Spelling woes

[lithebunny]

.....

 

[Elianna]

I would send your work off to an editor on this site. They know the rules for formatting and submission and might be able to glance at it and tell you what's wrong.

I would highly recommend you get a good word-processing program, though. I don't know what you're using, but I'm shocked that there's no spell-check. I might not always agree when spell-check says my names are spelled wrong, but it DOES force me to pay attention to things. Too many red or green underlines and I stop and re-evaluate my sentence structure.

Anyway. Send it to an editor. That's my suggestion. Go to the Editor's Forum and ask if anyone will take a look. Be sure to inform them what category the story will fall in, because some don't like to read certain genres.

Hope this helps.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Hi Bunny,
According to my spellcheck, the only ones that come up incorrect are girly and the dialectics. All the rest should be good. I would put quote marks around 'girly' and make a note in the introduction as to why the characters use the language that they do.

Oh, and welcome to the madhouse, er, I mean Authors' Hangout.

 

[Stella_Omega]

I would submit it once more, with a note saying that spelling irregularities are not mispellings. Notes (I think) bring the submission to the attention of a real person.

Hmm...
'girly' is an adjective, 'girlie' is a diminutive, wouldn't you say?

 

[TheeGoatPig]

I have noticed over the years that my vocabulary far exceeds my ability to spell all of those words that I know.

 

[lithebunny]

.....

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Psst....

You can download Open Office for free and it comes with a spell checker.

Also...FireFox and Chrome browsers have spell checkers built in. Using one of these FREE browser to do the past of your text into the submission page will in effect spell check you story.

Welcome to the AH!

 

[Boxlicker101]

Think this is the better forum for this post!

So, I just submitted my first story. I don't have a spellchecker, and my story was rejected because of 'spelling mistakes'. So, here's a list of the words which were misspelt according to the internet spellchecker:

GOOD-HEARTEDNESS
MANSERVANTS (apparently this should be 'menservants' - very irregular English plural and with half a degree in English Lit I didn't know this!)
HOOFBEATS
ANATOLY (name)
ILYA (name)
GIRLY
"IN'T" & "EN'T" for "isn't" and "aren't" respectively when representing dialect. This is how Lyra speaks in Northern Lights
LEAPT (standard, at least in England)
BLONDE (!!)
GAMBESON (a light arming jacket, archaic but still current)
WEATHERBEATEN

So I'm a little stuck. These are not mistakes (apart from the quibble on 'manservants' - but I'd be surprised if it was rejected for this!) and changing them to more common wordw ould make my piece a lot more boring! Any suggestions?

bunny xxx

Hi, Bunny, and welcomd to Lit. and the AH in particular. You know, sometimes you might make a typo, and spellcheck won't catch it if what you type is actually a word. For instance, if you accidentally drop the last letter in "here" you won't get any notification because the result is an actual word. Or, you might confuse "their" and "there", which is quite common. Spellcheck won't catch errors such as these, but a proofreader would, which might have been why it was rejected.

 

[sr71plt]

The only one of those words that doesn't fly is "weather-beaten" (which should be hyphenated). I used the dictionary, which trumps any computer program spell-check, none of which are as good as the dictionary (Webster's Collegiate prefered in the U.S. market, Oxford in the UK market).

in't and en't qualify as acceptable dialect.

It's possible you have used British spellings on other words and this is an American site and has been known to consider British spellings unacceptable (You'll have to argue that with adminsitrators).

It doesn't sound like you need an editor to look at it at all. I suggest you refile and put a note in the comments section that you've checked the spellings and it seems that what is being questioned are either legitimate dialect or Briticisms.

 

[ishtat]

The only one I take issue with is manservants. The plural requires men.

 

[Handley_Page]

Also worth noting, I think, is the difference between English (USA) and English (English). Make sure you have the right version as a default (in my case, UK English)

 

[michchick98]

So I'm a little stuck. These are not mistakes (apart from the quibble on 'manservants' - but I'd be surprised if it was rejected for this!) and changing them to more common wordw ould make my piece a lot more boring! Any suggestions? bunny xxx

I haven't had a rejection for spelling in a long time, but the one time I did, I had two misspelled words in a chapter that was about three Lit pages long. I corrected the misspelled words and resubmitted it, but then read a few other stories over the course of waiting for my chapter to be approved. I shook my head and wondered how those stories had been approved because there were several more misspellings than I had as well as poor grammar usage.

I don't think any of us knows the process for stories/chapters being accepted or rejected. Usually, though, the rejection is followed by a question: "Are there misspelled words?" If you feel the words are not misspelled, resubmit the story with a comment in the Notes field. And since you said you already did that, you shouldn't have any problems. It should be approved the second time around.

