Small Edits

[lowflykiwi]

Why is it that you can sit and go over a story multiple times, on the computer, print out etc. and when a story is finally published on Literotica that you see a glaring mis-spelling?

Arrgh!

Kiwi

 

[Guest]

Why is it that you can sit and go over a story multiple times, on the computer, print out etc. and when a story is finally published on Literotica that you see a glaring mis-spelling?

Arrgh!

Kiwi

I know.

Something that does help is once you finish the story, put it on the shelf for a couple of weeks and start something new. When you pick it up again you're reading it with fresh eyes.

Have friends read it over, too. More fresh eyes.

Congratulations on your story!

 

[lowflykiwi]

Maybe that is the trick

I know.

Something that does help is once you finish the story, put it on the shelf for a couple of weeks and start something new. When you pick it up again you're reading it with fresh eyes.

Have friends read it over, too. More fresh eyes.

Congratulations on your story!

I only left it for a couple of days. A week on the burner is needed. Aaaah

I tried to get one of my good friends to read them, but both she and I chickened out at the last moment. We are not brave enough to see what effect it might have on our relationship, which is just good friends at the moment.

Thank you for your encouragement

Kiwi

 

[Guest]

I only left it for a couple of days. A week on the burner is needed. Aaaah

I tried to get one of my good friends to read them, but both she and I chickened out at the last moment. We are not brave enough to see what effect it might have on our relationship, which is just good friends at the moment.

Thank you for your encouragement

Kiwi

Do you have a link to your story? Is this your first one?

 

[Guest]

Here's a link to your stories.

http://www.literotica.com/stories/memberpage.php?uid=990574&page=submissions

 

[lowflykiwi]

Do you have a link to your story? Is this your first one?

Sweetsubsarahh

2 Stories so far, I hope you enjoy them. I have some more in the cooker, but will let them stew a bit longer before revision them this time.

I have to work out how to modify my signature line to include my profile URL etc. New to this forum as you can see by my virgin status.

Please let me know if you enjoyed the stories.


Kiwi

 

[glynndah]

A welcome for the little newbie from the good little witch.

 

[lowflykiwi]

A welcome for the little newbie from the good little witch.

And a back to glynndah.

ty
Kiwi

 

[keeblercrumb]

Penis Envy AV

Why is it that you can sit and go over a story multiple times, on the computer, print out etc. and when a story is finally published on Literotica that you see a glaring mis-spelling?

Arrgh!

Kiwi

I had this exact thread two weeks ago..... It just drives you crazy, doesn't it? It is the weird phenomenom of the errors popping out only when the story is posted. It is mortifying.

All the advice above is excellent and I wish I had followed it but I was too impatient.

Good luck!

-KC

 

[Weird Harold]

Why is it that you can sit and go over a story multiple times, on the computer, print out etc. and when a story is finally published on Literotica that you see a glaring mis-spelling?

Arrgh!

Kiwi

I think all of us have had a "how did I miss THAT" when we check a newly posted story.

Here are two things you can do to mimize the errors:

1: change the font, font size, and/or text color before each edit. That makes everythig look different and you see what IS there instead of what your eye/mind knows is there because you typed that way.

2: Go the options menu for the spelling and grammar check and set MS-Word to "Recheck Document" an do a final spelling and grammar check. MSWord remembers what words and grammar errors it was told to ignore and doesn't recheck them unless you explicitly tell it to. Other full feature word processors should have a similar function to reset the spell check to do a full re-check.

I know many people don't like MSWord's grammar check, but that's generally because they don't bother to customize the parameters from the default "business formal" check. There is no requirement to accept MSWord's suggestions for grammar corrections, but I've found it a very good practice to try and understand WHY it shows a fault at that particular point -- which how I discovered naming a character "Frank" confuses the grammar check because it doesn't see that word as proper noun, but a verb or adjective.

 

[lowflykiwi]

Cheers

I had this exact thread two weeks ago..... It just drives you crazy, doesn't it? It is the weird phenomenom of the errors popping out only when the story is posted. It is mortifying.

All the advice above is excellent and I wish I had followed it but I was too impatient.

Good luck!

-KC

KC

Yeah I know, the thrill of getting the first story being published is a bit like premature ejaculation just gotta get it out o' there.

Cheers
Kiwi

 

[lowflykiwi]

Thanks

I think all of us have had a "how did I miss THAT" when we check a newly posted story.

Here are two things you can do to mimize the errors:

...

but I've found it a very good practice to try and understand WHY it shows a fault at that particular point -- which how I discovered naming a character "Frank" confuses the grammar check because it doesn't see that word as proper noun, but a verb or adjective.

WH

Many thanks for the tips. I am a Linux user so OpenOffice is my editor of choice. I will try to see if the same or similar functionality is available.

Again many thanks
Kiwi

 

[Weird Harold]

WH

Many thanks for the tips. I am a Linux user so OpenOffice is my editor of choice. I will try to see if the same or similar functionality is available.

