Abandon Grammar, Ye Who Enter Here!

Hello all! I'm new. I'm Lhyrre, the tiny insane one who doesn't take any flack.

=D

Anyway, there is a small problem. It seems that with the enthusiasm and joy of trying to put together this site, many of you have abandoned that one great and glorious thing that makes bad writing into prose worthy of the gods.

Grammar.

(Spelled with an AR and not an ER, in case you were wondering.)

It will become a joy to read each others' posts, an excitement not only of lets-just-get-the-story-out-there but of the art and true soul of writing. Like it or not, punctuation creates the shape of the prose, communicating as much (if not more) emotion than the words themselves.

For example:

Without punctuation or capitalization: ivan walked in and saw the door. oh no he said running away with tears streaking down his small pale face how could they do this to me he sobbed i don't know what to do they changed my favorite door


With: Ivan walked in and saw the door. "Oh no!" he said, running away with tears streaking down his small, pale face. "How could they do this to me!" he sobbed. "I don't know WHAT to do - they changed /my/ favorite door!"

Do you see how much easier that is to read? How much more it means? It's not a lot to do and would make it SO much easier for people to read.

In conclusion, I say this. PLEASE do not make the header for your site

Abandon Grammar, Ye Who Enter Here.

That's what I saw when I looked over the role-plays, and I'll say this. If you want more people to join, then clean up the role-plays or no quality role-players will come. Bad grammar scares them off.

With love,

Lhyrre

Greetings, friend Lhyrre!
I am Fallenleaves. I just wanted to say that I agree with you whole heartedly!!! As a matter of fact, I am constantly nagging Mr. Methodical about his punctuation and paragraphing. And I am very glad that someone has finally out and said it in a post (I thought it was a losing battle myself, and had not bothered).

Farewell,
Fallenleaves

Understand me. I have the well-earned reputation of the stubbornest person on planet earth and have YET to meet a guy who can out-talk me or beat me in an argument. (Except for a couple, but they're Cuban or Italian and louder than me. DX) Not to mention I have a veritable PHD in shouting people down because I'm a tiny Irish person.

In all seriousness, though, I'm an English tutor, so if any of you have ANY questions, don't hesitate in asking. I edit papers in my spare time - I LIKE it. So if you guys want me to proofread your posts and show you how they can be improved, I'll be more than happy to.

Oh, yes! That would be extremely helpful. Feel free to critique my writing whenever you wish! I believe that you can send private messages on this site, which would be better than interrupting a story.
As a matter of fact I do have a few questions on paragraphing. You see in most books that the first sentence in a chapter is not indented, it is in a strait line with the rest. Are not you supposed to indent EVERY new paragraph? Or is a new chapter an exception? Also, when there is a gap between paragraphs --- for example;

He flopped onto the bed fully dressed. Exhausted he closed his
eyes, and let sleep take him.


Will woke with a start. A large tabby cat was crouched on
his chest, staring at him intently.

Some books will have the new paragraph indented, and yet others will not. Which is the proper way?
Nothing seems to show up on this site as indented anyway after you hit the send button, but nevertheless I have been wondering about that for ages...

O.o So I totally had a long, wonderful reply written out here, but it didn't go through. Excuse me while I go sob in a corner.

Anyway, I shall CONDENSE.

1: Paragraphs do not have to be indented. It's a leftover typewriter rule that can go either way, like double-spacing after periods. It's at your discretion.

2: I may start a grammar questions thread, because I know that not everyone knows it. =D

3: Um, I really didn't have another point, but I felt like putting this here so it would LOOK like I worked.

hmm...Its like the gramer levels just rose dramaticly...bah you shall never take me alive

( tilts head back and lets out a Errol Flynn type laugh. Runs to a conveniently placed chandelier chord )

Mad Am I, Well, Would A Mad Man Do This.

( unsheathes his sharpened small sword grabs the chord and slices through the it. Thus sending him soaring upwards and out of sight of the two grammarians )

Well, I do believe it's ol' Charlie that needs a spell check before every post heheheh

Of course I will! Take you alive that is. Oh, and did I mention that you're going to LIKE it? *puts on her teacher face*

Previous Poster with the Unspellable Name, I fully agree with you.