Welcome to Lit and the AH!

Psst....

You can download Open Office for free and it comes with a spell checker.

Also...FireFox and Chrome browsers have spell checkers built in. Using one of these FREE browser to do the past of your text into the submission page will in effect spell check you story.

Welcome to the AH!

I've noticed Firefox as well as Open Office (and MS Word) pick up common words and contractions as misspelled words also. If I know the word is spelled correctly, I'll simply highlight the word, right click and select "Add To Dictionary."

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I'm forced to wonder why spelling is a deal-breaker.

In the book I'm reading, the author uses examples of misspelled text to illustrate how illiterate professional letter writers were in Africa. Her book wouldnt pass muster here.

 

[Boxlicker101]

I'm forced to wonder why spelling is a deal-breaker.

In the book I'm reading, the author uses examples of misspelled text to illustrate how illiterate professional letter writers were in Africa. Her book wouldnt pass muster here.

Misspelled words and similar errors represent sloppy work. To me, they are like speed bumps on a highway. If I run across too many of them, I don't drive on that highway anymore.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

BOX

My point is: Sometimes theyre intentional and serve a purpose.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

.....

Welcome to Lit and the AH!

I've noticed Firefox as well as Open Office (and MS Word) pick up common words and contractions as misspelled words also. If I know the word is spelled correctly, I'll simply highlight the word, right click and select "Add To Dictionary."

Hmmm...I have noticed that Firefox does that but not MS Word. I have Office 2003 and 2007 and neither of them misconstrue common contractions. Chrome also doesn't seem to make those mistakes either.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Misspelled words and similar errors represent sloppy work. To me, they are like speed bumps on a highway. If I run across too many of them, I don't drive on that highway anymore.
__________________

BOX

My point is: Sometimes theyre intentional and serve a purpose.

I think we all use dialect to some degree. "Ya shoultna done that!" "I wanna cum!" and similar things. However, it bothers me when I see egregious errors in narrative, unless the story is deliberately written in dialect.

 

[michchick98]

Hmmm...I have noticed that Firefox does that but not MS Word. I have Office 2003 and 2007 and neither of them misconstrue common contractions. Chrome also doesn't seem to make those mistakes either.

Actually, I should've phrased that differently. Firefox picks up the contractions as spelling errors while OO and MS Word do occasionally pick up common words as misspelled, but usually not contractions, unless it's an unusual or not commonly used one.

 

[glynndah]

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

 

[Saucy_Sage]

If it doesn't work this time (the edibots are always harder on noobs (and welcome to the AH!!)) try PMing (not e-mailing) Laurel and letting her know. Also just wanted to second Zeb's recommendation for OpenOffice. What a great program!

 

[Zeb_Carter]

If it doesn't work this time (the edibots are always harder on noobs (and welcome to the AH!!)) try PMing (not e-mailing) Laurel and letting her know. Also just wanted to second Zeb's recommendation for OpenOffice. What a great program!

And it's FREE!

Did you get that...FREE!

As a matter of fact there are a lot of FREE writing tools out there the will also spell check for you.

The one I use for complex story lines is yWrite. It does have a spell check option, you have to go get the dictionaries and place them in the right directory, but it works. I don't use the spell check as I alway put it in Word while editing.

But OO is FREE!

 

[Boxlicker101]

Originally Posted by Saucy_Sage
If it doesn't work this time (the edibots are always harder on noobs (and welcome to the AH!!)) try PMing (not e-mailing) Laurel and letting her know. Also just wanted to second Zeb's recommendation for OpenOffice. What a great program!

And it's FREE!

Did you get that...FREE!

As a matter of fact there are a lot of FREE writing tools out there the will also spell check for you.

The one I use for complex story lines is yWrite. It does have a spell check option, you have to go get the dictionaries and place them in the right directory, but it works. I don't use the spell check as I alway put it in Word while editing.

But OO is FREE!

Free or not, there's nothing as good as the writer's eyeballs when it comes to proofreading. Assuming the writers know what they want to say, they should know how to spell it.

I really doubt that the editbots would be tougher on newbies. At the same time, Management might be more careful about accepting dialect from them than from somebody who has been around a long time.

You should be able to leave a note in the "Notes" section of the submission saying you are including dialect. I am going to have to do that with the story I am going to be submitting next.

 

[lithebunny]

.....

 

[sr71plt]

Let us know how it works out.

And, on your observation on the helpfulness, remember that for the next "the good old days" thread that pops up here. In the good old days that were here when I started posting, they would have bounced you like a beach ball for asking this sort of question. (unjustifiably, of course.)

 

[kendo1]

I had similar problems. As was stated above - a note should be included to point out that you write English. That's bound to piss them off.

Welcome!


Helpful Ken