Forum: Story Discussion and Feedback

Some can write 2 or 3 chapters in the time it takes them to fix 1 chapter.

That is probably why it would take so long to fix 1 chapter. :)

I stand with the opinion that I rather have a bad grammar story than no story at all from an author.

Is it really asking too damn much to expect a little of both? A good story with minimal trashing of the English language? That's what editors and proofreaders are for. Even NY Times bestselling authors use them. IMHO, a great story written with garbage language skills and published without corrections (spell check is not a substitute for a good proofreader.) is no longer a great story.

BTW, I finished the story this morning. I liked the storytelling. Had the author made an effort to clean up the technical writing aspects of his story, I would give it a solid 9 vote. As it is, I will refrain from voting at all.

Why do so many people let technical competence slide when considering how to score a story?

Because SOL used to include "technical quality" as a separate vote, and it was never used properly. Since few readers feel qualified to vote to technically proper English, they'd vote the same number across the board, in all three categories, rendering the 'technical merits' votes utterly meaningless. Since everyone seemed to vote on 'how much they enjoyed the story', that's what they finally settled on.

However, since the score depends exclusively on what YOU thought of the story, if you couldn't finish the story, or it took you three times as long to finish, I'd definitely rate is lower, or even badly, simply because the author didn't care enough about the story to improve it.

In short, votes and ratings are purely objective, with no objective components. Some stories capture the imagination regardless of the quality of the story (either based on writing skills or storytelling skills), while many terrific stories never get much attention at all. You really can't put much weight in story scores.

So, using that logic, you would only deduct one point from a restaurant for lousy cooking?

I think your analogy is the wrong way round. The food was excellent but the service, hygiene, ambience etc sucked. ;)

AJ

I think your analogy is the wrong way round. The food was excellent but the service, hygiene, ambience etc sucked. ;)

I prefer my original analogy. Reading a story is like going on a journey through interesting and beautiful countryside. With good writing, the reader can relax, enjoy the scenery, and reach the end of the trip feeling refreshed and enlightened with the new experience. With poor writing, that same trip is a trial of potholes, washouts in the road, and repeated delays by construction zones that divert your attention from why you took that scenic trip in the first place.

Eventually you'll have to accept that different people have different priorities; not better or worse, just different.

I'm speaking only for myself. See elsewhere for articles and discussions on the 'dumbing down' of America.

In a country where Honey Boo-Boo, the Kardashians & the fake Duck-fuckers can become celebrities...where Joel Osteen can bilk millions of dollars from the gullible...where climate change is argued and people try to pray away hurricanes...oh, what's the use? The average citizen in this country is now dumber than a fucking rock and proud of it. I weep.

In a country where Honey Boo-Boo, the Kardashians & the fake Duck-fuckers can become celebrities...where Joel Osteen can bilk millions of dollars from the gullible...where climate change is argued and people try to pray away hurricanes...oh, what's the use? The average citizen in this country is now dumber than a fucking rock and proud of it. I weep.

In my case, I don't mind crude first attempts at writing if the novice author has something worthwhile to tell. However, I draw the line at someone who makes no attempt to perfect their skills, rejecting all suggestions or recommendations, as it's a sign that they simply don't care enough about their own story to put any work into making it better.

That's more a sign of professionalism. While I may appreciate a crude painting by a promising child, I expect more from a professional charging me serious money for a painting I'll hang over my mantelpiece.

Unfortunately, for many authors, their very first story is often their best, and everything else is just recycling the same ideas in different ways with more words.

I prefer my original analogy. Reading a story is like going on a journey through interesting and beautiful countryside. With good writing, the reader can relax, enjoy the scenery, and reach the end of the trip feeling refreshed and enlightened with the new experience. With poor writing, that same trip is a trial of potholes, washouts in the road, and repeated delays by construction zones that divert your attention from why you took that scenic trip in the first place.

Sorry, but I agree with Awnlee. A boring story, written in perfect English, just ain't worth sitting through (which is why so few College Professors make a living writing fiction). However, a beautiful story will carry you through, despite the often rough patches you may encounter.

