So you think you can write

1 Dec 2020

I've been wrestling with getting my first story verified and have been going through reformatting it to meet the standard.
I thought it might be helpful to ask the boneheaded question.
Is there a tool or anything to help a new writer actually put the mess of words into the good clean format?

So far I'm running mine through Grammarly, the inbuilt checker on the board, and through the wonderfully unhelpful Microsoft Word.
I just want to find the easiest way to make sure when I submit something, that it's laid out the way it needs to be to make it as easy as possible for a reader to check it for errors.
I can't be the only new writer grappling with this, some how do my fellow new starters get over that first fence and get something verified?

Whatever was posted is always meant in love and respect never to offend.
I'm also highly likely to have posted this from a phone so there may be typos or odd word changes, auto correct can be a pain.

I've been listening to my kinky pencil here's my current work

1 Dec 2020

Quote by Twisted_Skald
I've been wrestling with getting my first story verified and have been going through reformatting it to meet the standard.
I thought it might be helpful to ask the boneheaded question.
Is there a tool or anything to help a new writer actually put the mess of words into the good clean format?

So far I'm running mine through Grammarly, the inbuilt checker on the board, and through the wonderfully unhelpful Microsoft Word.
I just want to find the easiest way to make sure when I submit something, that it's laid out the way it needs to be to make it as easy as possible for a reader to check it for errors.
I can't be the only new writer grappling with this, some how do my fellow new starters get over that first fence and get something verified?

To be honest, I have given up posting stories in here. I am just here for the forum anymore.

Mostly, it takes a lot of practice. Just write and write. I know I look back at my earliest stories and want to cringe. But over the last 20 years I have improved a lot. Mostly in the last 3 when I started to take it a lot more seriously.

My technique like that is to write, then read it again. Then set it aside for a few days, and then read it again. Then shove it through Grammarly, and read it yet again. I still miss things, but that seems to clear 98% of any mistakes I made in the past.

As far as the "standard", not sure if there really is one, other than whatever they feel like at the time.

1 Dec 2020

Thank you, looks like I need a lot more work on how I format the text.
Will just have to study a lot more before I submit again.

Whatever was posted is always meant in love and respect never to offend.
I'm also highly likely to have posted this from a phone so there may be typos or odd word changes, auto correct can be a pain.

I've been listening to my kinky pencil here's my current work

1 Dec 2020

Presuming you have all the bases covered in terms of the editing process (as Mushroom0311 accurately states) then in terms of technicalities:

1) Ensure paragraphs are separated by a blank line when previewing your story. The blank line means it'll likely come into the Lush editor more cleanly when you copy/paste it in (though it depends if you use the 'clean word formatting' option or not). If you use a single return character it can _sometimes_ get swallowed so the story comes in as one block of text when you paste, which is annoying but just one of those things. You'll be able to tell after hitting 'continue' because that'll show you the preview. If the paragraphs are all smooshed together without a gap between them, scroll to the bottom and click to edit the draft again, tweak your text either directly in Lush, or in Word, and paste it in again. Repeat until the paragraphs show up properly, then use that setting next time! In Word, you can add an extra line break easily: do a find/replace on ^p and replace it with ^p^p.

2) Standard English grammar, punctuation and paragraphing, with correctly formatted dialogue. Read the "publishing advice articles" for guidance.

3) Run it through Grammarly to catch the odd typo, but it is quite crap at times and suggests some outlandishly stupid things, so keep your wits about you.

Hope that gives you some ideas.

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2 Dec 2020

Thank you for your kind words, will do some study and apply your advice.

Whatever was posted is always meant in love and respect never to offend.
I'm also highly likely to have posted this from a phone so there may be typos or odd word changes, auto correct can be a pain.

I've been listening to my kinky pencil here's my current work

3 Dec 2020

Quote by Mushroom0311

To be honest, I have given up posting stories in here. I am just here for the forum anymore.

Mostly, it takes a lot of practice. Just write and write. I know I look back at my earliest stories and want to cringe. But over the last 20 years I have improved a lot. Mostly in the last 3 when I started to take it a lot more seriously.

My technique like that is to write, then read it again. Then set it aside for a few days, and then read it again. Then shove it through Grammarly, and read it yet again. I still miss things, but that seems to clear 98% of any mistakes I made in the past.

As far as the "standard", not sure if there really is one, other than whatever they feel like at the time.

Do you like Grammarly?

3 Dec 2020

Quote by DifeTig

Do you like Grammarly?

Well, I can't exactly say I "like" it, 95% of the time all it really wants me to do is move commas around to be honest. But it does help, and it also catches other mistakes I might have made, but missed such as a typo which is also a correct word so just a spell check misses it. And another reread is always a good thing, even if it is mostly just moving commas.

I think on average, depending on narration and style I average from 85-95 when I am done with it. Since in my conversations I often use things like dialects and unusual phrases, and that does give it fits which I always ignore. My characters are real people after all, so of course they do not sound like they are all English Majors. But it is a tool I use every time now, and suggest it even so.

4 Dec 2020

Quote by DifeTig

Do you like Grammarly?

Grammarly is only good at a few things, like spell check and comma placement. It will not find dialogue punctuation errors, tense shift errors or other not super complicated things. It is good at what it does but you can't rely on it alone to find grammar/punctuation problems. Only go for the free version, the pay version is not that much better.

And Mr. Mushroom0311 you had a story published today so it does not look like you've given up. Thanks for hanging in there.

My Festive Flash competition story was I recently published-- https://www.lushstories.com/stories/incest-fantasy/driving-home-for-christmas Hope you read and enjoy it! Don't forget to comment. ☺️

Recently published https://www.lushstories.com/stories/lesbian/women-desire It's part two of my Women series where Kate and Maura continue their journey of fem desire. The first part is https://www.lushstories.com/stories/lesbian/women-murder

4 Dec 2020

Quote by Kee

And Mr. Mushroom0311 you had a story published today so it does not look like you've given up. Thanks for hanging in there.

I have not, but it took 9 days. Now I just recognize this is where I park my occasional short stories and nothing else.

Grammarly does sometimes catch tense, but not always. Sometimes in fact I have had it tag one incorrectly, because in a conversation a character will use past tense for one thing, and future for another. And I often find it irritating because it will want me to condense words where it is not appropriate.

"Some time" is not always the same as "sometime". "Good night" is not always the same as "goodnight". The same with "hand shake" or "throw back". They always want to condense them, even when it is not appropriate. 9 times out of 10 when they want me to make a compound word, I ignore it.

"I pulled off the road after my near collision, and when I lifted my arm and could see my handshake."
"I was playing catch with me son, and I turned away and ran the opposite direction so I could throwback the ball over my shoulder."

Nope, just does not read the same at all. In fact, they almost become nonsensical. It is a good tool though, and people need to use their own common sense and realize that their suggestions are not always right.

12 Dec 2020

Once Curvy got her sock puppets out I did manage to get the format right, it taught me a valuable lesson.
For my next work I'm sending the first pass version to get the red pencil treatment.
I figure a harsh feedback reader will save hours of pointless faffing about when editing.

Shame the tools aren't really good at doing that bit then again Art is so subjective how could you build a machine to edit wisely.

Big hugs and much love to all who shared here.
I learned a lot from your generous suggestions.

Whatever was posted is always meant in love and respect never to offend.
I'm also highly likely to have posted this from a phone so there may be typos or odd word changes, auto correct can be a pain.

I've been listening to my kinky pencil here's my current work

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