So this is way it was rejected...

[JaxRhapsody]

All Laurel said was for the spelling. Both MSWord and Firefox have active spell check. FF works with anything in a text box. like this one, right now MSWord is labeled as misspelled. Here's what is "spelled wrong;"

Upperlands: a neighborhood in the city(Velocity) all my stories take place in, based on the Highlands of my hometown.

s'gonna: slang vernacular that I have heard people use.

Talledega: A fictional stock car based sedan

Uhaul: which is a company name we all know. I'm sure it's spelled right.

Corcheval DropKick: Another fictional vehicle, based on the GMC TopKick. It is the truck my character rents to move. The name Corcheval was borrowed from the old PC game Interstate 76, in which it was the in game version of Chevrolet, such as the Corcheval Corchelle(Chevelle) or Manta(Sting Ray).

Neveruary: Smart-Alec response to one character asking when he'll get paid for helping him move. "When do we get paid?"

"How about Neveruary?"

These are the only "misspelled" words in the story. There are many fake cars in my stories, such as Becca's CUV 400; an awd coupe utility(like a Subie Baja or Ford Ranchero) with a 400 hp inline six, or the Phaedra Talledega in this same story. A common one is a full sized van, called a Vandetta. How do I go about this? I can change the slang word to something else, Uhaul, I'm sure is spelled correctly.

 

[_Lynn_]

The company website spells it U-Haul.

Resubmit the story. Write something in the notes box explaining your word choices, the way you did here. I'm guessing the slang and the fictional words are the problem.

 

[sr71plt]

First, "Uhaul" is wrong. This is a trademarked name. It's spelled "U-Haul." (so that takes the edge off of buying how sure you are of other spellings).

Beyond that, spellcheck is only a guide. It was put together by science-major computer guys who had never heard of a dictionary. You have to spellcheck stuff, because it does make some errors pop out. But it's not a substitute for the dictionary. You checked all remotely possible questionable spellings in the dictionary, right? You didn't mix American spellings with British spellings, right?

Made-up formal titles almost never are a reason something is rejected for spelling, so not much of what you posted here as a possible problem should be. I don't get the "Neveruary" word, and maybe Laurel didn't, either, although it takes more than one or two misspelled words to set a rejection off. The slang word "s'gonna" shouldn't have been a problem. I've posted a lot of stories full of slang spellings that passed the editor check.

This is a case where you really need someone who posts a lot of stories here look at it, because 9.5 times out of 10 there were genuine problems the author didn't see.

It could be your story is in the other .5 times, in which case, the answer is to PM Laurel and start a discussion on what she thinks isn't up to snuff.

 

[_Lynn_]

First, "Uhaul" is wrong. This is a trademarked name. It's spelled "U-Haul." (so that takes the edge off of buying how sure you are of other spellings).

Beyond that, spellcheck is only a guide. It was put together by science-major computer guys who had never heard of a dictionary. You have to spellcheck stuff, because it does make some errors pop out. But it's not a substitute for the dictionary. You checked all remotely possible questionable spellings in the dictionary, right? You didn't mix American spellings with British spellings, right?

Made-up formal titles almost never are a reason something is rejected for spelling, so not much of what you posted here as a possible problem should be. I don't get the "Neveruary" word, and maybe Laurel didn't, either, although it takes more than one or two misspelled words to set a rejection off. The slang word "s'gonna" shouldn't have been a problem. I've posted a lot of stories full of slang spellings that passed the editor check.

This is a case where you really need someone who posts a lot of stories here look at it, because 9.5 times out of 10 there were genuine problems the author didn't see.

It could be your story is in the other .5 times, in which case, the answer is to PM Laurel and start a discussion on what she thinks isn't up to snuff.

You don't think a story filled with fictional words would be a problem though? Laurel said she puts everything through a spell check.

 

[sr71plt]

You don't think a story filled with fictional words would be a problem though? Laurel said she puts everything through a spell check.

Could be. But if she doesn't eyeball what spellcheck is coughing out as well, then there would be a heck of a lot of my stories chock ablock with foreign words and/or slang marked by spellcheck that would have caused the stories to be rejected. And spellcheck will reject any possessive on a formal name and a good many forms of word declensions. And it just cries defeat in the face of hyphenation.

 

[JaxRhapsody]

Okay, U-Haul was spelled wrong. My mind leaves the dash out. I never use British spellings because I don't understand it. Neveruary is a word my high school algebra teacher would use, that or Japtember as a smart ass way to tell us we would never do this or that or whatever. I hated that man. Obviously the 4th of Japtember will never come. I don't rely solely on spell check programs, there are common everyday words, the thing has never heard before. Those are the only words I see wrong through the spell checker.

 

[sr71plt]

OK, but that leaves you dead in the water unless you have someone else who posts a lot of stories look at it or unless you connect directly with Laurel, the editor. Which puts the ball in your court. Nothing other than hemming and hawing can be done on the forum about this.

 

[_Lynn_]

Could be. But if she doesn't eyeball what spellcheck is coughing out as well, then there would be a heck of a lot of my stories chock ablock with foreign words and/or slang marked by spellcheck that would have caused the stories to be rejected. And spellcheck will reject any possessive on a formal name and a good many forms of word declensions. And it just cries defeat in the face of hyphenation.

All good points. Thanks.

