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Spel chek is yur fiendYes, I messed up the title to make a point. In this day and age of word processors, anybody who is writing should be taking full advantage of the spell check features of whatever it is they are using. I realize that there might be some people who are using a generic text editor with which to craft their masterpiece, but if you are that's still no excuse not to check the spelling of your story. There are a number of free spell checkers out there on the web to use if you don't have a word processing program that has one. Here are just a few: www.spellcheck.net - a free online spell checker that will check up to 5,000 words. If you want to find out about other free spell checkers then just go to Google, or your favorite search engine, and enter any combination of spell checker free and, if you want, your operating system. There should be at least one that will work for you. I have been asked by I don't include a spell checker as part of the site's functionality. First and foremost adding that sort of feature, if it doesn't already exist, is quite a task. Second, given the plethora of free spell checkers out there I don't see a need to include on on the site. Third, and last, I don't expect people to be writing their stories directly into submission pages of the site. They should be writing them off-line, where they can review, re-read and re-write them until the story is ready for others to see. If I were to add a spell checker to the site then it would just encourage what to me is the wrong behavior. So, in the end all I have to say is to improve how your writing is perceived, check your spelling before posting.
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Speaking of Google
Speaking of Google, the Google tool bar has a spell checker that's pretty good. When you put text in a web form (such as when you are uploading a story here or posting a comment here) you can click on the tool bar's "Check" button. It will highlight the words it thinks are misspelled in red. When you left-click on the red word a menu with several suggestions pop up. You may choose a suggested word, hand edit your word, ignore it, or add the word in the local spelling dictionary.
We still need to pay attention; automated tools can only do so much. For example in my previous paragraph I typoed "man" instead of "may", both are real words. Also homonyms can nail the unwary. Finally, we should have some clue as to what the desired word should look like--I sometimes see where a less experienced writer will pepper his or her prose with wildly inappropriate words. I suspect this is the effect of accepting a spelling without thinking about the offered word.
You can get the Google tool bar here.
Scotty
PS: Google is using morphing links and redirects. I know the exact URL for the Firefox version, but I tried to figure out their pre-morphed URL so you'd get the version for your browser. If I've messed up, try the Google tools page and do an eyeball search for "Toolbar".
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Anthrofiction Network
I'd just like to second Steve
Steve wrote:
I don't expect people to be writing their stories directly into submission pages of the site. They should be writing them off-line, where they can review, re-read and re-write them until the story is ready for others to see.
Amen to that!
I use the Google tool bar's "Check" feature for posts such as this one. For story submissions I use the full arsenal of tools available in a modern word processor first, then I upload the story.
If you don't have a word processor you should consider: Microsoft Word, Word Perfect, or Open Office Writer. Additionally, both Microsoft and Apple have junior office suites that often come bundled with a new computer--both of these contain adequate word processors.
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Revision is the most powerful tool an author has at his or her disposal. I do not want to see your first draft. Please write and rewrite so what you upload is the best you can produce. If you don't know the difference between "to" and "too", that's okay--ask for help and I or someone else will help. If you think "comon" is the short form of "come on", that's okay too. But don't make us suffer because you're too dang lazy to do your own editing.
Here are a few tricks I use to help me find little mistakes:
* Set the work aside a few days then look at it again.
* Change the font. If I wrote it using New Courier 12 point I might change it to Century Schoolbook 13 point. Shifting the shape of the letters and where the lines break on the page makes your work look fresh.
* Print it out and read it off paper rather than your screen.
* Read it out loud! This is hot for finding unintended repetition, awkward wording, and misplaced punctuation. Read it slowly and look at what you wrote.
* On your printed text use different colored hi-liters to mark different characters' dialog. Consider this an advanced technique. This is most useful if you have characters with different speech styles (e.g. formal versus slang). I once wrote a character who was a bilingual Hispanic teen, but he had a role-play persona of an 18th century English nobleman. He'd pop in and out of his role as his whim dictated. I marked his parts in blue and green. Once the parts are marked go back and read all the dialog for one character--is it self consistent and coherent? Also look at the beats around the dialog (the description of what the character does). Are the character's mannerisms consistent with their persona?
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Anyway, the point is give us your best.
My first furry story was a 25,000 word novella. I beat my brains out getting it right. A year later I looked back on that and saw so many errors! Learning to write is a lifetime process, so don't worry if today's best isn't as good as someone else's best.
Scotty
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Anthrofiction Network