If you submit a story that you believe to be technically competent, but is rejected by a moderator, do you bother to re-write it or just get on with the next one?
I always rewrite.
"Run-on sentences" was usually the reason for my rejections. I fixed them and restrained myself in future stories. It made me a better, less self-indulgent writer.
They know what they're doing. Trust their advice.
The moderators work as volunteers and if one listens to their advice (whether we like it or not) they are trying to teach us something. Remember, they would not be mod's if they didn't have the know how, and high quality of standards. Along with keeping us in line with the TOS, they must READ every single story submitted to them. Can you imagine the dedication that must take? I try to take their advice like a master class of sorts. (not that I've always been respectful, and for that I am sorry....)
Take what they're telling you and learn from it. I use Grammarly, but even that isn't perfect. It takes time to learn your craft. It's incredible (myself included) how many people are 'sure' they can write, just to come here and realize they have a lot to learn.
So, REWRITE that story. Pain over EVERY SINGEL WORD. Use a thesaurus. Structure your sentences so that they don't sound like 'see spot run', 'see Jane take spot on a walk', etc. You'll find that moving a simple comma can prompt you to completely restructure the sentence.
As a very wise Mod told me, use the least amount of words to say the same thing.
Example;
Jane got in her car to go downtown.
Jane went downtown.
If it's not important and can be assumed don't add it, unless it's necessary for the flow of the sentence. Stay on topic, such as talking about Janes car and how fast it can go, or other information that is unimportant to the story, don't use it. As Milik says "Don't talk about the Presidents dog, talk about the President.'
I hope that this fairly new writer could help. I am still learning from them so pay attention and you will too.
Good luck!
I have three famous stories, 2 recommended reads and have come in the top ten in two competitions~ Come in and make yourself at home.
Moderators take no pleasure in sending stories back, but their mandate is for posted stories to be literate. I did the job for more than two years and got push back from writers whose stories were filled with spelling mistakes because they had relied on some spell checking software. They allow mistakes that are words. Learn the difference between there, their, and they're. That is just an example of the kind of error I mean. The other recurring mistake was the use of apostrophes. They signify either a contraction or possession, not a plural (unless added to a plural to make it possessive). There are many grammar rules that have not been learned or have been forgotten by writers, and it is necessary to persevere. Textspeak has undermined literate English and is not acceptable outside that context.
Make use of the writer's resources on the site and those recommended by other writers. Your stories will get better with the amount of work you invest and you will be less likely to receive a rejection note. It will be easier as time goes on, I promise.
I have taken a break from writing as I have just gotten over the whole rejection thing. Not a fault of any person in particular but I have proofread alot of my work as well as given it to other people to proofread one of them being a mod. The other a co-worker who does the internal newsletters for the company I work for. But it still got rejected like I said I do not blame anyone but myself. I am sure my interest in writing will return but for the most part, I am kind of over it.
As for the question at hand. If you are totally into what you are always writing, give it another shot. There are some excellent mods on here that will help you out, and not just post links to things you have read over and over. Usually, I have found, if you message the mod that has approved one of your stories in the past, they will be more helpful, some mods get used to a person style of writing and can help point that person in the right direction.
GOOD LUCK!!!!
I have made a complete jackass of myself at times and paid the price with my on humility. Never blame a Mod for one's writing. They are on the receiving end. MOST mods will assist you if you ask.
To me it is like editing your own work. Sometimes we just don't see it from some one else's view point. With that in mind, I never complain about any story rejections We should be all learning from everything we do, and improving daily. That's part of life! I welcome feedback and edits.
You'll get rejected for reason less than good. I had to different readers tell me "unbounds" was a misspelling of the word "unbinds". The 2nd one actually changed to unbinds for me. I was like dude unbounds is not a mistake. It's a better word than unbinds. He unbounds her. That means he set her free from limits by untying her. It was made clear before that line that she was tied up. When I can use one word that means a bunch of stuff then yeah I'm going to using it.
Both my stories have been returned unverified for more work. I've only had to do basics like fixing paragraphs etc, however I also reread and have added and changed text during this process. It's my opinion as someone of limited education that the return for further work is, for me, an opportunity to self educate. When my first story was published and quite well received the feelings of achievement were overwhelming and have encouraged me no end to continue.
Wouldn't you rather have a nice cup of tea?
If I get a story rejected (it happens now and then) it's usually over things that I consider pretty minor (typos or formatting issues). Sometimes it can be annoying, but it's just a reminder for me to be more careful about those things. I can fix them up and resubmit the story in short period of time (maybe an hour) and usually it gets accepted the second time around. So I don't consider those to be rejection.
Don't believe everything that you read.
The few times I've had a story rejected, it was fully my own fault and it came with advice how I could fix it. Some have been due to a word limit issue (something I did in my early days on Lush), while others were due to too many grammatical errors & it was a comp entry so the Mods really can't fix it for me (which I totally respect btw!!!)
I'm grateful to our Mods who catch my stupid typos and fix them when they can. I'm also grateful to the members who PM me when typos get past me and a Mod or two so I can fix it quickly.
The only stories I've pulled were stories that violated Lush's TOS. Those were posted out of ignorance (and in my early days of being a member) and because it would be too much to fix or change, I pulled them. I don't blame the Mods for doing their job... I thank them.
We're all here as writers because we have stories to tell. We all believe we have the ability to write, some with less justification than others. I've had a story rejected, and it was I think a pretty good one. The reason was I was skating too far out on the thin ice, pushing the limits, which is where I like to hang out. To every writer, each piece is his or her 'baby', and when someone tells you that your kid is ugly, it'll piss you off. I pouted, sure, but I'm going to rework it, avoid the verboten areas and make it work. I wrote many pieces for another site, and my first submission was savagely received, and for good reason: I was too lazy, didn't do basic research and got called on it. Also, I had to learn HTML. I thought 'who the hell are they to tell ME I have to learn HTML to play here? Uh, they were the owners and/or managers of the site, that's who they were. Long story short, I learned to format my stuff in HTML. It's sometimes called pride, sometimes called pig headedness....and it keeps us from learning. That's one of the best lessons any of us can learn.