[QUOTE=jaeangel]Microsoft Word is a good tool;. However, one needs to keep in mind that it is just that, a tool.

My basic rule of thumb when I'm writing BDSM (I have one story where two guys are giving a girl an initiation whipping) is that if the girl is screaming, instead of writing,
"Aaaagggghhhh",
I'll write,
"She gave off a high-pitched cry, which started out low and got gradually louder in volume until her Master slapped a gag on her..."
QUOTE]

I don't use any of the Microsoft tools. Grammar and spell checkers might locate the most egregious errors in a passage, but they set the bar much too low. Rather like buying a car because none of the tires is flat.

As far as the screams go, the "first edition" of Jade Pavilion II had very, very few. I, too, had the thought that they were comic-bookish. But a friendly critic told me that the lack of 'sound effects' was a flaw in my otherwise vivid "thrill scenes" -- at least as far as he was concerned. And, after some discussion, and after giving it some thought, he convinced me. So much so that the current version features a lot of CRACCKKK!'s and "Aaghhs" and the occasional "AAURRGGHH!!" and so on, and I have come to believe that they do enhance the excitement of a scene. It should be remembered too, that cries of pain and screams do vary in both length and volume.

Like all effects, this sort of thing can be overdone. We've all seen passages like:

"Oooooooohhhhhhhhhhh. Goddddddddddddd you're killlllllllllinggggggg meeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!"

Personally, I think that the extended pronunciations and exclamation marks are more natural to non-verbal outbursts.

Boccaccio