Has it always been like this, or has Lit's standards slackened?

[laptopwriter]

I could be wrong but it seems to me that Literotica used to have standards for writing skills. I don't mean story content but technical skills. I remember my first story being rejected because of a punctuation problem. Am I wrong?

I see stories today that are so poorly written I can't believe it. Constantly I see two or three people talking within one paragraph. I saw one story where the "writer" didn't use any quotation marks. He just started his dialogue with, he said or she said.

I see rambling, nonsensical sentences everywhere and other times, a sentence cut in half with a period and started again with a capital.

I'm not trying to be a grammar nazi here but I thought Lit had certain standards when it came to the stories submitted. Have they lowered those standards or I remembering wrong and they never existed in the first place?

 

[RejectReality]

It's always been hit and miss, because Laurel is speed-scanning everything. She doesn't have time to give everything more than a cursory glance and still approve 60-70 stories per day.

 

[Handley_Page]

I remember my first story being rejected because of a punctuation problem. Am I wrong?

I see stories today that are so poorly written I can't believe it. Constantly I see two or three people talking within one paragraph. I saw one story where the "writer" didn't use any quotation marks. He just started his dialogue with, he said or she said.

I see rambling, nonsensical sentences everywhere and other times, a sentence cut in half with a period and started again with a capital.

I put it down to the TV and poor education quality.

 

[sr71plt]

I think RR is right, that it's always been hit or miss on the technicals.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Laurel catches my errors, and theyre small.

I don't quarrel or argue, I change and re-submit.

 

[oggbashan]

I miss formatting errors in the preview.

My spelling is usually accurate but gets criticised because I write in British English not American.

But I think people have stopped using spell checkers intelligently. They don't look for words that are spelled correctly but inappropriate in context and miss the incorrect uses of their, there, and they're. Some don't know the difference.

 

[sr71plt]

Laurel catches my errors, and theyre small.

I don't quarrel or argue, I change and re-submit.

I'm not sure what you mean. Laurel doesn't edit the stories. Therefore she is not going to catch all of the errors in anyone's stories--because she's not editing them.

 

[sr71plt]

But I think people have stopped using spell checkers intelligently. They don't look for words that are spelled correctly but inappropriate in context and miss the incorrect uses of their, there, and they're. Some don't know the difference.

But I don't think this is something they once did if they aren't doing it now. The question is whether there's been a change to the sloppy. I don't think so. I think it's the same level of sloppy and that Laurel checking on technicals has always been hit and miss. She's not editing them.

 

[laptopwriter]

As I read sr's opinion that it's always been hit or miss,

something else came to mind. Maybe it's just a case of longevity? The longer Literotica stays in existence the more novices want to participate? They're not interested in becoming a writer, they simply get an idea and want to publish it on Lit to see their own story on the internet. A lot of them have no intention of becoming a better writer. I've seen some whose story were so atrociously written that it was well documented in the comments--yet their next story contained just and many and just as grievous mistakes.

Again, I'm going back many years so I maybe just remembering the good and selectively forgetting the bad, but it seems like most of the stuff I read years ago was of a professional, or at least semi-professional, nature. I always considered Lit to be a forum for writers to have fun writing about things that interested them but were taboo in most social circles.

Now it seems that not only writers find it fun but anyone who can type with one finger.

 

[Messier82]

My spelling is usually accurate but gets criticised because I write in British English not American.

I would have hoped that wouldn't be problem, despite being two nations divided by a common language

 

[sr71plt]

A lot of them have no intention of becoming a better writer. I've seen some whose story were so atrociously written that it was well documented in the comments--yet their next story contained just and many and just as grievous mistakes.

Which is OK at Literotica. Wanting to develop your writing is not a criterion for posting stories to Literotica.

 

[sr71plt]

I would have hoped that wouldn't be problem, despite being two nations divided by a common language

Nope, it apparently crops up periodically if forum posts are any indication. This is basically an U.S.-based site, and the writing style of the Web site itself is American. The problem is that many Americans are so insular they don't realize (realise?) that variations legitimately exist in English usage.

 

[rjordan]

Which is OK at Literotica. Wanting to develop your writing is not a criterion for posting stories to Literotica.

I came here 13 years ago from ASSTR so my expectations weren't very high to begin with. However, Lit was a big step up in overall content and quality.

I don't think there has been much change in quality over the years. As you and RR have said, it has always been hit or miss. I don't mind that. If the story is really awful to read, I just stop reading. That takes no effort on my part.

More than a few times a technically poor story will have such an interesting hook and novel story line that I just trudge through it, and I'm better for the experience. I would have missed that unique voice if an editor had rejected or, worse, fixed it.

I have no problems with the quantity of readable materials here on Lit. It's a very eclectic mix of styles and proficiencies that is fun to wade through each day.

I'm an easy date too. Convince me to finish your story or give me a boner and you get 5*. About 1 in 10 of the stories I start do one or both. That ratio has held pretty much constant since 2002 for me.

rj

 

[sr71plt]

I do get irritated at the periodic suggestion that everyone who posts a story here is--or should be--doing it to develop their writing. I think very few do it for that reason, and that those who are doing it for that reason should pay attention to their own writing and not make assumptions on why anyone else is posting stories or reading them.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

The other day I wrote a 15000 word blow job, then tossed away 7000 words of it. Readers love longish accounts of sex but that aint me. I have fucked for hours, usually fueled with a bottle of liquor, but 9 times outta 10 it doesn't take long, not if youre ready and enthusiastic.

So today I changed. A hooker at a homeless shelter picks up a fresh release from the state prison who hasn't had pussy in a while. She wants cigarette money, it doesn't last long.

LIT is a good place to test drive ideas.