Yet, like in most situations, conditions are subject to individual tastes. If you're revolved by simple punctuation mistakes and typos, then you'd better stick to more formal (or better-written) tracts, rather than amateur stories details knowledge the authors accumulated over a lifetime (rather than what some kid learned by sitting in English Composition classes for a decade).

more people enjoy a great story with bad grammar than a bad story with great grammar.

That's why so many readers like MysteryWriter.

AJ

I really enjoyed the storytelling in this one, but nearly gave up several times over the spelling & grammar mistakes. If this author would acquire a good editor and proofreader, he could easily become one of my favorite authors. The story itself had all of my favorite elements. I would love to read further stories in this Universe, but only if he makes an attempt to get help to polish out the rough places.

Incorrect grammar and spelling doesn't bother some people; others are completely turned off by it. But it probably has little or no effect on scores.

We've noted before, a terrific story is easier to read through a rough telling, while a boring story is almost unbearable, no matter how well it's told. It's a slippery slope when you start judging technical merit.

I've observed with my own writing that I'll rarely get ANY corrections for my most exciting chapters, despite knowing there have GOT to be some outstanding issues, but the slower chapters will get flagged time and again. It's more about pacing than it is technical skill. If you're exciting, you'll read faster, skipping over anything between you and the exciting conclusion. In a slow, somewhat tedious section, you'll notice every flaw. It's like the analogy in the other thread: if you drive a rough dirt road at a moderate speed, it's almost unbearable as you experience the 'washboard effect'. But if you drive fast over the rough patches, the road smooths out. It's the same with reading.

Many of the veteran authors on SoL are 40+ probably. Many new authors are beginning in their teens. And the author from the mentioned story has only one-shots before the long story. If he has 30 stories and still issues, yes that would be bad, but it is his first. (though he talks about editors in his blog post)

Often, readers will label style issues (serial commas, reversed single and double quotes, and dropping commas to improve the flow of the sentences) are seen as errors (not that I'm suggesting that's what you're doing).

In that case, what's often seen as 'errors' are conscious choices, which is why I REFUSE to blame my editors for any errors that someone reads in my story, since my editors often make suggestions which I choose not to follow, largely because we follow two separate imaginary style guides.

Overdoing (bad) accents or bombarding the story with foreign language snippets is more of a turn-off for me. *Dude, it's okay, I understand now, that he/she is from the south, or he/she is from France. You don't need to bombard me with a mishmash of accents and foreign words in every sentence.

I had a bad experience with that in my newest (just about to be published) book, Speaking With Your Demons. While I've worked foreign languages into my stories before, doing just what you describe, I had trouble with this book, because each different mythical alien race speaks with a slightly different vocal pattern, thus I'd try to reflects the dragons' lisp, the demons's bad grammar and the devil's tendency to curse. It took a lot of work, and a bunch of rewrites, to strip out the majority of those 'extras' while still keeping their speech patterns in readers' minds as the story unfolds.

It don't come naturally!

If it was proof read, & Edited to book quality, it'd surely have a 12.5 rating

Exactly my point. I've been a paying member of SOL for a very long time, and have read stories that vary from NYT best seller quality to absolutely unreadable dreck. For Pete's sake, if you have a great story to tell, have the pride of ownership to give the final product a bit of effort to clean up the rough edges. Nobody expects perfection, but showing a little pride in one's work is a good thing.
For some authors on this site (and other sites)I can't tell if it's ignorance, apathy or arrogance that causes them to put out this type of story.

Personally, I consider a lot of what's on the NYT best seller list to be unreadable dreck.

As do I. I thought about saying 'Pulitzer worthy,' but that just sounded pretentious. ;) I think you understand what I meant though.

perfect grammar and spelling does nothing for a bad or even a mediocre story.

