Comments on: Submissives Without Capitalization

By: Rope Guy

Rope Guy — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 13:28:26 +0000

Hah! I’m not on FetLife because I’ve got too much to do out here on the open web where I can link to stuff that I find amusing. But yeah, that sounds like something I would find amusing.

By: Kinbaku Gardener

Kinbaku Gardener — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 06:12:16 +0000

If you are on Fetlife, there’s a group named “People for the Ethical Treatment of Pronouns” that I think you’d enjoy.

By: Calib

Calib — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 20:16:14 +0000

I strongly recommend you guys read Valter Hugo Mãe, a Portuguese writer who wrote some novels entirely with lower case letters. It’s not *that* difficult, actually. You get used fast. I guess the Internet interface is the major problem here, and that shitty Arial font and the likes.

By: GrosaPrap

GrosaPrap — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 23:16:06 +0000

Perfect solution for the sub that doesn’t want to butcher the English language to emphasize their status, use third person.

‘This one had a good day with Mistress, who took her slut shopping.’, ‘When Master spanked this girl, she became wet.’

Works a lot better in my (not really that humble)opinion.

By: Michael Alexander

Michael Alexander — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 15:52:00 +0000

This was a well written article taking on what I consider one of the travesties of the submissive written sub-genre of BDSM erotica. I am CONSTANTLY telling would-be authors who write with altered rules of grammar that their writing will never be accepted outside of a limited range of like-minded individuals. But you’ve forgotten one other issue that commonly afflicts these submissive writers: the desire to consistently write in present tense, and often in first or second person narrative modes. Any accomplished author can tell you that while first person is a natural mode and easily written, it is one of the hardest to use EFFECTIVELY to tell a story. Everything the author needs to communicate, setting, mood, action, and dialog, must be conveyed through the lens of the narrator character. Worse, in second person, the author literally makes the reader a character, and that can easily backfire when the character doesn’t match the reader. Adding present tense to the mix just makes matters worse. I can think of only a handful of authors who have made quality books in present tense.

Good rule of thumb? Newbie authors should stick to third person, past tense and use standardized punctuation and grammar.

By: nilla

nilla — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 20:30:45 +0000

You know, a few of us subs spent a day or two just talking about this, via aisha’s blog (beingaisha.wordpress.com) a few days ago.

And I struggle with it all the time…it *is* annoying to read lower case letter to start sentences with, you argue a good point.

I’ve been working towards publishing, and one beta reader advised me to “standardize all your punctuation” so that it is more readable to the general public.

And after I spent 3 years learning to capitalize Master in the middle of a sentence, and lower case “i” when referring to self.

I’m sure my English teacher will be pleased. :)

nilla

By: Fr.

Fr. — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 12:31:09 +0000

Do take whatever editorial liberties you need to take, but add a little disclaimer like this one:

[lightly edited for readability]