Again many thanks
Kiwi

If there isn't an explicit recheck the document function, you can C&P the whole document into a new document to force the spellchecker to see it as a first-time check.

The font, font size, and color trick is actually the more relevant trick because it's replicating the reason errors and typos stand out when a story is posted -- Lit's story pages look different compared to your WSIWYG word processer.

 

[lowflykiwi]

Cool Trick

If there isn't an explicit recheck the document function, you can C&P the whole document into a new document to force the spellchecker to see it as a first-time check.

The font, font size, and color trick is actually the more relevant trick because it's replicating the reason errors and typos stand out when a story is posted -- Lit's story pages look different compared to your WSIWYG word processer.

WH

That C&P is a cool trick. Will try it in the next editing session.

I agree about the font etc. used on Lit. It does sort of make the errors stand out . I wonder if they would release the style sheet in some form so that it could be used by authors to try their creations offline before going live?

Again many thanks.

Cheers
Jim

 

[michchick98]

Why is it that you can sit and go over a story multiple times, on the computer, print out etc. and when a story is finally published on Literotica that you see a glaring mis-spelling?

Arrgh!

Kiwi

First off, welcome to the Literotica and the AH! Second, it's always good to have a fresh set of eyes, be it a beta reader or an editor. Did you know that Literotica has a volunteer editors program? You can browse through a list of names and contact someone you'd feel comfortable with to read over your work. Just let him/her know what you want....if you want a full edit or just a quick read through.

After we read, re-read and read some more, we always miss things. Even the person who edits me missed things occasionally. I read any story/chapter one final time, very slowly, before I click the submit button. I really like the preview before posting because I always catch at least one more minor error.

And sometimes even the minor errors will bring out the grammar/spelling nazi's in force! Okay, I've babbled on long enough. Again, welcome to Lit and the AH!

If you're ever in need of an editor in the future, feel free to contact me through PMs here. My name is on the Volunteer Editors list, but it's buried a few pages back. I haven't updated my editors profile in awhile.

 

[jomar]

Happens to us all.

Welcome to the AH, LFK.

 

[lowflykiwi]

Editors

First off, welcome to the Literotica and the AH! Second, it's always good to have a fresh set of eyes, be it a beta reader or an editor. Did you know that Literotica has a volunteer editors program? You can browse through a list of names and contact someone you'd feel comfortable with to read over your work. Just let him/her know what you want....if you want a full edit or just a quick read through.

After we read, re-read and read some more, we always miss things. Even the person who edits me missed things occasionally. I read any story/chapter one final time, very slowly, before I click the submit button. I really like the preview before posting because I always catch at least one more minor error.

And sometimes even the minor errors will bring out the grammar/spelling nazi's in force! Okay, I've babbled on long enough. Again, welcome to Lit and the AH!

If you're ever in need of an editor in the future, feel free to contact me through PMs here. My name is on the Volunteer Editors list, but it's buried a few pages back. I haven't updated my editors profile in awhile.

MC

Thank you for your advice.

I was aware of the Editor program and actually bumped into a Lady from Boston last night on the chat. She said she was an editor, however, to make a formal request of her I searched for her ID in the Editors list and could not find it. She had to leave the chat before I could ask for her pen name.

I will check out your Editor profile to make sure you will like my story genre but the 2 I have published so far will give you an idea of where I am at the moment.

Question: Is it OK to have more than one editor? Is there some sort of taboo that states an author is only allowed one?

Scary part is I am having new ideas for story lines all the time. Having to jot down notes to make sure I don't forget any.

Again thanks for your kind advice.

Kiwi

 

[fifty5]

I agree about the font etc. used on Lit. It does sort of make the errors stand out . I wonder if they would release the style sheet in some form so that it could be used by authors to try their creations offline before going live?

Jim

Look at a story, then the page source (press [Ctrl]-U in Firefox). The URLs of the style-sheet files are all in there. They are relative, so need the host name on the front, but if you paste the full URL(s) into your browser, up they come. Then just save, or copy-n-paste.

Well, I say "just", but there are a lot of them...

Good luck,

 

[lowflykiwi]

Happens to us all.

Welcome to the AH, LFK.

Cheers back

Kiwi

 

[lowflykiwi]

Look at a story, then the page source (press [Ctrl]-U in Firefox). The URLs of the style-sheet files are all in there. They are relative, so need the host name on the front, but if you paste the full URL(s) into your browser, up they come. Then just save, or copy-n-paste.

Well, I say "just", but there are a lot of them...

Good luck,

Fifty5

I am a bit of a computer geek and saw that jumble of stylesheets.

It would be nice to have maybe a parsed down one that just had the formating for the story pages. Give you a chance to do a check at your own pace.

I know they have the preview page when submitting. But at that point your blood is boiling with the anticipation of the publish and you do not really get a good look.

Many thanks for your ideas.

