FA+
Shop
Writing smut is easier?
4 years ago
General
There's something I couldn't help but notice, looking around the site at some of the other stories uploaded here; when it comes to spelling, punctuation, and grammar, the standards here seem fairly low. Now I know that statement alone already probably makes me sound like an elitist prick, so I want to be clear that I don't mean anything bad by it. After all, enjoyment is subjective; if you read a story and enjoy it even though it has writing errors in it, that is fine, and good on the author for making something that you enjoyed. Even I've enjoyed multiple stories here that I saw numerous errors in. The only reason I bring it up is that I just can't help but hold myself to a higher standard; and once again, I know that makes me sound like an elitist prick, so again to be clear, I don't mean to say nor do I think that I'm better than any other author here. I also don't expect or intend to hold anyone except myself to my standard; it's just something I do with myself, and I can't help it.
If I know something I've written has an error in it, I feel compelled to go in and correct it. Every single one of the stories I've uploaded, I've re-uploaded the source file at least once, because I read through it on the site and noticed an error I didn't catch before. I don't think that I'm better than anyone else because I do this; it's just something I can't help but do.
I've figured that it's probably a combination of a low barrier to entry; basically anyone can make an account here, after all. Along with the fact that it's furry erotica; it's not exactly the most mainstream thing, so people here take what they can get. Again, I do not think that's a bad thing. I think anyone who feels the desire to creatively express themselves should have a chance to do so; if they want to strive themselves towards perfection and improve their work, that is fine, but if they don't care about perfection at all and just want to create without worry, that is also fine. This is why I only care about whether there are errors in my own stories, and I don't care about errors in anyone else's writing, unless they ask for that kind of feedback. I myself am always willing to get that kind of feedback. So if you ever spot an error in my writing, feel free to point it out to me. If it's a real error, I'll most likely go in and fix it. If it's a matter of opinion though, like, "I think this scene should've had this other thing happen instead," I'll still read that feedback, though I might not change anything in response to it.
To close this ramble of thoughts away, I'll just say that if you also happen to be an author here, or are aspiring to be one, then I don't think you need to worry about a lot of errors. If you made a typo, but the word is still close to the word you meant to write, then the reader will probably pick up on what you meant, and the same goes with grammar. Improper punctuation can be a bit disorienting at times to understand, but it also does not usually ruin the reading experience.
There's just one error I would seriously suggest avoiding, and that's having multiple characters speaking dialogue in the same paragraph; apparently a lot of people don't know that you're not supposed to do that in writing English, and it can be very confusing to keep up with which character is actually talking. Especially if you start having them speaking lines without attaching any dialogue tags. (If you don't know what those are, it's the things like, '[character's name] said,' that goes before or after their spoken dialogue.)
... On a completely unrelated note, there's something funny to me going on here lately. I keep getting comments and a couple of direct messages from brand new accounts, like one that messaged me about ten minutes after the account was created, if I understood the timestamp correctly. All of these comments and messages seem to be written in very similar ways, and the accounts along with the messages are getting deleted by admins within a day. Now, I'm not saying for sure that it's all the same person who must have got in some kind of trouble, and has been attempting to circumvent punishment by making new accounts; as the saying goes though, if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then well, it's probably a duck. Honestly the situation just makes me laugh, though assuming that is what's going on, I have no idea what they did to originally get in trouble, so I can't really weigh in on it. I feel a little flattered that seemingly this person would be willing to go through the trouble of making new accounts over and over to attempt to make requests to me, but I don't really feel like it's worth it. I would only do requests for people who respond to me in my follow up messages about working through the details of said request, so leaving me one vague message and then never responding to me again because your account got deleted won't successfully make me write something for you, sorry.
Anyway, it's about time I finally start actually writing words for my next story instead of sitting on the complete outline and not writing any more on it, again. I've been trying not to do that, but my life schedule has still not been very cooperative, unfortunately.
If I know something I've written has an error in it, I feel compelled to go in and correct it. Every single one of the stories I've uploaded, I've re-uploaded the source file at least once, because I read through it on the site and noticed an error I didn't catch before. I don't think that I'm better than anyone else because I do this; it's just something I can't help but do.
I've figured that it's probably a combination of a low barrier to entry; basically anyone can make an account here, after all. Along with the fact that it's furry erotica; it's not exactly the most mainstream thing, so people here take what they can get. Again, I do not think that's a bad thing. I think anyone who feels the desire to creatively express themselves should have a chance to do so; if they want to strive themselves towards perfection and improve their work, that is fine, but if they don't care about perfection at all and just want to create without worry, that is also fine. This is why I only care about whether there are errors in my own stories, and I don't care about errors in anyone else's writing, unless they ask for that kind of feedback. I myself am always willing to get that kind of feedback. So if you ever spot an error in my writing, feel free to point it out to me. If it's a real error, I'll most likely go in and fix it. If it's a matter of opinion though, like, "I think this scene should've had this other thing happen instead," I'll still read that feedback, though I might not change anything in response to it.
To close this ramble of thoughts away, I'll just say that if you also happen to be an author here, or are aspiring to be one, then I don't think you need to worry about a lot of errors. If you made a typo, but the word is still close to the word you meant to write, then the reader will probably pick up on what you meant, and the same goes with grammar. Improper punctuation can be a bit disorienting at times to understand, but it also does not usually ruin the reading experience.
There's just one error I would seriously suggest avoiding, and that's having multiple characters speaking dialogue in the same paragraph; apparently a lot of people don't know that you're not supposed to do that in writing English, and it can be very confusing to keep up with which character is actually talking. Especially if you start having them speaking lines without attaching any dialogue tags. (If you don't know what those are, it's the things like, '[character's name] said,' that goes before or after their spoken dialogue.)
... On a completely unrelated note, there's something funny to me going on here lately. I keep getting comments and a couple of direct messages from brand new accounts, like one that messaged me about ten minutes after the account was created, if I understood the timestamp correctly. All of these comments and messages seem to be written in very similar ways, and the accounts along with the messages are getting deleted by admins within a day. Now, I'm not saying for sure that it's all the same person who must have got in some kind of trouble, and has been attempting to circumvent punishment by making new accounts; as the saying goes though, if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then well, it's probably a duck. Honestly the situation just makes me laugh, though assuming that is what's going on, I have no idea what they did to originally get in trouble, so I can't really weigh in on it. I feel a little flattered that seemingly this person would be willing to go through the trouble of making new accounts over and over to attempt to make requests to me, but I don't really feel like it's worth it. I would only do requests for people who respond to me in my follow up messages about working through the details of said request, so leaving me one vague message and then never responding to me again because your account got deleted won't successfully make me write something for you, sorry.
Anyway, it's about time I finally start actually writing words for my next story instead of sitting on the complete outline and not writing any more on it, again. I've been trying not to do that, but my life schedule has still not been very cooperative, unfortunately.
Even if the first thing was true, which I happen to know it isn't, I wouldn't really care that much. I certainly want people to like my stories, yes, but at the same time, if someone doesn't like the way I write scenes that don't have sex in them to set up context and fill out the story, then they can just go read what someone else is writing. Or better yet, write their own.
As for the second possibility, that's probably true to an extent on this particular website, given what the main purpose of the site is. However, I know from previous experience in my life that I could go to other sites, write things that don't contain any sex, and get some positive attention. So, I don't have much reason to care about that either.
I may have some lofty aspirations of maybe making money off of this someday, but for now, it's just a hobby. As such I'm going to write the way that I want to write.