I agree completely, But bad spelling and grammar can ruin an otherwise good story for those of us with enough education to recognize the mistakes. (BTW: I do not have a college degree, so that's not a requirement.)
Nowhere have I suggested, demanded or even implied that spelling & grammar needs to be perfect. It's not unreasonable to suggest that there is a middle ground between a good story written badly and a bad story written well.

That middle ground sounds like a mediocre story all around - not very exciting.

Is there anything you will not argue about? How the fuck does a good story written badly become somehow better than a good story written reasonably well? A bad story is bad, no matter how it is written.

There! I won't argue this point at all. I also prefer a good story to be well written, with as few mistakes as possible. However, if all I can get from an author is a good story with numerous mistakes, I take it too and don't complain about it. I mentioned priorities and priorities are no wishlist.

Your particular level of persnicketiness aside, not only do frequent mistakes make it clear the author doesn't take pride in their work, in strongly hints that they're Not learning, and thus their stories are unlikely to ever get better.

If you learn from each mistake, modifying your approach and trying to improve, it speaks volumes. Those that simply tell the same story, over and over, simply switching a few names and descriptions, go nowhere. Whereas those who come up with unique plots with each story, struggling to tackle more difficult tasks each time, makes readers feel they're in for a wild ride. Good or bad, you know it'll be an interesting trip you weren't expecting.

I agree completely, But bad spelling and grammar can ruin an otherwise good story for those of us with enough education to recognize the mistakes. (BTW: I do not have a college degree, so that's not a requirement.)

Good readers don't require advanced degrees, and even those who never graduated middle school can educate themselves by reading widely (not just select books). I don't think anyone here thought a college education was required for have a voice. Nowadays, an advanced degree is good for nothing more than your next job. :(

I used a Kaypro

Is that the big heavy thing with a tiny screen? My DBAs were on call for production problems. They had beepers and had to drive into the office to fix the problem. So I bought a Kaypro for each location for the person on call that week to take home and fix the problem from home (way before laptops). One DBA in Florida was a tiny girl who needed help lifting it into her car trunk.

For some authors on this site (and other sites)I can't tell if it's ignorance, apathy or arrogance that causes them to put out this type of story.

Perhaps ego, laziness, and a 'Don't tell me what to do, I'm the Author' attitude.

I wouldn't think a significant number of authors would do

Most authors expect positive feedback, even if it is a simple thank you, and they generally don't get enough of that type of feedback.

However, there are also a few authors who want the positive feedback to boost their egos; hopefully they are in the minority. They find readers sending them less than stellar remarks and corrections to be negative feedback. They can't tolerate the idea they and their stories are average.

I know I am an average writer and my stories are average. I work to improve, but I am not upset by being average for I attain my goal by creating the stories. If the readers I share my stories with don't like them, then they don't have to read them. If they like the stories, then I am more than happy to share my future stories with those who like to read what I write.

personally I've no such particular insight into another author's mindset.

I don't either. But we both have an understanding of human nature and we can both make general statements.

When it comes to a specific author, I don't know what they are thinking. But people who make similar comments under almost identical circumstances tend to have similar views and thoughts.

I just didn't hear or read a significant number of such comments.

I'm 70 years old and I wasn't limiting the comment to just Forum comments.

I know I am an average writer and my stories are average. I work to improve, but I am not upset by being average for I attain my goal by creating the stories.

That, to me, marks a promising author. Many 'authors' write a single terrific book, but they simply don't have more than a single story inside them. Others start off rough, but improve over time, while others start off simply, and then tackle more and more difficult stories as they progress.

I'd rather grow with an author, rather than read the same thing again and again. If there isn't any controversy, then you simply aren't taking enough chances.

Submitting a story here on SoL is one thing. If an author does only that, you have no grounds to assume anything about his attitude. The moment an author allows scoring and comments, he opens up to critique, which comes in every form, from positive and constructive to pointless and flat out offensive. I wouldn't think a significant number of authors would do so if their mindset would resemble anything like 'ego, laziness, and a 'Don't tell me what to do, I'm the Author attitude'.