Kiwi

 

[fifty5]

Fifty5

I am a bit of a computer geek and saw that jumble of stylesheets.

It would be nice to have maybe a parsed down one that just had the formating for the story pages. Give you a chance to do a check at your own pace.

I know they have the preview page when submitting. But at that point your blood is boiling with the anticipation of the publish and you do not really get a good look.

Many thanks for your ideas.

Kiwi

My guess is that the jumble copes with different ways of viewing (eg Web-TV; IE versus other browsers; and so on) - I think all those files relate to story pages. In contrast, the Forum pages only have styles embedded in the page head with no external style files.

Looking at the mark-up for the story itself, that's dead trivial: a couple of DIVs and a P, split up with /BRs. My guess is that it would be dead easy to create and use your own pre-view system: simply copy all those stile files onto your machine, then copy and paste the header (with all the style links) from any existing story page, editing the paths to match where you saved the style files. Since there seem to be no classes used in the body of the story, untangling all those files shouldn't be necessary - just use the same few tags to mark up your text. Who cares in which file the paragraph style is defined? As long as they all are there, they should be disentangled by your browser in the same way it does on the real Lit site.

It might take hours or even days to understand them all, but I think that 15 minutes ought to be enough to use them.

Oh and 'Welcome to the AH'

 

[michchick98]

MC

Thank you for your advice.

I was aware of the Editor program and actually bumped into a Lady from Boston last night on the chat. She said she was an editor, however, to make a formal request of her I searched for her ID in the Editors list and could not find it. She had to leave the chat before I could ask for her pen name.

I will check out your Editor profile to make sure you will like my story genre but the 2 I have published so far will give you an idea of where I am at the moment.

Question: Is it OK to have more than one editor? Is there some sort of taboo that states an author is only allowed one?

Scary part is I am having new ideas for story lines all the time. Having to jot down notes to make sure I don't forget any.

Again thanks for your kind advice.

Kiwi

I don't think there's any rule about having only one editor, but make sure you let both of them know that you're using the services of more than one editor, some might be offended that you've done that.

I myself wouldn't care, because as I said, even editors can miss stuff after so many read-throughs.

My editor doesn't mind that I have another person who reads my stuff before I post it. But she (the reader) mostly just checks for plot points and such. She will, every now and then, find an error that we missed.

And always, always give credit to your editor(s) at the beginning or end of your story, even if it's a multi-chapter story, an occasional nod in one of the chapters wouldn't hurt. I give credit to both my editor and my 'beta' reader and take the blame any mistakes that are still found in the story.

None of us are perfect. I think every writer needs an editor or at least someone to read through their work before it's posted.

 

[MagicaPractica]

And sometimes, no matter what you do, it just sneaks through. I was struggling with a character I wanted to name one thing and he wanted to be called something else. I caught most of them, but three instances of the other name snuck through. Putting it on the shelf for a week didn't help. My reader didn't catch it either. I had several people comment that they were so caught up in the story that they didn't notice the name change at all. They had to go back and look when they saw the comment at the end by a reader who did notice. Of course I edited as soon as someone brought it to my attention, but that took a few days to go into effect. I'm going to try Harold's suggestion of changing fonts, font size and maybe color some time.

 

[lowflykiwi]

I don't think there's any rule about having only one editor, but make sure you let both of them know that you're using the services of more than one editor, some might be offended that you've done that.

I myself wouldn't care, because as I said, even editors can miss stuff after so many read-throughs.

My editor doesn't mind that I have another person who reads my stuff before I post it. But she (the reader) mostly just checks for plot points and such. She will, every now and then, find an error that we missed.

And always, always give credit to your editor(s) at the beginning or end of your story, even if it's a multi-chapter story, an occasional nod in one of the chapters wouldn't hurt. I give credit to both my editor and my 'beta' reader and take the blame any mistakes that are still found in the story.

None of us are perfect. I think every writer needs an editor or at least someone to read through their work before it's posted.

MC

I would not think of publishing a story without credits to people who helped. And if I do have more than one person look at a story I will make sure they know the other is also there.

Kiwi

 

[lowflykiwi]

Had a similar problem

And sometimes, no matter what you do, it just sneaks through. I was struggling with a character I wanted to name one thing and he wanted to be called something else. I caught most of them, but three instances of the other name snuck through. Putting it on the shelf for a week didn't help. My reader didn't catch it either. I had several people comment that they were so caught up in the story that they didn't notice the name change at all. They had to go back and look when they saw the comment at the end by a reader who did notice. Of course I edited as soon as someone brought it to my attention, but that took a few days to go into effect. I'm going to try Harold's suggestion of changing fonts, font size and maybe color some time.

MagicaPractica

I had a similar problem where I started the story in one tense than thought it would be better in another.

Man, talk about a nightmare, trying to find all the hads and changing them to haves, getting rid of the wents...

Even after several re-reads hadn't caught them all. That story is on a low stew so it is really fresh when I look at it again.

Kiwi