Just to get it off my chest, once and for all...

[munchausen]

Barefoot = one word.

Bare feet = two words.

Barefeet = not a word.

I had to do it, and I wanted to do it in a way that wasn't slamming on a particular story or author. That feels sooo much better.

Cheers,
Munchausen

[sky_captain]

lame :bouncybou

Regards
One and only Sky Cpt.

[TickleMantis]

I like this thread. May I have a turn?

A lot = two words.

Paragraph = very helpful device.

:D

[ijustwannaplay]

I support this message.

[ticklishscribe]

I'll add to it by saying it's not "Footbottoms" but "Soles."

Barefoot = one word.

Bare feet = two words.

Barefeet = not a word.

I had to do it, and I wanted to do it in a way that wasn't slamming on a particular story or author. That feels sooo much better.

Cheers,
Munchausen

[ReggieMiller]

my name is reggie miller, and i endorse this message.

affect = verb
effect = noun, when you affect something, you produce an effect

[avethibaltus]

ah hav red in uh wile.

member folks...sum uh these'ns ain't frum thes here parts.

Now I'm afraid to write anything serious for fear of causing someone's head to explode out of frustration. Guess I'll have to use that spellchecker more often.

[munchausen]

Please don't take this as discouraging writers! It's just a little quirk I've seen in some otherwise excellent pieces. And I'm just a pain in the ass.

[Loquei]

I agree with the points raised, Munchausen.

A part of being human is being different, and although it is annoying to see someone write 'barefeet' in a story thread, we are dealing with a wide diversity of writing ability, talent, experience, age, and above all, individuality.

My personal two pet hates? Lack of paragraphs (the block of text without indentations to break up the writing flow)- I never read them. Tried once, never again. The other is the use of capitals to describe someone's laughter, that sometimes takes up an entire line of script.

(Then again, I have no doubts there will be people who can't stand my work. We're all entitled to our opinions after all)

However, I'm not going to knock any writer who uses any particular style because we are individual, and I think its great that so many contribute to the forums. Putting your work out there on public view for others to enjoy, comment on, and maybe find inspiration from themselves is a challenging and rewarding thing. It's great we have so many committed and talented writers, and such enthusiasm amongst the contributers of the TMF.

[jm157]

I agree with the points raised, Munchausen.

A part of being human is being different, and although it is annoying to see someone write 'barefeet' in a story thread, we are dealing with a wide diversity of writing ability, talent, experience, age, and above all, individuality.

My personal two pet hates? Lack of paragraphs (the block of text without indentations to break up the writing flow)- I never read them. Tried once, never again. The other is the use of capitals to describe someone's laughter, that sometimes takes up an entire line of script.

(Then again, I have no doubts there will be people who can't stand my work. We're all entitled to our opinions after all)

However, I'm not going to knock any writer who uses any particular style because we are individual, and I think its great that so many contribute to the forums. Putting your work out there on public view for others to enjoy, comment on, and maybe find inspiration from themselves is a challenging and rewarding thing. It's great we have so many committed and talented writers, and such enthusiasm amongst the contributers of the TMF.

I do not know about the talented part, but many people have often threatened to have me committed!:eek:

Also, thanks for all the information in this thread. I will try to remember all this when I am writing! I, for one, am always looking to improve my writing, and will try to use any suggestions put forth by anyone.

That is one thing about this forum, there are some very talented writers who submit here. I appreciate all the work that they put in. Thanks to all of you!

[JN322]

my name is reggie miller, and i endorse this message.

affect = verb
effect = noun, when you affect something, you produce an effect

That's why I just say impact

[c7_assassin]

Ah, munchausen, I have to congratulate you on starting the first thread that will have everyone spellchecking their work before they hit the 'submit' button. Although the much-needed critique might have been more credible coming from someone who knew to capitalize their proper name. (kidding! I know you know how to write).
And just to throw my little pet peeve into the mix: "Omigod"...not a word!!

[TickleMantis]

Spelling mistakes and grammer I can live with. It is nice to have them all correct, but it's managable....a lack of paragraphs is just annoying. It's not difficult to tap 'enter' twice, failing to do so makes stories impossible to read properly.