I suspect much of that attitude comes from, not just the reception they get from a particular story, but also their daring to write something that certain readers just won't abide. I keep cautioning that a certain attitude among many readers chase away virtually any alternative voices that we'd all be richer to consider. You don't need to read Indian or gay romance stories, but it certainly helps to round you as a person if you at least give it a chance, occasionally, even if it only reinforces your previous opinions. You at least expose yourself to different views, and those views will help provide you with a broader perspective on writing as a whole.

But, in the end, it people jump on your very first effort with both feet, unrelenting even when you say that's not the direction your story is going, tends to produce authors who simply no longer care WHAT readers might think.

The art to write a story is so much more than grammar and spelling.

I can't agree more. What ruins a story for me is the way it's told more than the spelling. I've given up on many stories on SOL that had a good story because the writing bored me.

The reason I mentioned the director was because some of the actors were good actors. One was Kiefer Sutherland. My guess is they were taking direction from the director. But it wasn't the way the story was presented, which the director does, but the acting was just so bad.

No one can be right or wrong about it.

I'm not sure that's absolutely true. The wrong punctuation can change the whole meaning.

AJ

At least I'm glad, you aren't certain, it's absolutely wrong.

I'd be happier if that incorporated a smiley ;)

AJ

Never heard of that bird but I already like it.

In my neighbourhood we'd say "tough titty", which is one of the rare occasions I'd actually use the word 'titty'.

AJ

I remember that from my youth. Probably was my father.

Your father had tough titties, or he used it in reference to you mother? 'D

To garner some sympathy for my misunderstood homeland, here is a self-depreciating German joke:

I would have said 'self-deprecating'.

The German said, "We WILL be as we will be the first to land on the sun." The others argued that this isn't possible as it would be too hot. The German, however, reasoned "We have already thought of this: we will fly at night!"

1) If seen this several times as a 'blonde' joke.
2) There was an episode of Andromeda (aka Hercules in Space) in which they landed on the sun, shut down for periodic maintenance ;)

AJ

The art to write a story is so much more than grammar and spelling.

True, but bad grammar can totally destroy a story due to it changing the meaning. A classic is how the use of grammar changes the meaning in this simple three word text.

Help. Police. Murder. - a call for help from the police because someone is trying to murder you.

Help police murder. - a request to help the police murder someone.

Help, police murder. - a call for help because the police are trying to murder you.

There is a lot of leeway in the use of grammar once you move away from Formal English to the less structured forms, but there is still the requirement to meet the basics to be understood.

Also, spelling can have a very damaging effect when the reader is thrown out of the story to work out what the hell the writer meant to say. The classic case I came across in a story was where a writer described a particular woman as having a small waste line - and immediately wondered how he knew she had an undersized bowel.

If you screw up the language and it's hard to understand the story while you read, then you failed as a writer.

Do you want to tell me they did that without being able to understand the story?

Possible, I can't speak for other people and their thought processes - however, a lot of people today think the way to spell the word for something being destroyed as it being rekt and not wrecked - so how do you tell?

Do you want to tell me they did that without being able to understand the story?

You are ignoring the likelihood that at least a fair portion of that 1,387 voters would not know a homonym or homophone if it bit them in the ass and does not realize that there, their & they're are not interchangeable...

because

One of the problems with voting is that anyone can do it, even the ignorant and uninformed.

One of the problems with voting is that anyone can do it, even the ignorant and uninformed.

"I will not go off topic..."
"I will not go off topic..."
"I will not go off topic..."
"I will not go off topic..."
"I will not go off topic..."
"I will not go off topic..."
"I will not go off topic..."
"I will not go off topic..."

"I will not go off topic..."
"I will not go off topic..."
"I will not go off topic..."
"I will not go off topic..."
"I will not go off topic..."
"I will not go off topic..."
"I will not go off topic..."
"I will not go off topic..."

Speaking of alternate topics ...

"I will not go off topic..."

Spoilsport. :)

How do you decide who should not be allowed to vote on the story or whose vote is of lesser value?

