This is a great post Kat. I intend to take a lot of this and put it into practice immediately. I'm fairly young, so having advice like this from people who are (obviously) more experienced than me is a huge bonus. Thanks!
Also, in relation to point 8, what kinds of reactions have you guys had when showing your work to your friends? I consider myself to be a very sexual person, and I don't find anything about that or writing these stories the least bit shameful, but honestly the idea of having my friends think I'm hyper-sexual to the point of being 'creepy' or a 'perv' is terrifying.
Sorry chefkathleen, I didn't mean for that to come off as heavy-handed (or high-falootin' for that matter). It's only because English is so enjoyable to me that I find it difficult to not become impassioned when I speak about it.
Personally, I'm kind of a language Nazi. I love language, and I love reading, so when something is incorrect to the point of being unreadable, it's very disappointing. Some of my biggest pet peeves include:
There/Their/They're: There = direction, Their = possessive, They're = they + are
Your/You're: Your = possessive, You're = you + are
Then/Than: Then = progression, Than = comparison
Its/It's: Its = possessive, It's = it + is
Comma usage: Too complex to go into here, but just google 'comma usage'. There are lots of people even more anal than me who've dedicated their entire lives to grammar.
Although, I'm sure that everyone reading this topic already knew that. At least, I'd like to hope so.
I think a large part of the story readability issue is not only spelling, but also grammar. I've read (grudgingly) stories, both here on Lush and elsewhere, that include everything from absolutely no punctuation, to being written completely in uppercase.
SERIOUSLY DO YOU NOT FIND THIS ANNOYING
God, it makes me cringe. I can't believe I'm even posting that to make a point.
The idea of including a spell-checker is a good one, I think, but, as ASp has already stated, they are notoriously inaccurate, and they also can't fix your grammar. Even using MS Word beforehand is no guarantee; some of the rules it tries to enforce are absurd. However, I would rather see a sentence that it grammatically inaccurate and correctly spelled, than see one that is grammatically inaccurate and completely misspelled. Also, it doesn't take style into account. I, for example, have a style that includes a large number of fragmented sentences, which MS Word hates, because, technically, they're incorrect. If everyone followed the grammar checker to the letter there would be much less difference between people's writing.
Perhaps a larger part of the issue is that people just don't care. The lack of structural integrity in their, or anyone else's, writing doesn't bother them, and so perhaps they feel that it's unimportant. I know that in my daily life whenever I correct people on their usage of English I tend to get one of two reactions. Either, "Oh, really? I didn't know that." or, "Shut up." I'll let you guys guess which one is more common... Maybe a solution is to require stories to be submitted for approval before they go live. Not necessarily for content, but just for general readability. I know that implementing this kind of system can be a drain on any site's admin (sorry Lush!), but I think it could seriously improve the overall quality of the content here. I'll volunteer, if it comes to that.
@ roccotool: lol
@ Lush: Thanks for updating the search function. Unfortunately, it seems like, if that story was ever even here, it's gone now. Oh well!
@chefkathleen: Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. Lush is the best site around!
Hmm, I still can't find it, I guess I must've been wrong about it being here. Unless it was removed for whatever reason. Thanks for trying though!
I actually did try the search function before I posted here, but to no avail. Open-ended searches like "purple heart", "purple tattoo", or "heart tattoo" all come up with about 300+ results (which I spent about an hour sifting through), and closed searches with the same parameters come up with nothing...
Like I said, I'm almost positive that it was here on Lush, but I could be mistaken. Is it possible that it was removed some time in the past?
Hey guys!
It's my first time posting on the Lush forums, and I'm looking for a little help. A while back I read a story, and now I can't find it again. I'm fairly certain that it was here on Lush, but I could be mistaken. I'll describe what I remember of it, and if anyone recognizes it I would appreciate a nudge in the right direction.
Here's the goods:
-It was a high school student/teacher scenario. Female student, male teacher.
-There was a light D/S dynamic.
-The girl had a purple heart tattooed on the back of her neck.
-The story had multiple parts. The first part dealt with the girl's seduction of the teacher, and the second (I think there were only 2) was about them getting together at his house.
Thanks!
