Story errors

[Tawny T]

Ho,Ho, a typo is reported in a story! We authors had a discussion about that a few weeks ago on the BB. It happens to all of us! Even having someone else proof read a story is no guarantee.

I regularly read my story over at least 4 times on the screen, make little changes, then print it out. Then I read it again at least 4 more times carefully with pen and highlighter in hand.

I just sent a story in Monday. I'd done that to it, plus read it over twice in the format used here on Lit. You can do that and then edit it till you want to release it as final. I caught 6 errors in it! Six! Fixed them. Ha Ha!

Tonight I just read it over for the first time since it's been posted on the net. Would you believe I found two errors, using the wrong word or tense. Spell checker will not catch them. I certainly didn't!

As we say rather politely in the Medical field - Feces!

It ain't easy!

[Edited by Tawny T on 03-13-2001 at 09:57 PM]

 

[KillerMuffin]

It's more time consuming, but when I get excited about looking for errors prior to posting, I use the grammar checker instead of the spell checker. It catches almost all of them because it catches the words that make no sense. Like "They bear feces in they would."

 

[hotmama]

Tawny T's Typos!

Tawny, your stories get me so hot I would even recognize typos! All I know is that I want more!

 

[nitengale]

I have to agree with hotmama...Tawny you write so well and captivate my attention you could have a few typos, and I wouldn't know. I know they would drive me crazy too, but if this helps, I am so engrossed in your stories, I haven't noticed.

=)

 

[Flagg]

I write a story, copy and paste it into an email and send it to Laurel ... and that's it.

Maybe I should be taking more pride in my work.

 

[Tawny T]

Flagg, you really should. Try to give the reader the very best story you can. Reading a story that is grammatically incorrect, or has lots of errors in it is a real putoff.

A good plot can be ruined by sloppy writing. I appreciate the comments above, and always try to send an error free story. I want my readers to enjoy the story and not have to stumble over a lot of my errors.

I just read a story on another net where the girl "I lied her back on the bed and--" No once, but twice!

Killermuffin, you fantastic writer, I'll try your method, and see if it catches some I miss, and miss, and miss ---- on and on. That last story, I had to have gone over it at least 8 times, and still missed two errors till it was posted. THEN I caught them.

 

[Ally C]

re: typos and spell-checkers

No spell-checker is perfect

I have a spelling checker;
It came with my PC.
It plainly marks four my revue
Mistakes I cannot sea.
I've run this poem threw it,
I'm sure your pleased too no.
Its letter perfect in it's weigh.
My chequer tolled me sew

 

[PAUL C]

Personally i have never been bothered about typo's. If you sat Shakesphere and Chaucer down for a spelling test today they would both fail, according to our lights. The important thing is did the reader understand what you were trying to say?

I write in what is known on my machine as British English. I have had many comments about the number of spelling errors in my stories which affected the enjoyment of certain readers. I then point out that my spell checker says it is word perfect. Then comes the use of words that have different meanings in different parts of the world. (Fanny. See a previous post)

I think that they had something a thousand years ago when all correspondence was written in Latin. Nobody spoke it so it would not be corrupted with local usage and everybody spelt every word the same even if the writers could not converse face to face with each other in a common tongue.