I wouldn't bar anyone from voting. Even the ignorant and uninformed will sometimes see something the rest of us missed.

Besides, rating stories is so subjective that the results are meaningless.

One of the problems with voting is that anyone can do it, even the ignorant and uninformed.

I remember a scientific study based around a 'guess the number of objects in the jar' competition.

The researchers found that taking the nutjob estimators into account when calculating the average (even if they said one or a thousand) resulted in a significantly more accurate estimate than just taking the average of those estimators who tried to invoke science or maths for their estimates.

The ignorant and uninformed rock!

AJ

The researchers found that taking the nutjob estimators into account

What criteria was used to define an estimate as having been generated by a 'nutjob esstimator'? ? ?

What criteria was used to define an estimate as having been generated by a 'nutjob estimator'?

Good question and I don't know what they used. Some are obvious - if there's a jar full of round things and you can see plenty of them through the glass, an estimator who estimates their total as one is clearly not the sharpest Kardashian on the reality TV show, despite being a prime candidate for a career as a left-wing economics expert.

AJ

Do you want to tell me they did that without being able to understand the story?

I rite pretty gud (sorry, couldn't resist) and I read pretty well, too. I understood the story just fine. Whether I also saw more errors---as apparently you did---than those other readers doesn't matter. In this particular case, the strength of the story outweighed the errors, which were many.

Let's be clear. The story itself wasn't complicated. It was short and to the point, and the author got from A to B without messing around with guardrails, speed limits or anything else.

In my view, he succeeded, and I say that while agreeing with Wheezer that when there's enough crap it ruins the story.

bb

I'll be 57 in December, cursive was a regular part of the school curriculum starting in First Grade, it's just that my mind/body interaction is so piss poor that try to visualize the letters as I might, what came out was a convulsive squiggle.

I used to be pretty good at it, as I drew (with a permanent artistic ink pen) where making straight lines is vital, and would often write 'found conversations' or random ideas on the facing pages. But once I stopped (and married my computer once I started writing) I've completely forgotten how to write (cursively) and no longer even try.

I also wrote so small in my youth (supposedly a sign of intense concentration) that I can no longer read ANY of them. Now, I struggle through signing books for friends and family.

I have a hard time reading the passwords half the time.

I think that's called password security. :)

Given that my current hobby is transcribing Early Modern English documents, I'm getting pretty tolerant of weird and inconsistent spellings

You probably have to contend with archaic letter formations too.

I seem to remember a human verification system which took difficult-to-translate words from archaic documents and required the user to transcribe them to modern lettering to prove they were human. The system's authors then used the consensus as the likely transcription of the word. Can anyone remember the details - was it Google?

AJ

I also set up distinct dictionaries for different subjects, so I don't fill the main dictionary up with non-standard terminology.

I've always wrestled with that. When I first started writing, I started adding my odd-character names to my personal dictionary, just so WORD wouldn't flag every use of them, but I've gone though so many oddball names (often the names of aliens) that it was no longer feasible.

The problem with the 'online spellcheckers' is that they're so rarely updated. What was a decent product quickly becomes unreliable when they never upgrade it (think the standard PC spellchecker). Grammarly is currently the top-of-the-line, but I find it only makes you obsess over words, yanking you out of the story you're writing to obsess over whether each word is correct or not, rather than writing and fixing errors in a later phase.

Still, I've trained myself to ignore wavy red-underlines because the PC spellchecker produces so many false-positives. It's essentially worthless for anything than large three-to-five dollar words.

In my view, he succeeded, and I say that while agreeing with Wheezer that when there's enough crap it ruins the story.

Hopefully, once completed, hopefully the author will go back and clean it up to improve it's long-term ratings. He got the immediate attention, and reworking would only improve it, and I daresay most readers would be interested in reading a revised (and cleaner) version.

Here's hoping, anyway, as I doubt it's likely to happen.

Here's hoping, anyway, as I doubt it's likely to happen.

