Poor Grammar and Spelling on AFF!

This has been bothering me for a very long time.

There are some really great stories here on AFF, but I cannot seem to bring myself to read them as the authors have very poor grammar and spelling.

I am not innocent as English is also not my native language, but I TRY. I am tired of people making excuses for their poor grammar and spelling simply because English is not their native language.

There are so many tools that users can and SHOULD utilize:

- Alpha readers

-Microsoft Word

-The spelling check and grammar checks on AFF

It's alright to make typos here and there but quit the "I apologize, English isn't my native language so forgive me" or "I didn't check the spelling and grammar but enjoy :)" excuses.

I always feel like my head is about to split open whenever I come upon a fanfiction with great potential and immediately get turned off by the lack of punctuation and spelling.

Anyways, to the readers out there: Is poor grammar a turn off when reading a fanfiction?

Comments

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MinAhRa #1 Dec 19, 2016 08:03:02

Well, sometimes it does bother me when there's just too much spelling and grammatical mistakes. However, most of the time I would just continue reading it because I always get hooked with the storyline.

Jumpdiva #2 Nov 9, 2016 16:14:30

I agree, 100%. Bad grammar and poor writing will definitely keep my from reading a story, and it happens in role play as well. While I understand that English is not everyone's 1st language, there are tools. Alpha & Beta Readers, Microsoft Word, and spell check. There's really no excuse other than sheer laziness to 'rite a stry like like this'.

xrainismx #3 Nov 9, 2016 05:50:07

I may be the only one but has anyone noticed that most of the popular stories on AFF are littered with poor grammar and spelling?

viviooo #4 Nov 9, 2016 05:36:58

Also, stop being silent about it, because most of comments are likely praising them at how good their writing, therefore they keep thinking that they're good enough or even great.
Writers like that need to know that they need help, so they can learn more.

viviooo #5 Nov 9, 2016 05:32:40

You should consider that most of writers here in AFF are young writers. With the fact that they're still young and writing not with their own language are impressive.
The right thing to do is to encourage them to keep writing, to keep learning, and nicely telling them that they need help to improve their writing skill.

oceansofxo #6 Nov 9, 2016 05:03:52

Well I am glad you called it out. Cause I am in agreement. However these readers don't seem to care and will read through that craziness. I speak and write English but still miss what happens.

NoonaYoung #7 Nov 9, 2016 04:18:36

Sometimes but not always.
I may stop reading it since I find it hard to get the line across. But after some time, I'll go back to read it.
For me, yes, English is not my first language. And when come to compare my oldest work with the current one, I swear I'll vomit a pail of blood, I'm ashamed of it. But ever since I used MS Word auto-correct, I guess I learnt a lot in writing better English. I'm saying that I'm good now, it's just that not that bad.
Well, I guess that is just me ^_^