actually yes. I had a story rejected for exactly the same reason (square brackets) as I wanted to indicate that the characters were speaking in a language other than English.

I changed the punctuation, put the non-English speech into italics, resubmitted and the story was published.

 

[Yogma]

Actually yes. I had a story rejected for exactly the same reason (square brackets) as I wanted to indicate that the characters were speaking in a language other than English.

I changed the punctuation, put the non-English speech into italics, resubmitted and the story was published.

Thanks THBGato.
At 30k words, it's going to be quite a change to make. But I think it will be worth it, I really like this story.
Cheers.

 

[THBGato]

Thanks THBGato.
At 30k words, it's going to be quite a change to make. But I think it will be worth it, I really like this story.
Cheers.

Could you try using "find and replace"? Might help.

Good luck!

 

[Yogma]

Could you try using "find and replace"? Might help.

Good luck!

Yep, I can do it for the brackets, but I'll probably try a different font for the ghost's speech to help differentiate it, which will probably need to be done manually.
Thanks for the suggestion though.

 

[StillStunned]

Yep, I can do it for the brackets, but I'll probably try a different font for the ghost's speech to help differentiate it, which will probably need to be done manually.
Thanks for the suggestion though.

Replace the brackets with the coding you need for the font.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Replace the brackets with the coding you need for the font.

I don't think Lit can portray different fonts?

 

[StillStunned]

I don't think Lit can portray different fonts?

According to @FrancesScott's How to, at a minimum you can use a keyboard font:

Keyboard Font

Before moving on to other areas, maybe you're wondering how I have made the HTML above have a different font, this is via another tag:

<kbd>Keyboard Font</kbd>

gives you:

Keyboard Font

What actual font is defined as keyboard varies with computer and browser.

 

[FrancesScott]

According to @FrancesScott's How to, at a minimum you can use a keyboard font:

Pasting something in keyboard font here doesn’t lead to it rendering differently, but it does in stories.

 

[FrancesScott]

Hi, I'm wondering if anyone might have some insights into this.

I've just had a story rejected, which was a shocker, and whilst I'm absolutely sure it wouldn't have been for content reasons, I think it might have been for how I've depicted an "entities" manner of speech. In my story the protagonist is possessed by a benign ghost, so to get over the issue of having multiple people speaking as well as a ghost voice in the protagonist's head, I have formatted all spoken speech as "Hello", whilst the ghost speech is enclosed in square brackets, i.e. [Hello], to differentiate it as being a different type of speech.

Do you think this might be the cause of rejection?

Thanks.

You might also consider using comillas latinas - « »

 

[StillStunned]

Pasting something in keyboard font here doesn’t lead to it rendering differently, but it does in stories.

I've edited the quote to show the different font. Thanks for pointing it out.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Yep, I can do it for the brackets, but I'll probably try a different font for the ghost's speech to help differentiate it, which will probably need to be done manually.
Thanks for the suggestion though.

I wouldn't get fancy with different fonts. Context should be enough to show the ghost's dialogue, or keep it simple, with italics.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I can confirm that Spanish quotation marks get approved. From Coeloidphilia - I dropped the formatting in later episodes as it was too cumbersome (and also the space octopus’s dialog became more human with practice):

—

I could see nothing and I couldn't locate the source of the sound. The voice was not threatening, it was the opposite. It was male, baritone and both soothing and softly musical.

« Also in the category of underestimation are your mammary glands. I understand you are disappointed by their volume, but their topography is also reasonably appealing. Forgive me, I sense that my grasp of your lexicon is somewhat rudimentary. I will assay to improve. »

Again the tone was measured, reassuring. But the very presence of the voice and my inability to locate it were the opposite. I folded my arms across my chest protectively, suddenly with protrudent nipples to the fore of my mind.

"Who the fuck is there? Where are you? How did you get on this ship? Show yourself?"

I turned my eyes scanning the room. I should feel panicked, but somehow it was hard to be listening to his -- I assumed -- sonorous and mellifluous enunciation.

« I do not mean to startle you. I mean you no harm. You can call me David. That is a name you use, right? »

 

[THBGato]

Spanish quotation marks

I was just thinking to myself that I've never seen them used in Spanish texts, so why are they called "Spanish quotation marks"... but I just flicked through some novels on my shelf and found them in Márquez (but only there). Interestingly (well, to me at least), they were used for thoughts, rather than speech.

Speech in Spanish novels is punctuated with long dashes, typically.

Also, weirdly, my Phone is Spanish, but doesn't include them in the puntuación options. More of a South American convention these days, perhaps?

Sorry, punctuation nerd moment over. As you were.