The case of the fussiest validator EVER!
This is going to be a little rant, feel free to just skip it...
So, I'm trying to upload Where Home Is, my submission to the interhouse_fest, to hawthorn_vine (dramione.org), chapter by chapter.
Now, they have a validator system to ensure the formal quality of the stories found on their site. I appreciate that effort because good grammar makes a story so much more readable.
However, I seem to have landed the most pedantic validator, as I have now received the third Request for Correction, after letting a thorough beta look over my grammar and the odd vocabulary question. I'm a non-native English speaker/writer, so those two are my weakest points.
Come on! What do you want me to write? Only main sentences, each of them neatly set apart with a period?
1]
a) My version: "Malfoy, please!" she let out in an exasperated tone...
b) her version: Malfoy, please!" [S]he let out in an exasperated tone...
2]
a) My version: "Won't be the first time alone in that house, your mother has been away on business trips before..."
b) her version: "Won't be the first time alone in that house [.] [Y]our mother has been on business trips before..."
3]
a) My version: She found him in a bar not too far from the small Italian restaurant they had visited before-it had actually been Mrs Thompson...
b) her version: She found him in a bar not too far from the small Italian restaurant they had visited before[.] [I]t had actually been Mrs Thompson...
It starts to feel like that validator just wants to test my patience until I snap. I told my beta to be thorough with my commas, and she didn't correct all those instances the validator now wants me to.
Seriously.
Even better is, that the last two people from their beta directory that I contacted haven't responded to my emails AT ALL!
This time I'll respond with a more detailed email than just "done."
*ARGH*
So, I'm trying to upload Where Home Is, my submission to the interhouse_fest, to hawthorn_vine (dramione.org), chapter by chapter.
Now, they have a validator system to ensure the formal quality of the stories found on their site. I appreciate that effort because good grammar makes a story so much more readable.
However, I seem to have landed the most pedantic validator, as I have now received the third Request for Correction, after letting a thorough beta look over my grammar and the odd vocabulary question. I'm a non-native English speaker/writer, so those two are my weakest points.
Come on! What do you want me to write? Only main sentences, each of them neatly set apart with a period?
1]
a) My version: "Malfoy, please!" she let out in an exasperated tone...
b) her version: Malfoy, please!" [S]he let out in an exasperated tone...
2]
a) My version: "Won't be the first time alone in that house, your mother has been away on business trips before..."
b) her version: "Won't be the first time alone in that house [.] [Y]our mother has been on business trips before..."
3]
a) My version: She found him in a bar not too far from the small Italian restaurant they had visited before-it had actually been Mrs Thompson...
b) her version: She found him in a bar not too far from the small Italian restaurant they had visited before[.] [I]t had actually been Mrs Thompson...
It starts to feel like that validator just wants to test my patience until I snap. I told my beta to be thorough with my commas, and she didn't correct all those instances the validator now wants me to.
Seriously.
Even better is, that the last two people from their beta directory that I contacted haven't responded to my emails AT ALL!
This time I'll respond with a more detailed email than just "done."
*ARGH*