Dropping the ball

[Wifetheif]

Have you ever done this? Crappy writer Ernest Cline in his God-awful Ready Player Two has a chapter about Prince. It's clear that Cline knows virtually nothing about Prince. In any event, the "Prince Planet" task involves donning a raspberry beret. (Groan!) Much is made about the brain-dead protagonist putting on said beret. At NO point in the rest of the novel, judging by the text, at NO point does our idiotic hero remove his beret, so for the rest of the book, he's wearing a raspberry beret.
In a similar vein, I once read a Ki-Gor story in which the author did something similar. Ki-Gor was a blond Tarzan clone featured in "Jungle Tales" magazine of the 1930s-1950s. One of the highlights of the Ki-Gor universe is his flame-haired mate, Helene, Helene runs around in a leopard-skin bikini and gets naked often either of her own volition or via the hands of various villains. In one story, the bad guy decides that Helene needs a good flogging. She is strung up. The bad guy cuts off her leopard-skin bra. Just before he cuts off her fur panties, Ki-Gor comes to the rescue. A careful reading reveals that at no point does Helene reclaim her top and spends the rest of the novel topless,
Have you ever discovered that you made an oversight like this? I always try to look out for it in my own writing.

 

[Euphony]

I think we've all made fairly egregious errors.

My low water mark was changing a protags name midway through and somehow not adjusting the first couple chapters.

"Kara? Kary? That K girl, yeah, she's all sorts of hot and bothered, what's the name matter?"

 

[Altissimus]

I think we've all made fairly egregious errors.

My low water mark was changing a protags name midway through and somehow not adjusting the first couple chapters.

"Kara? Kary? That K girl, yeah, she's all sorts of hot and bothered, what's the name matter?"

Done this. Main character, first page.

 

[Unblemished]

I think some things can be left to the imagination; I don’t need to be told to assume a character’s removed their beret between one scene and the next.

Although Cline is indeed a tiresome author. I couldn’t even get through Ready Player One, let alone the sequel.

 

[Blind_Justice]

Yeah, I've had continuity errors. My evil clerics started the story wearing golden holy symbols and somewhere in the latter chapters they had their symbol branded right into the skin. I do like the latter idea, as if they've become their deity's property, but neither my editor nor me noticed the switch until a keen-eyed reader mentioned it.

Well, it will get fixed in the eventual ebook release.

 

[Euphony]

I think some things can be left to the imagination; I don’t need to be told to assume a character’s removed their beret between one scene and the next.

Although Cline is indeed a tiresome author. I couldn’t even get through Ready Player One, let alone the sequel.

Moby Dick.

Not a single underwear change.

Literary classic my a$$.

 

[Djmac1031]

I don't think whether or not a character removes or dons a particular garment between scenes not being spelled out is an "error," or at least not an agregeous one.

It's really not much different than a character in a film wearing one outfit in one scene, but a different outfit in a later scene. Unless of course there's no time jump.

My biggest in story gaff was in one of my Jenna chapters.

The MMC Tom sits down at a table and starts a conversation with a young woman named Tiffany.

Halfway through that conversation, she magically transforms into another character from the series, Trish.

Then at the end, it's Tiffany who gets up and walks away.

Several editing passes and I STILL missed it.

Eagle eyed readers, of course, called me out on it

 

[Euphony]

is an "error," or at least not an agregeous one

If this is intentional, you have ALL of my respect for your low key tomfoolery.

 

[LoneMilf]

Moby Dick.

Not a single underwear change.

Literary classic my a$$.

Not not mention all those novels I've read without seeing a single bowel movement described...
I'm definitely on the 'let's just assume it happened' boat on this one
And if I can assume a bowel movement, I can also assume a change of clothes

 

[Rob_Royale]

Well, I write about a lot of naked people. I never mention that they get dressed at some point. I figure the reader to be smart enough to assume it without being told.

 

[Euphony]

Not not mention all those novels I've read without seeing a single bowel movement described...
I'm definitely on the 'let's just assume it happened' boat on this one
And if I can assume a bowel movement, I can also assume a change of clothes

It took devouring 50 slain men for him to merely get indigestion.

I'm confident his remote tribe evolved past the need for such unpleasantries and their bodies recycle their waste.

 

[Djmac1031]

If this is intentional, you have ALL of my respect for your low key tomfoolery.

Or maybe I'm just a shitty speller.

 

[Euphony]

Or maybe I'm just a shitty speller.

You've contributed enough to the AH and your Lit catalog, stealing unearned credit would've been justifiable.

Lesser folk do it here on the regular.

 

[djrip]

A careful reading reveals that at no point does Helene reclaim her top and spends the rest of the novel topless,
Have you ever discovered that you made an oversight like this?

What oversight?

 

[Emilymcplugger]

I think we've all made fairly egregious errors.

My low water mark was changing a protags name midway through and somehow not adjusting the first couple chapters.

"Kara? Kary? That K girl, yeah, she's all sorts of hot and bothered, what's the name matter?"

Yep.

Trent/Tyler.

FFS! How does one get that wrong FIVE CHAPTERS IN?!

 

[MelissaBaby]

I realized after a few chapters of my series, Mary and Alvin, that the size and configuration of Alvin's sailboat (a location that figures prominently throughout the series), had changed. I could have gone back and edited, but I decided, fuck it, it's whatever it needs to be at any particular place in the story.

