I smell of dust, old books and bluebells. US/UK spellings - yup, that hoary old chestnut again... : comments.
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Too cool for subject
LOL. Hmmm... Not sure about that - I've read *some* stories... *G*
But yeah, I feel the same, I find it hard to understand why it's such a problem for some people. When Americans use their own spellings in a DW story, for example, it doesn't bother me at all. Idioms and slang and the like; that's a whole other matter - The HP Kids 'graduating' from Hogwarts; Sam Tyler using the elevator or a faucet , Jim and Blair checking under the bonnet, searching the flat - that's just annoying and irritatingly lazy.
Too cool for subject
>it has to be spelled correctly in some part of the world.<
LOL. Hmmm... Not sure about that - I've read *some* stories... *G*
There are some (very few, but still...) stories that I want to read despite multiple misspellings and horrible sentence structure. I have to deliberately set my brain to 'skim'; I read quickly for content, and try to ignore the other awfulness. I have thought of suggesting a spell-checker and/or a (better) beta... but if they're in a fandom, they have to have seen the rants about checking your spelling and sentence structure. If they haven't tried to improve, FB from me won't change it. So I shrug, think 'entertaining premise, too bad it couldn't be presented better,' and go on my way.
Which is why the complaint of 'you should spell MY way' pisses me off. There is such drek on the 'net, and all they can do is moan about a different (but valid) manner of spelling? Get a life, people!
.
Too cool for subject
But professional writers are often as bad; I've been told (By someone who really would know) that Jeffrey Archer's un-edited work is just horrible. (o:
Too cool for subject
I've beta'd more than one story just for myself because there *are* some wonderful stories out there that've been made unreadable (to me) for want of a spell-check.
I'll do that if the story is a 'keeper', one that I'll save on my HD for re-reading in the future -- fix the spelling and punctuation. In fact, that's how I got my start as a beta; I did it for myself. Then one day I read a story by a first-time author -- Jess Riley -- and I enjoyed it so much that I wrote her a very encouraging FB. In it, I mentioned that I had saved a copy in which I had corrected some punctuation errors, and did she want a copy. (I was afraid an author would be offended that I had changed their treasured work; I didn't yet write myself.) She was eager to have it. Then, a week or so later, she said she'd written another story, and would I be willing to beta? The rest is history.
I've been told (By someone who really would know) that Jeffrey Archer's un-edited work is just horrible.
That just shows why most of us need betas. Having good ideas does not necessarily mean the nuts and bolts of the execution (spelling and grammar) will be adequate.
Going back to your 'which spelling to use' question -- Jess is adamant about not changing her Aussie spelling. Castalie used Brit spelling for a while, then decided to use American instead. Arianna prefers her Canadian spelling, but lately has decided to go with American. So, really, (a) it's not set in stone and (b) it's entirely up to you.
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