Someone in the comments section said that the story is being edited and the grammar cleaned up. We'll see.

burka_oz ‎6‎/‎28‎/‎2017‎ ‎10‎:‎22‎:‎16‎ ‎PM

Please, we've had enough of the nastygrams about the grammar and the spelling. It's fairly obvious and I don't need it needs to be stated yet again.

Likewise the nastygrams about the fact that the author is refusing to edit his work. Though he hasn't posted about it here the complete work is being edited and proofed and updated and tense corrected and just about all of the other problems will be fixed that people have found.

I enjoyed this story so much and though there were problems I decided that the bones of the story was so good that I would come out of editorial retirement and fix this up. This will take time, I don't yet have a timetable as to when I will complete this work but please know that it is being worked on and hopefully you won't have that long to wait before you can read this great tale as it should be.

Please bear with me, it will happen :-)

I am not certain if burka_oz is doing this on his own, or with the cooperation of the author.

I am not certain if burka_oz is doing this on his own, or with the cooperation of the author.

Whichever, I encourage everyone to offer encouragement, rather than further gripes. I suspect the author is close to shutting off comments due to the nasty comments about it, so now that he's doing the right thing, we should back him for it.

It'll be interesting to see what direction this thread takes once he completes his edit.

True, but bad grammar can totally destroy a story due to it changing the meaning. A classic is how the use of grammar changes the meaning in this simple three word text.

I understand your point, and while I agree with your examples, they're hardly the kinds of things to throw me out of a story. You can easily infer what the author meant by the context. Those kinds of grammar mistakes compose a variety of humorous writing advice books, but the fact they're viewed as humor demonstrates that mostly everyone can figure out what the author intended. Thus I wouldn't worry.

I'd still prefer the correct grammar, but I wouldn't throw a cute author out of bed because of it!

Substitue "novel" for "movie" and "writing" for "acting." IMO, poor writing will ruin a story.

Following up on your analogy, poor punctuation is like poor set design. If the sets keep falling apart, it's hard to take the movie/story seriously, whereas typos are like authors forgetting their likes, continually saying "Um, Ahh." If actors work to deliver their lines properly, then surely authors should as well.

That said, I still tend to side with rookie authors with tremendous storytelling over technical ability. But, after they've been around the block a couple times, they should really learn their way around the ring.

poor punctuation is like poor set design.

I don't know about that, but poor punctuation is worse than bad spelling. Sometimes you have to keep stopping to figure out what the author is saying. That sure takes you out of the story.

I'm re-reading a story by Lubrican called "Bobby's Good Deeds." He's a good writer, but in this story he has a comma fetish. The sentences are choppy. It's annoying, but the story is good and the way he tells it is good so I put up with the extra commas. (btw, if someone's looking for a humorous story, the first 3 chapters are hilarious.)

I'm re-reading a story by Lubrican called "Bobby's Good Deeds." He's a good writer, but in this story he has a comma fetish. The sentences are choppy. It's annoying, but the story is good and the way he tells it is good so I put up with the extra commas. (btw, if someone's looking for a humorous story, the first 3 chapters are hilarious.)

Thanks for this. I like Lubrican's stuff, despite some over-explaining here and there.

bb

Language is flowing. Especially English. If "rekt" is used more and more often in the decades to come, it will be the correct way of using it in the future and "wrecked" will be seen as outdated and not used anymore.
The past is full of dying words and meanings.

Just imagine how pissed poor William Shakespeare would be over what the OED did to his dear language!

Thesaurus: A book of extinct words.

More likely, Thesaurus: words no one would ever consider using left to their own devices (and probably for good reason).

If I recall, the use of accents drops off after a chapter or two, but does reoccur on occasion. It seems to have been done primarily to display the lack of proficiency in pronouncing Ureeblay's language.

It is a good story, but Kid Wigger isn't in a hurry to get to the end. There is always something new to address.

I began "Flight of the code monkey" yesterday and was satisfied with the first chapter. Many are saying it is a very good story.
And then I got to chapter 2 and was a little turned off. Bad accents are a major issue for me and over half of the chapter was in a bad accent.

