Self editing

[SinderellaSin]

For now i feel that I want to edit my own work. It gives me greater satisfaction knowing this is all my own work. God knows I've rewritten characters interaction several times and had other stories published, but this particular one just doesn't want to.

Sometimes the so general feedback on a rejection does not help an author go back to it and understand what was wrong. I've edited it, I've even listened to it to find mistakes(which did work till it bugged out three quarters of the way through)

To give me read submission guidelines doesn't tell me what you think as a moderator I break. I read it and can't see any of those I break. I guess maybe I should answer the door to food delivery service. But Summer likes "just eat" and my well pay for her food that way.

Anyway back to grammerly, to rerereediting and maybe this time it will be OK.

 

[StillStunned]

You might not want to hear this, but if your stories read like your post, it's no wonder they get rejected. I'm really struggling to understand what you're saying.

As a professional editor, I go through a text with the reader in mind. The writer might know exactly what they want to say, but the reader can't always follow the train of thought.

For example:

To give me read submission guidelines doesn't tell me what you think as a moderator I break. I read it and can't see any of those I break.

You're sticking too much information into the first sentence, but not in a logical order. I'd change it to something like:

A list of submission guidelines to read doesn't help me. It doesn't tell me which of those guidelines I've broken. Unless the moderator tells me which ones they think I've broken, I have no way of knowing just from reading the list.

Whenever you want to convey information, it's a useful rule of thumb to take two or three times as long as you think it should take. Identify what the separate elements are, and state them separately. Make sure there's a logical connection between them, preferably all moving in one direction: cause to effect, first to last, small to large.

This applies just as much to fiction writing too. Make the information - the story, the dialogue - easy for the reader to follow. Break it down into logical sentences and paragraphs. Don't combine too many clauses or qualifiers into a single sentence, and if you have to, use commas to separate them.

Remember that the reader has no obligation to read your story, and very little incentive. All they have to go on is the category, your title and your tagline. If the writing is difficult to follow, there's only so far they'll go before that incentive runs out. So make it easy. Don't give them an excuse to click away before they've been drawn in by the story or the characters.

Remember that editing isn't just about grammar, spelling and consistency. First and foremost, it's about readability.

Good luck!

 

[Jorunn]

Your writing sounds like you may not be a native English speaker. I was there and had my first story rejected. I finally got a few approved. Then, as I got better, I went back later to edit my first two stories because I could see problems even though they got approved. Writing in English is much harder than speaking it. I agree with your desire to self edit. It is hard, but it is the best way to get better. I do not let Grammarly automatically make my changes. I make the corrections in Grammarly then make the identical edits in my original story.

My suggestion would be to write shorter stories until you get better and can understand why a story may not be approved. Keep writing!

 

[TheWritingGroup]

Anyway back to grammerly, to rerereediting and maybe this time it will be OK.

Several people have reported that stories edited with Grammarly have been rejected as AI-written. Just use your brain.

--Annie

 

[jsmiam]

To stay on point, I kinda agree with the OP in one respect: The rejection notices (@Laurel) are a case point in irony, given how poorly written they are.

What the hell are the rejection notices saying? Why that run on sentence blending the (sometimes) stated issue with {and go find an editor} in such an unclear way. What the hell kind of writing is that? I don’t have a post with one to quote handy, but put yourselves in the shoes of someone seeing it for the first time: it’s terribly written!

I’m not saying the site/laurel shouldn’t use a form letter nor should she write a long personalized note to everyone, nor should the form letter reveal all secrets. But the form letter as it exists leaves much to be desired. And quite frankly, we’d get fewer posts here in the AH asking for interpretation, if the form letter was written in a way where it didn’t need interpretation.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

To stay on point, I kinda agree with the OP in one respect: The rejection notices (@Laurel) are a case point in irony, given how poorly written they are.

What the hell are the rejection notices saying? Why that run on sentence blending the (sometimes) stated issue with {and go find an editor} in such an unclear way. What the hell kind of writing is that? I don’t have a post with one to quote handy, but put yourselves in the shoes of someone seeing it for the first time: it’s terribly written!

