Editing Before You Post

[Chicklet]

Hey everyone,

I'm just wondering how many of you edit your stories before you post them on Chyoo. Personally, I see lots of mistakes that just don't need to be there, and it makes me unhappy. When I write a story or a section for Chyoo, I write it out in MSword and let spell check help me out, just to catch any embarassing mistakes.

What about you? What do you guys find helps you keep from blushing whenever you see your story?

-Chicklet

 

[jakelyon]

It is a problem

I always write in word and then post it in. Even still I find mistakes that word does not catch so I end up editing the thread. I agree that it is impossible to write a good thread in Chyoo with the lack of a word processer, and the time out problem there is no way to produce quality.

I also take any threads that are submitted to me and run them through word. There is not question I am not a good editor, I read to fast and skip over things, so Word helps me catch some of the obvious stuff.

I also wish that everyone would at least run their stuff through a basic word processing program to get rid of the obvious mistakes.

 

[bungakawa2000]

Abysmal spelling and grammar are indeed one of the most annoying things on Chyoo.

It doesn't seem so bad when fiction is written by one person, from A to Z... As if, because Chyoo is about collective stories, authors feel no responsibility to make the reading as pleasant as possible. The old "someone else will do it" syndrom...

I think about every author that posts on these board feel the same way.

I fight this problem with the tools I have... Threads submitted to my stories and containing "obvious" mistakes that could be catched by any semi-decent spell checker program are immediately denied.

Bunga

 

[niceguy2002tim]

Don't submit crap!

hello,
well I agree with all 3 of you. And I use Word as well. Actually it's Microsoft Works... but it's the same deal.

As editor when somebody sends me a bad thread, one that is fully of errors or bad style, grammar etc. I have rejected them in the past. I always send the comment of "please re-write this and I will read it again." I like to encourage people to fix up their stuff. It's a learning lesson.

Anyway, that's all I have to say about that.
-Tim (niceguy2002tim)

 

[gystex]

Self-editing and proofreading is vital. Grammatical and spelling errors are distracting, and for a work of erotica, that kind of distraction is similar to trying to have sex while Bugs Bunny cartoons are on in the background. Though I'm sure someone out there would get off on that...

When I receive a thread (and that hasn't happened for a while now ), I always check it over for spelling and grammar, changing as little of the content as possible. If it is necessary to change too much, I always send it back to the author for his or her approval - though I may not do that anymore, now that CHYOO 2 allows the author to edit their threads after approval.

Sometimes I get a really poorly written thread. Four times I have received submissions of less than five words! If it's just impossible to fix, I'll generally reject with a note that asks the author to pay greater attention to their mechanics. On two occasions, I had to regretfully tell authors that their stuff just wasn't up to par, and that they might as well stop trying. I hated to do that, but it was just getting too frustrating at both ends.

I'm a stickler for the rules when it comes to writing mechanics. Text is all we have to go on here, and sloppy text makes for a poor story just like bad focus makes for a poor picture.

 

[niceguy2002tim]

Just wanted to say, "well said Gystex!"

-Tim (niceguy2002tim)

 

[deathofcards]

Two of my recent submissions could have done with editing, at somet point soon I will get around to doing so. Normally I check through and edit my work before I put it online.