Grammar Check!

Bad grammar or bad spelling can ruin even the best story. No matter how compelling the characters or how witty the writing style, no one is going to enjoy it if they have to take out the teacher's pen before they know that hell you're trying to say. If your writing has someone "sitting at the table and eating desert" or have a driver "cames to an complete stop", it's going to jar your reader out of the story. You don't want that to happen, and neither does your reader. That's why it's important to edit your writing before publishing.

Grammar rules apply for blog fiction as well. Last night I was reading the archives of a blog fiction and kept finding myself having to reread sentences because of bad spelling or grammar. It was really distracting. It slowed down my reading and I couldn't get through the posts as quickly as I'd like.

Now, in the world of dead-tree publishing, fixing a grammar or spelling error is not a cheap thing. It requires printing a second edition and configuring a new press and distributing the new copies. In the digital world that blog fiction lives, it takes about 5 seconds to fix. (30 if you're using dial-up and god help you if you are!) That's why I think Blog fiction writer's should occasionally reread their older posts. If you see a grammar error, fix it. It won't change the story, just make it easier to read for new visitors. Don't abandon those old posts until you've reread them at least 2 or 3 times.

I once read a counter argument about editing a blog fiction post after hitting the "publish" button. It said that it lent "authenticity" because people make errors when posting to real blogs or diaries. That is total BS. When speaking in everyday conversation people will say "um...", "uh...", stammer, pause, etc... but it doesn't mean you should include those in your character's dialog.

In fact, dialog is a good analogy. When writing a novel authors only have their character's speak poorly to convey something. Like a 5 year old might mispronounce a word. The author does that to remind the reader that she's only 5. Another example might be someone stutters in their dialog because that person is nervous.

The same principle can be applied to Blog Fiction writing. The only reason to have bad grammar is if you're doing it on purpose for a plot point or character development. Maybe it's a joke that your character always misspells the same word and it gets him in trouble at work - or something. Otherwise, don't do it.

So, there. I'll quite channeling my 11th grade English teacher now.