Hey guys

This here's for all those people that think that 'it's my first story' is an adequate excuse for a story being bad.

What now

Comments

[banjo2E]

...It kind of is a legit excuse, actually.

Not all first-time writers have finished high school, you know.

[FlanChan]

581505
Well I haven't
I'm not even in high school

[banjo2E]

581515

Okay.

And are you in the top 25% of your grade level?

[Heavy Rains]

Congratulations on the feature!

[FlanChan]

581552
Well yes, but I'd think that that doesn't change the fact that authors in high school can make at least a decent story with relatively good grammar and spelling. I mean, if I can get featured, then there's no reason that they can't make something nice too if their only excuse is 'it's my first time'.

(I'm not trying to offend anyone, but I just really wish people said more to justify themselves than just that )

[banjo2E]

581584

Well, that's the thing. The average writing quality for people who haven't graduated high school, who aren't in the top part of their grade level, is questionable at best, and that's for native speakers. They need peer review and critique in order to not be terrible, and they won't get that until they release at least one story to the sharks.

[FlanChan]

581648
But aren't there proofreading groups they could join? They could PM someone to edit for them, and that would make it so they wouldn't get a bunch of negative comments and thumbs down.
And I think that writing your story in Google Docs first would cut down a lot on the grammar and spelling problems.

[banjo2E]

581663

Groups are kinda hard to find if you don't already know they exist. Just one of many wonderful things about this site.

And spell checkers don't do nearly as much as you'd think.

[FlanChan]

581668
Specifically Google Doc's spell check, because it marks a word wrong even if it's a real word if it's used incorrectly.

And if a writer's in high school, aren't they taking an English class? I don't understand why they would decide to suddenly have a drop in quality just because they're writing for fun, and if they really are that bad, shouldn't they be studying English instead of writing about ponies?

[JellyDrivex64]

581691 What grade are you in?

[banjo2E]

581691

Assuming the people you're talking about are native English speakers, and assuming you aren't overestimating your peers' average ability to learn...yeah, a sudden drop in quality between schoolwork and fanfics is all too common, in no small part because essay format and literature format are totally different. Think "giving a speech for a project" versus "Xbox Live".

[FlanChan]

581718
7th
(nowthatyouknowthatpleasedon'tkillme )

[FlanChan]

581725
Oh, right, I forgot that this is teenagers we're talking about
Really, I just was wishing people had better reasons for theses things. I'm pretty okay with it if they have some other good reason, or if they acknowledge that it's bad, but people who are all upset that people hate their story is what really gets me in a tizzy.
That's a term, right?

[JellyDrivex64]

581729 Why would I do that? I only do it to Writers that are great and make the stupidest mistake ever.

[FlanChan]

581889
You never know what weird people could lurk in the bowels of the internet

[zel]

581584 Some did not have whole lifetime to learn english

581725 xbox live chat is best literature.
Thank heavens I never played xbox.

[_SilverTongue]

581668
Ahhhh ya Editors Dreamland. Join and love it.

[iloveportalz0r]

[Blaze Spectrum]

This proves it. You are the best author in your age group, ever. Possibly the only underage person to EVER earn the Feature Box.

But it also earned your story its first two dislikes, from inconsiderate jerks.

[Divine Path]

581584
I should probably mention that I seem to have troubles writing on this site just because I am writing about ponies. It being ponies automatically means my writings takes thrice as much effort for some inexplicable reason.
If you took a look, trust me; I'm usually much better.
That is not a matter for you to worry about though.
(Night. Freaking archaic language.).

[FlanChan]

646609
That's a pretty good point.
Ah well, I don't want to be controversial.

[Divine Path]

646924
Such things happen.