What's worse is that they may be Bot compiled from various stock language snippets. Sort of a melting pot.

We know they don't fully read every story, so why would they manually type out or even copypasta each rejection message?

 

[Andreas_Kreuz]

Rejection for AI rarely has to do with Grammarly. I had a look at some storiesband they where written like AI would write. Frictionless, flowery prose with hackneyed imagery... If you stick to the free Grammarly version then it will fix punctuation and spelling but not suggest to change wording.
If you don't understand why you get rejected, ask an editor.

 

[SinderellaSin]

This was actually my first thought. My second thought, its clearly two parts. This way I concentrate my work. I can concentrate on getting part 1 right and then part 2 hiving the reader 2 smaller stories than one big one that covers a multitude of subjects.

 

[ronde]

Remember that the reader has no obligation to read your story, and very little incentive. All they have to go on is the category, your title and your tagline. If the writing is difficult to follow, there's only so far they'll go before that incentive runs out. So make it easy. Don't give them an excuse to click away before they've been drawn in by the story or the characters.

Remember that editing isn't just about grammar, spelling and consistency. First and foremost, it's about readability.

Good luck!

My experience is the same. Readers will overlook a lot of mistakes as long as the story is readable. If it's not, they just back click and go on to something easier to read. I will not read anything where I have to go looking for either a dictionary or for an urban dictionary just to make sense of what the writer wrote. Write in plain, common English and you'll be fine.

 

[ronde]

This was actually my first thought. My second thought, its clearly two parts. This way I concentrate my work. I can concentrate on getting part 1 right and then part 2 hiving the reader 2 smaller stories than one big one that covers a multitude of subjects.

If you're trying to write a story involving multiple subjects, you will be much better off writing standalone stories for each scenario. In almost anything you read, the "story" will have one main plot and a small cast of main characters. Trying to interweave plots with a huge cast of characters is extremely difficult to do well.

 

[ronde]

For now i feel that I want to edit my own work. It gives me greater satisfaction knowing this is all my own work. God knows I've rewritten characters interaction several times and had other stories published, but this particular one just doesn't want to.

Sometimes the so general feedback on a rejection does not help an author go back to it and understand what was wrong. I've edited it, I've even listened to it to find mistakes(which did work till it bugged out three quarters of the way through)

To give me read submission guidelines doesn't tell me what you think as a moderator I break. I read it and can't see any of those I break. I guess maybe I should answer the door to food delivery service. But Summer likes "just eat" and my well pay for her food that way.

Anyway back to grammerly, to rerereediting and maybe this time it will be OK.

I agree with the other posters that it sounds as if English is not your native language. You shouldn't feel badly about not understanding the rejection notices and site submission guidelines because English can be an incredibly confusing language. The rules are, there aren't any rules. That's because English is a hodgepodge of at least a dozen other languages that were sort of hammered into place at the time of adoption. I do not use an editor, either real or virtual, but in your case it might be best to find a flesh and blood editor to help you through a few stories.

I would stay away from an AI editing. Some of what you get back won't make any more sense to you than the rejection notices from Literotica. What you need is an editor who will understand what you're attempting to say and help you navigate English to make it readable.

 

[Andreas_Kreuz]

It gives me greater satisfaction knowing this is all my own work.

It's incredibly rewarding when your work is truly your own, but it's important to remember that a story isn't only created by the writer. A large part will be created by the readers associations. And these might be different from yours.. A good editor can provide the crucial perspective of a reader, which is something a writer can only guess at. An editor acts as a mirror, explaining how the story is being received and what might not be landing as intended.

The Literotica responses are not designed to be editorial feedback. They serve the site's convenience by speeding up the review process, not to provide the kind of specific, actionable advice a writer needs.

 

[SinderellaSin]

I always love your replies, they always make me see different views. Different ways to look at things

 

[Andreas_Kreuz]

@SinderellaSin Wanted to write to you directly. But you turned off direct messaging in your forum settings.