Story rejected

[24ward]

I submitted a new story called "Bucke's Bay Resort." I wrote what I thought was a detailed first page setting up an interesting premise.

It's now been rejected by an ANONYMOUS editor. The reason given is "Towards is not a word. You mean toward. Please fix this and other grammar errors."

First off, look at this from the Oxford University Press .

TOWARDS IS A WORD. And I only use it once! Any other grammatical errors you want to recommend, whoever you are?

This just so FRUSTRATING. There are so so many poorly written, incomprehensible stories on CHYOO... I understand I'm not the best writer here but I don't deserve this. Like I said, the ANONYMOUS moderator rejected my story because of ONE WORD that I used EXACTLY RIGHT!!!

WHOEVER REJECTED MY STORY, IDENTIFY YOURSELF. I would appreciate an apology and I don't expect this to happen again.

 

[Torg]

It's now been rejected by an ANONYMOUS editor. The reason given is "Towards is not a word. You mean toward. Please fix this and other grammar errors."

First off, look at this from the Oxford University Press .

TOWARDS IS A WORD. And I only use it once! Any other grammatical errors you want to recommend, whoever you are?

I feel your pain. Moderators differ. For me, if a story has a few errors, I'll just fix them and leave a note to the editor, saying, "Watch your grammar and spelling. I fixed some." If it's going to take longer than a few minutes to edit, I'll reject it.

It seems a harsh to reject it just because of 'towards', especially given that it is a word (though I would have corrected this, if I'd done it. I wasn't aware that it was okay). There must have been other problems for it to be rejected, but your mileage obviously varied from that.

I'll look into the intro and see what's up.

 

[Torg]

Just a couple of things:

'english' should be capitalized.

'Until recently.' is a fragment, not a sentence, but I would allow it under the circumstances. It was separated from the rest of the sentence and put in a different paragraph for emphasis. Also see note below about protagonist's voice.

'luxerious' is spelled 'luxurious'.

'Me and most of the others did the work;' to be perfectly correct, this should be 'Most of the others and I did the work', but given that this is being written in first person, the main character would say it the way you wrote it.

'overs a hand' looks like a typo that should read 'offers a hand'.

That's all I can find.

 

[jakelyon]

Chilling would be in order

Just to settle the Toward versus Towards.

They're interchangeable. Toward is a little more common in America, and towards a little more common in Britain; but both forms are perfectly acceptable in either place.

I hardly think you have any right to act so incensed. It is not like it is much of an issue, and there were a fair number of errors. Its just porn for gods sake.

 

[24ward]

I hardly think you have any right to act so incensed. It is not like it is much of an issue, and there were a fair number of errors. Its just porn for gods sake.

Well, I take that as given. So what are we all doing wasting our time if its "just porn"?

It was a decent length page and I'm going to suggest the "fair number of errors" were pretty minor. And I didn't receive an email or anything beyond the dismissive note at rejection.

I seem to recall a thread where one of the more prolific but less linguistically talented writers asked the community to bear with him, and you all are pretty supportive. I also recall how much people complain that there aren't enough people contributing to the site.

I have some high school but I don't pretend to be a professional writer. I just think you shouldn't reject submissions on the basis of minor errors.

Who comes to this site to get an english lesson? If it can be understood, approve it and get out of the fucking way.

 

[24ward]

I feel your pain. Moderators differ. For me, if a story has a few errors, I'll just fix them and leave a note to the editor, saying, "Watch your grammar and spelling. I fixed some." If it's going to take longer than a few minutes to edit, I'll reject it.

It seems a harsh to reject it just because of 'towards', especially given that it is a word (though I would have corrected this, if I'd done it. I wasn't aware that it was okay). There must have been other problems for it to be rejected, but your mileage obviously varied from that.

I'll look into the intro and see what's up.

Torg, I appreciated your replies. I admit I'm not a great writer. I just don't understand what is the intention of rejecting stories for trivial reasons other than to drive people away.

There must have been other problems for it to be rejected, but your mileage obviously varied from that.

Torg, I'm curious about this line. What do you mean by "mileage obviously varied"?

 

[Torg]

Torg, I appreciated your replies. I admit I'm not a great writer. I just don't understand what is the intention of rejecting stories for trivial reasons other than to drive people away.



Torg, I'm curious about this line. What do you mean by "mileage obviously varied"?

That was when the assumption was that 'towards' was the only reason.

 

[horny-oz]

That would be frustrating considering some of the leet speak one-liners that some people try and fob off onto stories.

Put it through word spell-check, re-submit and hope for a diffent mod!

 

[24ward]

That would be frustrating considering some of the leet speak one-liners that some people try and fob off onto stories.

Yup, and that was really the source of my frustration. I don't mind editors maintaining some standard of writing, but given the standard as it exists it just struck me as disproportionate to reject the story.

Put it through word spell-check, re-submit and hope for a diffent mod!

By way of update, I did re-submit, admittedly without making any changes, and somebody approved it. The approved story nonetheless appears in my screen with a "rejection reason" reading: "I fixed your spelling errors and you should be good to go." So I suppose that will stand as an eternal monument to squeaky wheels.

So thanks, all.

 

[sexy_adrienne]

Well, I take that as given. So what are we all doing wasting our time if its "just porn"?

It was a decent length page and I'm going to suggest the "fair number of errors" were pretty minor. And I didn't receive an email or anything beyond the dismissive note at rejection.

I seem to recall a thread where one of the more prolific but less linguistically talented writers asked the community to bear with him, and you all are pretty supportive. I also recall how much people complain that there aren't enough people contributing to the site.

I have some high school but I don't pretend to be a professional writer. I just think you shouldn't reject submissions on the basis of minor errors.

Who comes to this site to get an english lesson? If it can be understood, approve it and get out of the fucking way.

For people to read a story and make sense of it then English written correctly makes it more enjoyable. Proof read the story first and take correction graciously and you will probably get something out of this place.
There is nothing worse than trying to read a story which has the potential to grip your imagination, only to have the grammar , both usage and spelling wrong.It is annoying, and ultimately you will walk away from reading it.

 

[rapsody7]

Wow i didn't realize chyoo was so Grammar nazi...

 

[24ward]

Wow i didn't realize chyoo was so Grammar nazi...

Yeah, neither did I, especially when you see how many horrible threads there are, including first threads (to be approved by the moderator). I notice we had another story approved recently, along the lines of "Are you male or female?", "How old are you?" and presumably on and on for 20 threads before the story even begins. IF it even gets that far.

So be prepared for terrible ideas to be approved, while yours is denied if the moderator would have phrased a particular sentence differently.

I had completely forgotten about this thread; my language was a bit strong but I still agree 100%. I had a bad taste in my mouth at the time, and not long afterwards I went away for awhile (I enclose the OUP link to pre-empt any complaints). I returned to add a few more threads, and received some gracious and encouraging replies.

 

[Torg]

Different moderators have different standards.

I rarely read for content. If you can put together an English sentence with a modicum of errors, I'll approve you. If there aren't 20 other stories just like it, and if I can actually see where the story is going, I'll accept it.

 

[samsu]

Cool Section

this is a cool section

 

[whizzper]

I just had a rejected 'resource' I guess you can say on CHYOO, and I didn't get a rejection notice.

http://www.chyoo.com/index.php/main.story.cover/5962

It's in Non-Erotic (just like the CHYOO FAQ, and the "Mind Control" discussion. I wasn't adding anymore than was already there, it's just a spot for writers to look over the Character's history.

So what's the deal?