 

[laptopwriter]

rj, you have more patience than I. I agree with you that some of the poorly written stories have a unique plot line and the story content is very good. That's what makes it so aggravating. When there are 3 people talking in the same paragraph, I find myself having to stop and go back to re-read who said what to whom. I saw one story that was a full page long and it was all one paragraph...and it had dialogue. There was no way I was going to try and muddle through that.

There was one story today where the second sentence was 3 lines long and rambled all over the place. I scanned down hoping it was just a one time occurrence but it appeared to be the way the whole story was written. I had to read that sentence 3 or 4 times to decipher what the author was saying. I had to mentally rearrange it and add some punctuation before I figured out what he meant. I was damned if I was going to take 3 hours to read a 2 page story, so again I took a pass.

As you said, I'm probably missing some good story lines because I find myself skipping a lot of stories. That's what makes it so frustrating.

 

[rjordan]

My spelling is usually accurate but gets criticised because I write in British English not American.

That's never a problem for me, but slang often is. British, Australian and American slang are often very different from one another. I can usually puzzle out what is meant, but it briefly takes me out of the story. I'd never consider criticizing the author for their UK/Oz spelling or use of slang, though.

I read a story recently written by someone from the UK, but the setting was America. They had met a big black American stud who I think was hosting a party, and he asked the British couple, "Would you fancy a drink then?" or something like that. Involuntarily, I laughed out loud, and had a tough time getting the (erroneous) visual of this guy out of my head for the rest of the story. To American ears it sounds affected or effeminate. It obviously wasn't meant to.

In fairness to the UK author, it might have been worse if she had tried to imitate black American slang for this character. No boner, but I finished the story so 5*.

rj

 

[rjordan]

As you said, I'm probably missing some good story lines because I find myself skipping a lot of stories. That's what makes it so frustrating.

Well, part of my message was that if it's too painful for the payoff, just stop reading. There are plenty more where that one came from and the next one may be readable!

I once taught a technical class at a local community college for a couple of years. One semester I assigned a short paper. What I had failed to consider at the time was that I would have to READ those fucking papers. They were almost all just horrible. The next semester I was going to drop the requirement, but decided, no, these kids need to learn how to organize their thoughts on paper at some point. I kept the requirement, but added short assignments that led to the paper all through the semester. Surprise! They got better. Each class the papers got better.

But we don't have that obligation to writers here. We can just shitcan their enthusiastic endeavors with a mouse click.

rj

 

[49greg]

My first story here was rejected for too large paragraphs and improper use of quotation marks That was a little over 3 years ago.

I assume there's just a lot more coming in every day.

 

[karaline]

I've been rejected for poor punctuation and for paragraphs that are too long, I've seen stories go up that should have been rejected for both those things but have some how slipped through. I'm grateful that that mine were rejected and I've had to resubmit because I think the end product has been of a higher quality and easier to read.

As an aside I do get irked when I see people complaining about poor spelling and grammar. We have different levels of education, not all schools teach the same level of grammar, at different points in recent history education authorities have attached varying levels of importance to spelling and its estimated that around 10% of the population have a specific learning difficulty such as dyslexia. So don't assume a persons writing skills are a result of laziness or too much tv.

Okay that's the end of my lecture. As you were.

 

[HeyAll]

One of my early stories was rejected for puncuation errors for dialogue.

I used to write the dialogue like this:

"Good day to you" I said.

I used the editor article link (or whatever it's called) and I fixed my error. I then used the proper way, which is this:

"Good day to you," I said.

A comma added.


But to the point of this thread, I agree that the standards should be higher. Horribly written stories will only turn readers away. The standard should be raised.

 

[YDB95]

I miss formatting errors in the preview.

My spelling is usually accurate but gets criticised because I write in British English not American
.

That surprises me. I've used both styles in different stories and never ran into any issues over it.

 

[laptopwriter]

I'm not really advocating that Lit use more stringent measures.

I do know my first story was rejected because of punctuation. I proofread the story again and found several places where I had deleted text but the accompanying punctuation didn't go with it, so I had a comma before and after quotation marks. I also had a comma with a period next to it.

Since my story was rejected for something like that I wondered how some of these other stories were getting through with much more grievous mistakes. I wondered if Lit had at one time, certain criteria which they have since, dropped.

I don't really fault anyone for a few misspelled words or a few grammatical or punctuation errors, but I would think anyone who has ever READ a story would know better than to write a whole page with no paragraphs, including the dialogue of several people.

 

[JKendallDane]

My first story here was rejected for too large paragraphs and improper use of quotation marks That was a little over 3 years ago.

I assume there's just a lot more coming in every day.

I would venture a guess most all of us can look back to those first stories and cringe. I did a complete edit of my first one three years after it first posted in 2009. The story itself was fine, but I was actually ashamed of the multiple errors with paragraph structure, dialog and POV mix-ups, and grammar that quite frankly, sucked. Still to this day it surprises me Laurel let it through.

And thanks to the wonder of The Wayback Machine, the damn thing is still out there in all it's glory.

 

[Sammael Bard]

Most people aren't here to be writers or be better at the art of erotica. They just want to write something and post it online. Bad education or lack of finesse are other things to consider.

That isn't an excuse for not writing coherently, but still, it helps in understanding them better.

As for submissions being approved, it's a hit and miss. My first submission got rejected thrice due to various nitpicks. Well, it helped knowing that at least she was reading my story.

My spelling is usually accurate but gets criticised because I write in British English not American.

I put some thought to it and switched my draft to American English. There are people who'll nag you if they see something different. I don't want to hear that.

Besides, majority of the readers here are American, so custom-tailoring for the crowd won't hurt, I think.