I have only ever passed up one reading assignment (because I had got what I thought was a terrible review from the author and didn't think I could avoid being biased against them). Perhaps I should start!

As for typos/SPAGS- what if you like to do something that you aren't certain is strictly gramatically correct, but that makes sense to you? In my case it's the trailing hyphen, as I just used at the start of this para. I love them, both to indicate interrupted speech, and as a sort of non-specific break in text. But I keep getting picked up on them! Is this wrong?

Come to think about it, what about the famous POV violation where you dip into different character's thoughts in the same section? Sometimes I worry if I have been indoctrinated to hate them for the sake of it, rather than where there is a genuine problem. So many new writers do it...

James Skye is unimpressed by the sock monster

It would be nice to take a look at your work Gunny. I've not read a single posting on YRW that did not contain mistakes or that could not be improved in some way.

And obviously what you post on here is of great importance to all the agents out there, hovering with bated breath over the YWO MB.

My thoughts: submitting or posting a piece of work with repeated and serious SPAG mistakes is simply lazy. However, there are certainly some grammar disciplinarians on here unable to discern between 'bad' grammar and a chosen style of writing.

No, an agent is not going to turn down a great submission because of a few missing commas. But if it's full of errors then they're going to have doubts about your commitment as an author and whether you're someone they want to work with. Why choose an author who can't be arsed and is going to require lots of coaching if there's another writer almost as good who has mastered grammar and presentation. Never forget, there's always another writer.

Coversely, a faultlessly punctuated but dull piece of writing will impress no-one. Superb punctuation does not make a piece of writing great. You can roll a turd in glitter but it's still a turd.

'Always tell the truth. If you can't always tell the truth, don't lie.'

Voice is most important to me when I crit a beginning. A story needs to make an emotional connection with me. If grammar and punctuation are poor, it's going to have an effect on the voice. If I have to keep going back, re-reading sentences because they are awkward, punctuated wrong, or whatever, I can't settle into a story. Balance is needed to help add depth. Dialogue with two stick figures will leave me cold. Purple prose with no dialogue or action will make me yawn and start to skim. What I want from a crit is for people to tell me if they made a connection (of any kind) with my characters, but I still gladly latch onto those who feel more comfortable pointing out where an awkward sentence tripped them up, or a typo. Do I like to hear where people loved a part, or connected with a character? Absolutely. It shows me where it's working, but don't forget to show me where it's not.

Top ten stories are hard to crit only because there is a tendency to start second guessing yourself. How could it land in the top ten if it wasn't good? I try not to check the placing of a story in the charts before I read it because I don't want to be influenced by others. Top ten is hard because it shows up red, alerting the reviewer. I don't like this, but as people have pointed out numerous times, there can be little difference in rating between a top ten story and number 20. One shouldn't be gun shy about telling what you think, regardless of placing. (My opinion) Top ten writers want to get published. We can't help them get there by stroking egos, or hurting feelings, when we see major problems.

The only story I ever got into the top ten was one that wasn't ready for an editor to look at, let alone a publisher. I'd jotted down the beginning chapters to a novel to see if it would catch an eye or two-- and it did, landed me in the top ten for almost a month. I started to feel like I deserved to be there, even though it was only a rough draft piece of writing. Then I got waylaid by two crits. My first thought-- How dare they? Knocked me right out of the coveted spot. I went in and out of the tt for the next month and got enough days to make the best seller list. But that's when reality came crashing back down, thank God. That story was not ready for a pro crit. It wasn't even finished, let alone polished. I put it up to see if I should continue writing it and I think I got my answer. But I no longer wanted the pro crit, not yet. Top ten will f_ _ k with your head if you let it-- either because you are the writer, or only the critter assigned someone else's work. Try not to let it influence you either way and take/or give whatever feedback you can. Voice problems, grammar/punctuation problems. The idea is to get better at writing, not land in the top ten. Or if you do get there, it's because you really are ready.

I would not dream of trying to edit your work, I don’t have the experience. I am interested to know if you proofread your own work or do you pay someone else. I ask because you must be the most experienced writer on YWO and your input will be invaluable to others. I can read my work over and over and miss some hideous boobs because I know what should be there – I see what I want to see. As notleyab points out, you often see errors in published works that have benefited from profession editing, so what is the best approach to take when seeking out all those niggling little errors?