But it's all in good fun. :D

[TeeHeeLawrence]

"Omigod!" I thought, as I realized that I had, in effect, affected many irritating
grammatical tics in my writing that morning. Going out back to resume chopping up paragraphs into more convenient pieces, I barely noticed that the neighbor's bear had again left a lot of barefoot prints on our porch. My wife normally couldn't bear such a barefaced effect of bruin foot bottoms, but as I had earlier tied her to a hammock so the bear could lick her honey-coated soles, her sole response was "AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!"
Admonishing her for laughing all in capitals, I placed another paragraph on the block and, effecting an editor's affect, divided it. Alot...:angel:<p>

Make no mistake, Munch and friends. I'm grateful to language mavens like you and William Safire and Lynne Truss for policing the no-man's land that is English speech and writing. Without you, chaos and madness would reign.<br>And, yes, with automated spell checking available with a few keystrokes, there seems little excuse for allowing rampant misspellings or grammatical shortcomings to blunt the impact of a well meant tickle tale.<br> However, as someone who chronicles the adventures of a character who, despite her Ph.D, drops her g's and refers to herself and her own as "Ah" and "mah," respectively--a shameless Southern stereotype--I must confess to leaning on the side of writer's license over scrupulous adherence to Fowler and Strunk & White. I'm willing to forgive the occasional "barefeet" and "alot" and paragraph on steroids if the author has rendered a tickle tale that makes me laugh in capital letters. <br> In other words, it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that thing, ticklewise...<p>
Now, on a matter of real importance, let's take up the matter of folks answering ""Thank you!" with "No problem!":ermm:

[kered]

A little punctuation would be nice. The correct ones would suffice.

[munchausen]

Amen to what TeeHeeLawrence said. Some of the pet peeves listed here are genuine errors -- one, "foot bottoms" for "soles," is a crime of which i have occasionally been guilty, mostly from a desire to broaden the linguistic pallette available to us in describing that crucial part of the ticklee's anatomy. Others, like "Omigod," seem more designed as descriptive reflections of a character's way of speaking than mistakes. But, of course, something doesn't have to be a technical mistake to irritate someone.

What matters most, of course, is the quality of the tale. Maybe it's a mark of snobbery on my part that when I run across "barefeet" in a story my optimism about its overall potential begins to wane. That probably isn't fair. On the other hand, if there's any term with which most posters on this forum should be pretty darn familiar...

And as to my failure to capitalize my nom de plume, physician, heal thyself! Also, I can always just claim I was emulating e.e. cummings.

[TickleMantis]

"Omigod!" I thought, as I realized that I had, in effect, affected many irritating
grammatical tics in my writing that morning. Going out back to resume chopping up paragraphs into more convenient pieces, I barely noticed that the neighbor's bear had again left a lot of barefoot prints on our porch. My wife normally couldn't bear such a barefaced effect of bruin foot bottoms, but as I had earlier tied her to a hammock so the bear could lick her honey-coated soles, her sole response was "AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!"
Admonishing her for laughing all in capitals, I placed another paragraph on the block and, effecting an editor's affect, divided it. Alot...:angel:<p>


Very, very funny. :D

[Loquei]

Teeheelawrence, you just had me on the floor with laughter!

Self parody is a wonderful thing (stops us all getting too serious), and if I ever heard your 'southern' accent, my heart would melt from my chest into a huge puddle!

I travelled the states in the early nineties with a rucksack, and I think the southern accent is a beautiful thing!

As for all the posts since Munchausen started this, I'm grateful everyone has taken the constructive criticism in the light in which it was intended!

a fan of you all...

Loquei

[Coda]

<I>Thank you</I>; a lot of people need to review that, and others. Maybe there should be some growing master list of tips for improving the kinds of stories people are enthusiastic about writing to post here.

[TickleMantis]

<I>Thank you</I>; a lot of people need to review that, and others. Maybe there should be some growing master list of tips for improving the kinds of stories people are enthusiastic about writing to post here.

I'm fully in favour of helping put something like that together. Handy hints for writers, 'how to get more views' and so on. Not 'how to write a story', but more like 'how to write a readable story'. :D

[vrytcklsh]

my name is reggie miller, and i endorse this message.

affect = verb
effect = noun, when you affect something, you produce an effect

YESSSSSSSSSSSS! THANK YOU!

[KimotinoKakusei]

my name is reggie miller, and i endorse this message.

affect = verb
effect = noun, when you affect something, you produce an effectTo effect: to bring into being ("I effected a change in my lifestyle"). An affect, according to WordNet, is "the conscious subjective aspect of feeling or emotion." :)