What is so wrong or difficult with using the Shift key?

[pittwitch]

It has been driving me crazy lately. I peek in to find something as a bedtime story, and the boards are polluted with stories with no CAPITAL letters ... or punctuation, anywhere in them, not even the titles! UGH!

Is there some new grammar rule that has been adopted that says it is optional to capitalize the titles? Or proper nouns? I'm not talking about in-depth beta reading here. It's easy, use your pinky finger to hold the shift key down and press the letter of your choice.

Yeesh.

Witchy climbing down of off soapbox now. Notice that I typed Witchy, not witchy.

[RogueMudblood]

They seem to run the gamut from no capitalization at all (and they don't qualify as e.e. cummings) or they pull This Stunt Where They Think Every Word Should Start With A Capital Letter. (I don't mean titles - I mean IN the story.)

'Tis quite annoying, yes.

[Melrick]

"Stories" like that make me want to violently hurl. It also means I instantly ignore that story and move on to something else. Morons.

[BronxWench]

It's part and parcel of the generally sloppy attitude towards all things that are not tweeted. Honestly, my inner Grammar Bitch has hissies daily.

[pittwitch]

I usually by-pass anything with errors in the title, too. Gah! If you can be bothered to spell your title properly, what wonders await in the text? I did go a little grammar-nazi with 2 reviews linking to the Wiki article on proper capitalization. Believe it or not, one author fixed the title. Ahh, small victories. Very, very small victories!

[Jyet]

I'm not sure whether it's more irritating when a Writer starts every Word with a capital Letter, or when the Writer seems to think that just a few random Words need to be consistently capitalized.

Edited October 22, 2011 by Jyet

[DemonGoddess]

You guys are making my eyes bleed just visualizing it. Yes, very much annoying to find that in stories.

[pittwitch]

I dunno. Maybe I'm just an old cranky witch, but I find the total disregard for basic spelling and grammar to be very disrespectful of readers. C'mon, hit the shift key in the proper place already!

[ApolloImperium]

i DoN't WaNnA WiTcHy!! I LiKe My StRaNgE cApItAlIzAtIoN! IsN't It FuN tO rEaD???

(I don't understand how people can type long term like that! I swear it took me like 5 min to write the two short sentences....)

[pittwitch]

LOL Apollo! I don't know how people can claim to be writers yet can find the shift key! Now, don't even get me started about the comma, the period, or the question mark!

[DemonGoddess]

I tOlD yOu GuYs. YoU'rE mAkInG mY eYeS bLeEd! StOp It!!

[BronxWench]

Augh, commas, periods, and question marks! How can simple punctuation be such a mystery?

[pittwitch]

I don't think it's a mystery. I think they just don't care.

[BronxWench]

I have run across stories in which each paragraph was one enormous sentence, strung together by commas where one would expect to see a period. At the very end of the paragraph was a period.

I'm simply not willing to work that hard to make sense of a story.

[Hairyhaggis]

I have to admit I'm bad for missing commas or forgetting to capitalise letters but in my defence I type slower than my mind works. While my mind is a few sentences ahead my fingers are desperately trying to catch up. I do go back over my work and edit though, trying to catch anything I might have missed. It might take a wee while to go through editing but it's worth it and often you catch a sentence or two that can be made better while you are reading it through again.

[pittwitch]

HairyHaggis: at least you try ... lately I've seen an attack of 'writers' who don't care to even try to put any kind of structure in place. I'm not complaining as a writer, but a reader ...

[BronxWench]

HairyHaggis: I'm a godsawful typist. Truly abysmal. And sadly, for the most part, I'm my own beta reader as well. I read and reread, spellcheck until my eyes are crossed, publish, and then go back and fix the things I see on the published version that suddenly leap out at me.

But when a writer puts in the effort, like you do, as a reader I'm thoroughly won over. It makes all the difference in the world to me to see that level of care taken with a story. We all make a mistake here and there. I've purchased hard copy books with errors. But I can tell when a writer loves the language and the words. And that's what I can fall in love with as a reader.

[Hairyhaggis]

I think the problem is that some writers miss out important steps along the way.

1 write the story (this is where some stop)

2 spell check (it's incredibly easy to put an add-on in your tools that will spellcheck as you type highlighting any words that may be wrong & a dictionary for those you are unsure of)

3 paragraphing (even I go over this a bazillion times, if the scene of the story/action moves from one scene to another hello new paragraph)

4 commas, full stops, general grammar (make sure your sentences end with a full stop, put in the commas at the relevant places if you are unsure READ OUT LOUD if you cant read it without stopping from a breathe neither can your reader, if you find it is too long so will the reader)

5 READ IT OUT LOUD

6 go over each paragraph individually for mistakes (this way you can catch words that have been double written, spelling and grammar mistakes and even tidy up/ expand the paragraph making your story even better)

7 after you have chosen the font and size and it looks right to you post it (always double check it has formatted properly when you have clicked edit or add chapter because sometimes the system will make errors and unless you have checked you may not even be aware of them)

Finally your story and how you put it out there is an extension of you. If it needs editing tell your readers, they will appreciate that you are working on it. When the editing is complete you can take away the notice leaving the story that you can be proud of.

Those steps may seem long but if you do them as matter of course you save time and you'll build up an audience that will want to read your stories (providing you write something that is of interest to them) and they'll be happy to recommend you as a writer because they know they'll get a great story that flows well with minimum mistakes. (everyone makes mistakes but if you have followed the steps they will be at a tolerable level rather than one that makes the reader run for the hills)

Editing has got to be my biggest bane. If it's not as perfect as I can make it I'll go over again and again until it is. It definitely does make all the difference in the world when a story has been properly edited. If I can't get into the flow of the story I'll not read it.

I don't know if people are scared to give criticism in case of backlash but if more people left concrit then things would improve vastly. It doesn't take two seconds to press the review tab and leave a small comment that says whether you enjoyed it or not and whether there is anything that can be improved. The writer wants to hear how the story went across so that they can hone their writing skills and give even better ones. Without feedback they cannot do this.

wow that was longer than I intended oops but the points are valid.

hope i didn't come across as arrogant. I'm still learning myself and hope I brighten up peoples days with my writing.

Edited April 6, 2012 by Hairyhaggis

[botticelliangel]

I read everything that I write to my husband first. I am best friends with dictionary.com, and I still make mistakes all the time. Honestly editing is the most stressful part of writing. Thank goodness I am getting better at it as I write more. Still I really freak out when I decide to put my stuff out there for people to read, as Hairyhaggis pointed out, what you put out there is a refection of you.