"This is my first attempt at slash. Hope you like it!"

"I'm no good at spelling and grammar *LOL* Please bear with me!"

When you see those kinds of prefaces, run. Run quickly.

Yes, everyone starts somewhere. All slash writers have a first story. You don't need to announce it. Let us think that you're a confident, established writer. No, I'm not telling you to lie. If you're new, you're new. But you don't have to tell us unless we ask.

As for the second statement, if you're not the leading authority on the English language, you're not alone. That is no excuse for having poor spelling and grammar in your fic. Get help. Now.

Offering a flimsy excuse does not give you license to misspell as you please and change verb tense at random.

You can learn. You can practice. You can look in a dictionary and buy a reference guide.

Ask other people for help. It's called a slash community, after all; let's commune. Find a friend (or two, or three, or seventeen) who will check your grammar and spelling for you, if not your plot and characterization as well. Contact a writer who seems to have a handle on spots you find troubling, and ask her for help. There are even beta-reading groups out there willing to work with you.

If you get help, your writing will read like a competent grammarian's, and you won't need to offer trendy apologies.

- C. Miller