We've discussed this before, but distinctive accents, while potentially powerful in a story, are highly problematic. Some of the most powerful published books feature extensive accents, and many of them are utterly unreadable, as a result.

I've learned, it's best to introduce a character's accent with a paragraph of two of accented dialogue, but then cut it WAY back, only using a few key phrases to remind readers the character is still speaking with an accent.

back to the spirit of this thread,

I started this thread, and had no complaints at all about the story itself. It is remarkably good. I'd love to read a sequel. (if he makes use of good editors & proofreaders this time!) My issues, and the spirit of this thread, is how bad grammar with all the spelling errors, homophone/homonym mistakes, and excess punctuation errors can interfere with the pleasure of reading an otherwise good story - that is, if the reader recognizes & is bothered by the errors in the first place. As the responses in this thread show, some people are oblivious to these errors or, at the least, assign grammar a very low priority.

Bad grammar is not really an issue with "Code Monkey."

I'm not arguing your point about "Code Monkey." Your issues with the story are about style and content rather than grammar. This is a grammar thread is the point I am making. If you feel that strongly about the writing style and plot devices in Code Monkey, perhaps a new thread to discuss it would be more appropriate.

As the responses in this thread show, some people are oblivious to these errors or, at the least, assign grammar a very low priority.

I don't think they are oblivious to errors, they just treat them on a sliding scale, with their objections varying depending upon 1) quality of story 2) experience of the author. For some stories, they'd side with you on the errors being unjustifiable, but for a strong story—especially for promising newbie authors—they're willing to 'hold their noses' and power through, simply to discover how the story works out.

That said, I'd doubt they'd continue though a 2nd or even 3rd story without the author turning that trend around.

@sunkuwan

and the issue that she was mentally and physically the equivalent of an 8-year-old on her planet a year ago is just the tip of the iceberg.

That sound suspiciously like a quick 'patch' to justify a horrendous use of accents in a story. ("Hey, she's a friggin' idiot! What do you expect me to do? (other than ripping her out of the story)")

The very first answers to this thread were the argument, that a great story with bad grammar is better than a mediocre story with great grammar. I'm not saying, code monkey is mediocre just that bad accents and non-existent reading flow is a bad mark.

Now that, I can definitely agree with!

just that bad accents and non-existent reading flow is a bad mark.

I don't have a 'good' answer.

Authors need to show variations in their characters, but how to do that. Physical differences between human and alien is one way to show difference. But we are the product of our society, so that is not enough. Aliens would have different languages, so odd spellings to reflect that language is sometime used. Due to physical differences in their equivalent of human vocal cords, they would pronounce letter combinations differently than humans. I suspect is what you call accents. Even within the group of humans, they come from different planets and their belief structures will be different.

Kid Wigger seems to be trying to show these differences. Perhaps you would like to share your method of accomplishing this goal instead of just gripping about what he is doing.

Continued use of an accent is helpful in reminding a reader a character is from another planet and that is why their beliefs are different, not necessarily wrong, from the other characters.

ETA: But that doesn't define how you would do it.

I understand. Every so often throughout the story, you are going to 'tell' the reader that a character is actually speaking with an accent and explain why they speak with an accent.

Continued use of an accent is helpful in reminding a reader a character is from another planet and that is why their beliefs are different, not necessarily wrong, from the other characters.

The technique I always use, which I've repeated often, is you use the accent full bore for one or two paragraphs, so readers can appreciate just how odd it is, and then you cut way back to only sprinkling in a few key phrases, just enough to remind readers that they're speaking with an accent (think of a Canadian character responding "Ah").

That's enough to keep the character's accent in play, which maintaining the flow and 'readability' of the story. However, that takes a bit of practice, and even for the experienced it's often difficult to pull off, as I had a bitch of a time with my last book (with different characters from a variety of different alien species all with different familiarities with English and each species with their own linguistic challenges.