Oy vey, 

First off, I'm a little worried about how two lines telling you that you should maybe use good grammer and proper capitalization got such a heated reaction out of you. 

Good grammar is something you're going to slaughtered over on this list.  If you thought that my responce was harsh, you've got another think coming. Wait until you have your work torn apart, line by line, with readers pointing out semi-gramatical flaws like; repetition, bad illiteration, and the like. You've got to develop thicker skin if you're going to be a writer, my friend.

That said, I just want to comment on something you said previously. So please pardon me while I paraphrase. That if I had a problem with your spelling, that I must not read much fanfiction.

No, I read quite a lot of fan-fiction as a matter of fact.

It's rather unavoidable considering that I'm subscribed to this list and all.

The important point, however, is that I read a lot of GOOD fanfiction, not the crap that gets spewed out by most of the people on Fanfiction.net. You know the stuff I'm talking about, stories where the author is too lazy or stupid to realize that rulz, ur, and iz are not actually words. Stories where their and they're or your and you're are used interchangably. 

Good fanfiction isn't "good" just because of a well thought out plot, intriguing character development, or good timing in the story. Part of what makes good fanfiction "good" is a solid grasp of good grammar, a well structured format, and attention to the mechanics of proper writing style. 

Here's the thing, if you're writing a story, but you're a gramatical slob, and butcher the english language with every line you write, you're showing immense disrespect for your audience, the story you're writing, and yourself. 

What you're doing is telling the reader, "Feh... I'm just gonna whip this crap out and not sweat the details. It's not worth the time for me to spellcheck it." As a result, suddenly Honeyduke's Sweatshop takes on a whole new imagry in the reader's mind. After all, we know that Hogsmead is a quiet little hamlet, while Hogsmeat is a quite little hamlette. Getting the point yet?   

You see, it's about respect: respect for your story, respect for your readers, and respect for yourself.  You need to ask yourself, if you're going to spend the time trying write this story, don't you owe it to yourself to do it right? It's called "professional pride". It's what sets a good writer apart from a bad one.

Myself, if I start reading story which turns into a gramatical trainwreck, I lose interest almost immediately because it tells me that the author lacks the interest to make a genuine effort and that the author doesn't respect his or her own story enough to get a beta, or is so lazy that they don't care.

Seeing as how this was the initial post just to get started on your fic, don't you think that you might... just might... have wanted to start off on a good foot and show the people you're asking help from that you're serious about wanting to do a good job with this story?

Think of it like this,

You go into a well respected and traditional dojo in dirty and nasty clothes, chewing and popping gum and say "Yo... martial arts dudes... I wanna like learn to kick ass like you do. Come on over and show me how to do some of that chop saki stuff. " 

As compared to going into a well respected and traditional dojo in a clean shirt and pants, taking off your shoes when you enter, and politely greeting the teachers and respectfully asking, "Sir (or ma'am) I am interested in learning martial arts. Could you please help me?"

Your words are "YOU" when you are posting to a mailing list. They convey your seriousness about the topic being discussed as well as the tone that you set about your own self as well.

Now, ask yourself, how did your post come across?


 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: ryuuji grey <grey_ryuu@yahoo.com>

First id like to thank the people that helped me, ill take your advice, it seems 
to be the only option since i wont know how things play out till they are there 
in front of me any way, and it will give me room to play with my concerns and 
the new ideas you've provided me.
   
  For everyone who spammed about writing and grammar, thanks for nearly ruining 
the topic, i dont need a crowd of people hanging around my help wanted add and 
critisizing it, if you dont like it then dont respond or let me know in person 
instead of loitering around the idea box yammering about its spelling. ill thank 
the one person who knew that critisizing me in public wasnt a polite thing to 
do. i hope that s/hes well respected because s/he seems to deserve it.
   
  i dont immagine why anyone would want to fallow a dog after it bit like this 
but if for any reason i made a combination Azumanga daiou and Ranma Board. I 
can't really say im sorry about my spelling offending you so much but i wish it 
didnt turn out this way, heres the link if youre interested 
http://www.freepowerboards.com/azuranma/azuranma.html
   
  and no it wasn't because of the responses i got here, i was already planning 
on this and was halfway through before i even sent the first email.
 		
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