 

[_Lynn_]

OK, but that leaves you dead in the water unless you have someone else who posts a lot of stories look at it or unless you connect directly with Laurel, the editor. Which puts the ball in your court. Nothing other than hemming and hawing can be done on the forum about this.

The OP may post up to three paragraphs here as an example. We might be able to spot the problems that way.

 

[JaxRhapsody]

Okay, I only came here for insight. I guess I can send her a message.

 

[i_would]

Look at the title of this thread.
I assume you're trying to say "So this is why it was rejected..." (emphasis mine), if so, it's misspelled but it will pass the spell checker.

 

[lovecraft68]

My guess is Laurel dumped this into word saw it lit up like a Christmas tree, hit reject without deciding to look through the sea of red and went "next"

Its not like she reads them through and through so I wouldn't be surprised if that's what happened, so maybe a note saying you "invented" a lot of words for this one, might help.

 

[JaxRhapsody]

The OP may post up to three paragraphs here as an example. We might be able to spot the problems that way.

Since you said that:

“Finally getting out of mommy and daddy’s house I see?” Davis joked.
“Yeah, got a cheap loft downtown. It’s just as good as the Upperlands. Dude I’m too old to be sneaking in girls and dealing with my dad blasting loud music every time I have a hangover.” William said.
I can’t wait to see this place, s’gonna be party central!” Davis exclaimed, “we’re picking up Zane right, I don’t want to do all this moving alone.”
“He’s meeting us at the Uhaul center…” William said.
They arrive to see Zane sitting on the trunk of his Phaedra Talladega- smoking. He looks as if he’d been waiting for hours. He doesn’t even let them get out.
“Will, where the fuck have you been, what happened to one o’clock?!” Zane demanded.
“Check your text messages.” William said.
“Oh… well next time call me.” Zane said.
“Check your voicemail.” William said.
“Don’t fuck with me,” he said calling his voice mail; “It’s Will, meet us at four. Four o’clock for the Uhaul, no longer one- it’s four, four PM.”
“What do you do on your phone all day?” William asked.
“He jacks off to porn.” Davis laughed.
“Whatever, Davis,” said Zane. “Okay so where’s the truck?”
“We gotta get it first,” answered William, walking in the office.
Once they got the twenty-eight foot Corcheval DropKick, the plan was laid down.
“Okay, once we get everything out of my room and the garage, we gotta stop by the shop and pick up the furniture I made.” William instructed.
“When do we get paid?” Zane asked.
“Well, I can treat us at a bar or you can wait till about neveruary for a check.” William replied.

 

[PennLady]

Since you said that:

“Finally getting out of mommy and daddy’s house I see?” Davis joked.
“Yeah, got a cheap loft downtown. It’s just as good as the Upperlands. Dude I’m too old to be sneaking in girls and dealing with my dad blasting loud music every time I have a hangover.” William said.

Should be "...music every time I have a hangover," William said. When you have a dialogue attribution tag like this, there should be a comma before the close quote, unless you're using a question mark or exclamation point. You made that mistake several times.

I can’t wait to see this place, s’gonna be party central!” Davis exclaimed, “we’re picking up Zane right, I don’t want to
do all this moving alone.”

Should have a quote before "I", and a period after exclaimed. You could also get rid of the word "right" after Zane.

“He’s meeting us at the Uhaul center…” William said.

It's U-Haul.

They arrive to see Zane sitting on the trunk of his Phaedra Talladega- smoking. He looks as if he’d been waiting for hours. He doesn’t even let them get out.

You've switched tenses here, to present. Since everyone else is past, this should be, too.

“Check your text messages.” William said.
“Oh… well next time call me.” Zane said.
“Check your voicemail.” William said.

Again, there should be commas instead of periods before the close quotes.

“Don’t fuck with me,” he said calling his voice mail; “It’s Will, meet us at four. Four o’clock for the Uhaul, no longer one- it’s four, four PM.”

Probably should be a period after mail. Also, wouldn't hurt to have a line saying that he listened to the message so the reader knows that is the message and not anyone else talking.

“What do you do on your phone all day?” William asked.
“He jacks off to porn.” Davis laughed.
“Whatever, Davis,” said Zane. “Okay so where’s the truck?”
“We gotta get it first,” answered William, walking in the office.
Once they got the twenty-eight foot Corcheval DropKick, the plan was laid down.
“Okay, once we get everything out of my room and the garage, we gotta stop by the shop and pick up the furniture I made.” William instructed.
“When do we get paid?” Zane asked.
“Well, I can treat us at a bar or you can wait till about neveruary for a check.” William replied.

Again with the periods instead of commas. Also, I don't know how many people would know what a "Corcheval DropKick" is. I think it'd suffice to say that they got their truck, unless the length or name of the model is important to the story.

 

[sr71plt]

Right. the main problem is the consistent misuse of quote slug punctuation.

Wrong: "Check your text messages.” William said.

Right: "Check your text messages,” William said.

There are other commas missing too and some other punctuation problems, but if Laurel rejected this for punctuation, I'm sure it was for the consistently incorrect quote slug punctuation.

 

[JaxRhapsody]

Thank you. Punctuation was always hard for me to figure out. I didnt know that one part was written in present tense either. Im trying to get this stuff to stay in my head. Should probably write it down.