Are you talking about passive voice? Are you sure that the sentences really are passive voice? That's something that I think is pretty hard for a grammar checker to be accurate about.
no, we don't expect final drafts, but it's not too much to ask that you post something a bit better than a very rough first draft and at least look over your work for major goofs before asking other writers to take a look at it... is it?
In my opinion, writers should write and leave editing to the editors. When we focus all of our mental juices on whether or not to use a serial comma or if we have formatted our em dash correctly, we take loose time we could be spending writing. People pay (hopefully) writers to write, and I chose to pay editors to edit. Just make sure you're not wasting your money. If any editing company tells you they can get your 75,000-word manuscript back to you in 48 hours, they're definitely not giving it the attention you really want. And if they outsource to India or the Philippines…well, that's your call. When I consider the money I've spent on editing, I look at it like putting high-grade fuel into a sports car. If my work is a jalopy, then I'll get the cheap stuff, but if I'm proud of what I've created and want someone to take the editing process as seriously as I take creating my art, I go ahead and spend a few extra dollars. I'm not endorsing any particular company, but I do try to stay away from the big box, factory editing services. Also, not sure if anyone else has heard, but Lulu's gone the way of the vanity press and partnered with Author Solutions, so think twice before you pay for an ESL editor. I've used these guys in the past and have been more than satisfied with their work, but always do your research.
I thought my grammar was good once. Then I had an editor look at a 4000 word story of mine, there was only around 300 mistakes. Also, I agree that you should take a certain level of pride in whatever you do. You shouldn't post 2nd rate hack jobs here with OBVIOUS mistakes. Everyone's eyes are going to be drawn to that and that's what they'll critique.
@ClichedOut: I am impressed at how you managed to hide an advert in your first forum post. Spammers are getting creative.
Should we also say that "When pianists focus all their mental juices on striking the right keys, they lose time that they could be spending playing music."? Writing is, among other things, about knowing how to write correctly. A pianist needs to know his notes and his instrument; a writer, too, needs to know his tools. There are few musicians so talented that they could just pound on the table with a pencil and expect someone else to translate that rhythm to an instrument--while giving the guy with the pencil all the credit. There are few storytellers so talented that they can just tell the rough story and expect someone else to put it in publishable form, while giving the storyteller all the credit.
Grammar is your friend and it is awesome. If a writer doesn't make the effort of proofreading his work before posting it, he cannot expect people to make an effort to critic it.
I think it was Patricia Briggs who said that first wear the writer's hat and get the story out. Then put on the editor's hat and check the grammar and, in general, the quality of your narration. Try not to wear both hats at the same time (though I do). I'm new here and haven't gotten around to explore the Writing Workshop yet, but on a couple of other forums you should never ever post the first draft. Not even the second. Post a cleaned up, as grammar error free a version as possible. Few people can trudge through a mess of words even if there was a good story underneath. The others seem to have pointed out already that in so many cases it's not the grammar-grammar you get past in classics. It's stuff that writers avoid nowadays: clunky dialogue, too much telling and too little showing, meandering sentences, etc. If you want them to comment on the story, write a synopsis? If you want them to comment on your writing, clean it up and then cater it to the hungry audience. Are you afraid you'll put too much effort into a story you are uncertain of? It's still good practice to edit, edit, and edit a story that might turn out to be not-so-good in the end.
It's always better to use the active word for all sentences since it increases clarity and usually is less wordy. The less words, the better I always say.
That's sloppy. As a writer, you should revise a piece to the best of your ability before submitting it for peer review. This way, people spot things that you couldn't have on your own, and you learn to spot these mistakes in the future. A writer has three jobs. Reading,Writing,and Revising. None should be neglected.
Grammar Many authors' write in a context I enjoy reading. Many do not. And that context is grammar. Sentence structure, vocabulary, paragraphs, chapters and so on. If something has a flow, a storyline the reader enjoys, how important is grammar? For example, sentence fragments placed right not only do they not bother me, they add texture, the feel the author gives a character, a place or event or anything fitting. Errors in grammar are commonly used. I don't mean spelling, tenses, those errors that are bumps-in-the-road for most all readers. I'm not going anywhere with speed bumps. I mean the grammar of dangling participles, irregular verbs and God knows what else. Those errors that produce context but are only seen as errors by eyes more sensitive to grammar than mine. What may be a smooth read to many doesn't pass mustard with an English Professor. I'm really struggling trying to get the question out. Is there a difference between a literary agent and and English Professor? Are they asking for a few chapters to form an opinion based on grammar alone? Maybe I answered my question......Context has to be developed within the boundaries of of proper grammar? Michael O
I'm not sure where you're going with this. Sentence fragments are not grammatical errors in and of themselves. They can contain grammatical errors, of course, but it is not grammatically incorrect to use sentence fragments. (At least, not in fiction. Standards in nonfiction may be stricter.)
Enormously important. That is, _mastering_ grammar, the right and wrong, the standard and nonstandard, is enormously important for a writer. If you use nonstandard grammar on purpose, while knowing standard grammar, I don't consider that an error, I consider it a style choice.
If the OP is still reading this thread, think of it this way. If anything on the page makes the reader see the words rather than the story being told through the words, then it's wrong. Period. Your job before you let anyone else see it, is to polish it to the point where you no longer see the words, but the story in it. That takes a lot of practice, because it's too easy to get caught up in your own story. I just wrote a chapter and re-edited it I don't know how many times. It must have been 8-13 times of serious reads, corrections, etc. When it was all done, I felt great about it. Then, I posted it on another site I'm on. A day or two later, I decided to give it a read on the site, and to my chagrin, complete forgot to add the word "arms" to a sentence. The result, was a daughter jumping onto her father's lap in excitement, then wrapping hers around his neck. Yeah, I don't write incest fics, but by missing that one word . . . YUCK. Never caught it until then either. (supposed to be "umped into his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck). The point is to work as hard as you can to focus on the words, and when you can read the entire thing and still not have a word or sentence capture your focus rather than the story itself, only then is it ready for someone else to read. (And thanks everyone for this moment of confession as well)
