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Library Knowledge Base Updated

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The Library's knowledge base article has been updated.

Common issues seen so far: no left justification, misuse of quotation marks, submission not Aywas-related.

Posted by JAK (#15) on Wed Aug 20, 2014 2:40pm

Comments: 29


Tee Hi <3 (#39846)

Posted on: Wed Aug 20, 2014 4:36pm

justi (#54807), Thank you SO MUCH for that info; I've tried 3x now to get stuff approved - or, at least, not rejected for the same reason - left justification - so hopefully that'll help.

justi (#54807)

Posted on: Wed Aug 20, 2014 4:42pm

Tee Hi (#39846) No problem! I hope your stories get through.

Tee Hi <3 (#39846)

Posted on: Wed Aug 20, 2014 4:48pm

justi (#54807), Thank you SO MUCH for that info; I've tried 3x now to get stuff approved - or, at least, not rejected for the same reason - left justification - so hopefully that'll help.

Moons 🌙 (#58686)

Posted on: Wed Aug 20, 2014 7:31pm

I agree with everything, but the part about the "unnecessary" speaking verbs is pretty much stupid.

I am currently in my second year of studying for my Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing and ANY of my professors would have me fail classes if I repeatedly used "said" and "asked" in works of fiction.

Unless you want the submissions to sound like stories written by toddlers, I suggest letting people use proper language. Limiting us to TWO words there is so painfully crippling I can't even imagine how you can came up with that idea???

The "reasons" given by the author of the linked text are utterly ridiculous because

1. full sentences to convey the emotions CAN BE USED TOGETHER with various speaking verbs??? There's no rule against it, and

2. with the full context of a sentence in which something is happening and the entire theme of the story I will be able to understand different speaking words? Anyone will??? I won't read a sad story and when the word "lament" shows up I will wonder if it might mean "sing cheerfully".

Tl;dr... If I have to read "said" or "asked" more than three times in a row in any piece of fiction I start gagging and my eyes refuse to even bother with reading on.

Please please pLEASE for the love of quality submission, remove that rule. It's ridiculously wrong at best and downright harmful at worst.

Kozmotis (#48993)

Posted on: Wed Aug 20, 2014 8:09pm

It might be nice to see a submission queue, so we can see if our story is under review or not already, and to see that it actually submitted successfully. Sort of like the custom pet queue and the breeding page, but for literary submissions =p

Kozmotis (#48993)

Posted on: Wed Aug 20, 2014 8:09pm

It might be nice to see a submission queue, so we can see if our story is under review or not already, and to see that it actually submitted successfully. Sort of like the custom pet queue and the breeding page, but for literary submissions =p

Kozmotis (#48993)

Posted on: Wed Aug 20, 2014 8:09pm

and somehow I posted twice even though I only clicked once. My bad, sorry

spock-sickle (ToT) (#44622)

Posted on: Wed Aug 20, 2014 8:11pm

I think they do not want the prose to be overdone... so in other words, you can say "She shouted" but it is a bit redundant to say "she said loudly". I think that's what they mean by not using Purple Prose.

So... along the lines of excessive descriptions:

"I barely know her!" Shouted the Lepu dramatically.

"Well it could be worse," the melo replied blatantly and with indignation. "You could be balding in your tail."

It would be easier to say:
"I barely know her!" Shouted the lepu.

"Well it could be worse," the melo replied, indignant. "You could be balding in your tail."

spock-sickle (ToT) (#44622)

Posted on: Wed Aug 20, 2014 8:26pm

Ah, one question though- you said you wanted left justification, but full justification makes the words even on both sides. I take it that will mess up the formatting? I ask because prefer full justification since it is neater in my eyes, but I understand if it has to be left.

🌸 SG 🌺 (#36207)

Posted on: Wed Aug 20, 2014 8:36pm

Dae & J (#58686) - I don't think it's 'stupid', per se. Like I said in my previous comment, I definitely understand how it could be used as a crutch and become problematic. I just feel like the rule should be against "an excess" of such words as opposed to sounding like it bans them all invariably.

On that note, a thing I found amusing in the linked article was that the author noted after all the "unnecessary" verbs were changed, the story "sang". I know it isn't quite the same context as prefacing or tailing dialogue, but it definitely wasn't talking about literal music, making it much more akin to the exact sort of words the article preaches against. xD If that doesn't count for a few points toward getting the rule revised at least slightly, I don't know what does.