 

[Smarthomanid2]

Have you ever done this? Crappy writer Ernest Cline in his God-awful Ready Player Two has a chapter about Prince. It's clear that Cline knows virtually nothing about Prince. In any event, the "Prince Planet" task involves donning a raspberry beret. (Groan!) Much is made about the brain-dead protagonist putting on said beret. At NO point in the rest of the novel, judging by the text, at NO point does our idiotic hero remove his beret, so for the rest of the book, he's wearing a raspberry beret.
In a similar vein, I once read a Ki-Gor story in which the author did something similar. Ki-Gor was a blond Tarzan clone featured in "Jungle Tales" magazine of the 1930s-1950s. One of the highlights of the Ki-Gor universe is his flame-haired mate, Helene, Helene runs around in a leopard-skin bikini and gets naked often either of her own volition or via the hands of various villains. In one story, the bad guy decides that Helene needs a good flogging. She is strung up. The bad guy cuts off her leopard-skin bra. Just before he cuts off her fur panties, Ki-Gor comes to the rescue. A careful reading reveals that at no point does Helene reclaim her top and spends the rest of the novel topless,
Have you ever discovered that you made an oversight like this? I always try to look out for it in my own writing.

To my knowledge, I have not run around for long periods in a novel without a bra.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Have you ever done this? Crappy writer Ernest Cline in his God-awful Ready Player Two has a chapter about Prince. It's clear that Cline knows virtually nothing about Prince. In any event, the "Prince Planet" task involves donning a raspberry beret. (Groan!) Much is made about the brain-dead protagonist putting on said beret. At NO point in the rest of the novel, judging by the text, at NO point does our idiotic hero remove his beret, so for the rest of the book, he's wearing a raspberry beret.
In a similar vein, I once read a Ki-Gor story in which the author did something similar. Ki-Gor was a blond Tarzan clone featured in "Jungle Tales" magazine of the 1930s-1950s. One of the highlights of the Ki-Gor universe is his flame-haired mate, Helene, Helene runs around in a leopard-skin bikini and gets naked often either of her own volition or via the hands of various villains. In one story, the bad guy decides that Helene needs a good flogging. She is strung up. The bad guy cuts off her leopard-skin bra. Just before he cuts off her fur panties, Ki-Gor comes to the rescue. A careful reading reveals that at no point does Helene reclaim her top and spends the rest of the novel topless,
Have you ever discovered that you made an oversight like this? I always try to look out for it in my own writing.

I've never heard of Ernest Cline, but from what little I've looked up about him, he doesn't sound very promising. Somebody wrote, "The novel [Ready Player Two] had a widely negative critical reception, especially when compared to Ready Player One." The latter was made into a film by Steven Spielberg, which I completely missed.

I've made mistakes regarding dates and locations, and I sometimes resubmit the story if it seems worth the effort. Making corrections on Lit takes a while, as we know.

 

[MelissaBaby]

In a comment on my lesbian romance, Oyster River, a reader said that at one point in the story, I had flipped the names of the two lovers. They did not specify where. I read that whole damn story over again and couldn't find it. It drove me nuts for a while.

 

[KeithD]

I think some things can be left to the imagination; I don’t need to be told to assume a character’s removed their beret between one scene and the next.

Although Cline is indeed a tiresome author. I couldn’t even get through Ready Player One, let alone the sequel.

This. Unless there's some implication otherwise in the text, there's no reason to assume that hat/bra haven't made it back to "the usual" at some point without it being explicitly stated.

 

[Duleigh]

I try not to include every detail, every motion that the characters take, if the item is important, like the raspberry beret I try to mention the outcome of that item. One of my characters has a solid gold fake eye and he covers it with an eyepatch which later in the stories I rarely mention. Congratulations on Ready Player Two, I personally made it 50% through Ready Player One before I gave up on it. A worse sequel is nearly unthinkable.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Dropping the ball​

My worst gaffe was in a story I based on a JOIs I did with my bf when he was on a domestic trip, and also some rather childish behavior on my part when he was on a European one.

In the combined story, he was in Europe for the JOI. But… I got the time zones backwards; which is actually unforgivable as I have work team members in Europe.

Worse, in the story, I self-describe as a “details person”. Pride comes before a fall .

Em

 

[Britva415]

Moby Dick.

Not a single underwear change.

Literary classic my a$$.

I don't think any of them ever peed, either!

 

[gunhilltrain]

I think some things can be left to the imagination; I don’t need to be told to assume a character’s removed their beret between one scene and the next.

Although Cline is indeed a tiresome author. I couldn’t even get through Ready Player One, let alone the sequel.

I'll give the guy a break. I've looked at some of the stuff I've done myself, including some things I've never published, and let's face it - writing is difficult. Some of what I've done is, well, disappointing. I guess that is the only way to learn anything; to try writing and sometimes not succeed at it. I don't know what's in Cline's personal slush pile, but he seems to fearlessly plow ahead anyway.

His second wife, Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz, has an interesting career as well, much of it with an outfit called Write Bloody Publishing in Austin TX. Hot Teen Slut is one such work; maybe she should get an account at Lit for some side projects.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Oh, Hot Teen Slut is a book of poetry, and Aptowicz wrote and edited porn for her first job out of college. At least for us Lit writers, since we're not being paid, we can scribble it in any way we see fit.

https://www.amazon.com/Teen-Slut-Cr...'Keefe+Aptowicz&qid=1694570274&s=books&sr=1-6