( A loud thud is heard, followed by loud cursing )

Grrrr.
Curse you sir Isaac Newton. your small fig flavored pastries are great, but your laws on physics I could do without.

Hmm..So you think that you can change me eh.
Well I'll have you know, I can think of sixteen ways to dispatch you right now.
Albeit thirteen involve heavy artillery, Two involve airship support, and One requires a large mechanical monkey with cymbals.

I once knocked out a guy a foot taller than me with the back of my hand. (And I'm NOT being sarcastic.) I also have a machete and ninja powers. I also know how to bring down teenage boys and get them to behave. It's a deeply complicated plan that involves a phone, an embarrassing secret, and your mother's phone number. =D

Not to mention that I go to public school in MIAMI, so I can curse you out in two languages and know how to fight. Not that I would, because I consider it below me and I usually talk my way out of conflicts. (Plus cursing is REALLY stupid. I mean, don't people have any better words to use?) But I can. *evil grin*

Lhyrre wrote:Of course I will! Take you alive that is. Oh, and did I mention that you're going to LIKE it? *puts on her teacher face*

Previous Poster with the Unspellable Name, I fully agree with you.

Haha yeah... Wait... UNSPELLABLE NAME?? It's right there, sis! G-U-M-C-H-U.
6 letters!!! Gum- like my last name and chu- as in the cute Japanese electric mouse!!

Actually, I just said that because I was trying to remember how to SPELL your name when I was writing the post and was too lazy to pull up another window to find out how to spell it. So now you are PPUN because I feel like giving you a nickname. Kapish?

Plus, imagine all the puns we'll be able to make out of it! (Pun totally intended.)

Ha, ha, dang Lhyrre, you have some real dragon-fire in you!!!

I've lived in Miami my whole life, m'dahlin. Not to mention I'm Irish. It'd be surprising if I didn't - controversy is in my blood. You should see our family reunions. >.<

Wow :O
I've lived in Miami for a while and went to art schools there. It ain't all that tough... Well maybe it was because I told everyone I spoke to that I was Jackie Chan...

Yup. That would do it, me thinks.

Dang you Asians are always beating people up with your craze ninja powers. We Scotts are only known for our wiskey, which probably accounts for our choice in pants or lack thereof

Mr Methodical wrote:Dang you Asians are always beating people up with your craze ninja powers. We Scotts are only known for our wiskey, which probably accounts for our choice in pants or lack thereof

Whiskey*

Also, I didn't do anything. All I did was tell them my name was Jackie Chan.

Just imagine a little Irish girl growing up around a WHOLE bunch of loud, pushy Cubans, and you will understand my temperament. The Scots are known for alcohol? Really? I thought that was the Irish... And I've been named an honorary Cuban for my temper, ability to dance, salsa-making prowess, and spanish-speaking ability, an honorary Asian for my anal OCDness and work ethic, and an honorary Costa Rican for my twanis accent, mae. Igual de una tica.

Ya well I was once made an honorary ogre at this renaissance fair I worked at. and yes the Irish are known for alcohol, but have you ever heard of scotch? Its a wiskey thats made in scottland and is world famous

Lhyrre wrote:Just imagine a little Irish girl growing up around a WHOLE bunch of loud, pushy Cubans, and you will understand my temperament. The Scots are known for alcohol? Really? I thought that was the Irish... And I've been named an honorary Cuban for my temper, ability to dance, salsa-making prowess, and spanish-speaking ability, an honorary Asian for my anal OCDness and work ethic, and an honorary Costa Rican for my twanis accent, mae. Igual de una tica.

Hmmm I've made it to honorary Cuban back in 8th grade also but I've always been Asian soooooo....

Si, Gringo, but it's eleven and I'm putting off History HW. Spare me the sass, or I'll find a nickname for you too. =PPPP

And Pun, you're Chinito. =D OOOOHHHHH NEW NICKNAME.

Oh I like that one much more!

No, this just means that I have two, Chinito. =D I'm very tempted to call Charlie a not-so-nice word for white-boy in Spanish, but I just don't think he'd appreciate the subtleties of that. (It would be insulting from anyone other than me - I'm as white as a sheet, aside from the dancing and spanish thing.)