Submitting a story with typos

[dontcallme82]

A few hours ago I submitted the next part of my story. I am not a perfect writer and know I make typos.

I proof-read the copy twice and submitted it. I just read it again and found 5 very silly typos that would make the reading flow a lot worse.

How can I stop the latest submission then resubmit or edit the post?

 

[jaF0]

If it still shows as Pending, just edit and resubmit. It'll drop back in the waiting list, but that's not a big deal.

 

[29wordsforsnow]

A few hours ago I submitted the next part of my story. I am not a perfect writer and know I make typos.

I proof-read the copy twice and submitted it. I just read it again and found 5 very silly typos that would make the reading flow a lot worse.

How can I stop the latest submission then resubmit or edit the post?

Go to your member page, then to works, you will find your submitted story in the tab 'Pending'. If you click on it, you will be able to edit it and it will be moved to 'Drafts', so you will have to submit it again.

 

[dontcallme82]

Thanks 29wordsforsnow and jaF0.

I didn't see the edit pencil in Pending.

Moving forwards I will wait a few hours and proof-read with fresh eyes before submitting a story.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Thanks 29wordsforsnow and jaF0.

I didn't see the edit pencil in Pending.

Moving forwards I will wait a few hours and proof-read with fresh eyes before submitting a story.

Don't chase perfection, though. I think it's almost impossible to get perfect copy, no matter how hard you try. The trick is to try harder, but know when to stop - just make sure you catch everything in the opening paragraphs!

 

[dontcallme82]

Don't chase perfection, though. I think it's almost impossible to get perfect copy, no matter how hard you try. The trick is to try harder, but know when to stop - just make sure you catch everything in the opening paragraphs!

Totally agree. I have decided to write the story quite quickly and write as naturally as possible. I am not aiming for a hugely descriptive story or to be too fancy.

But the typos I made did ruin the flow and anyone reading would have struggled a bit to read those sentences. All amended now. No doubt there are still errors but it reads a lot better.

 

[Enchantment_of_Nyx]

If it still shows as Pending, just edit and resubmit. It'll drop back in the waiting list, but that's not a big deal.

Did you become an angry human ear of corn with a rooster comb on it's head? I'm not the only one who sees that, right?

 

[jaF0]

I'm not the only one who sees that, right?

Sees what?

 

[MelissaBaby]

Totally agree. I have decided to write the story quite quickly and write as naturally as possible. I am not aiming for a hugely descriptive story or to be too fancy.

But the typos I made did ruin the flow and anyone reading would have struggled a bit to read those sentences. All amended now. No doubt there are still errors but it reads a lot better.

You will never catch them all. A useful tip is to read the story aloud before submitting. Not only will you find more typos, but it is helpful overall with your prose and especially with your dialogue.

 

[vanmyers86]

Did you become an angry human ear of corn with a rooster comb on it's head? I'm not the only one who sees that, right?

OMG. That isn't what that is? I thought JaFO was some kind of rogue Iowan.

 

[KeithD]

In the process of proofreading, hope it will be noticed that "proofread" isn't hyphenated. Just sayin'.

 

[gunhilltrain]

You will never catch them all. A useful tip is to read the story aloud before submitting. Not only will you find more typos, but it is helpful overall with your prose and especially with your dialogue.

I used to work in book publishing, and with professionals, they can get pretty close to catching everything. When reading a book, I see an occasional blooper, but I've also read books, long and complicated ones, that were, to my eyes, 100% perfect. I have heard that some authors and editors are noticing a bit of slippage in quality recently.

 

[Enchantment_of_Nyx]

OMG. That isn't what that is? I thought JaFO was some kind of rogue Iowan.

Just as long as I'm not the only one who sees it!

 

[dontcallme82]

You will never catch them all. A useful tip is to read the story aloud before submitting. Not only will you find more typos, but it is helpful overall with your prose and especially with your dialogue.

Thanks for the tip. This is my first time writing in a really long time and having to consider the best way to tell the story has been really interesting. It has made me think about things I haven't in a really long time.

When writing dialogue I have done a mix between reported speech then the actual quotes where I feel necessary.

I am not sure I can write female dialogue in a particularly believable way but I have kept the character as a woman who is controlling in a not too obvious way and the femdom tendencies means it doesn't have to be to realistic.

Learning to write within my capabilities has also been interesting. I am learning what I struggle to write then start looking for a way round it.

 

[Emirus]

I am not sure I can write female dialogue in a particularly believable way but I have kept the character as a woman who is controlling in a not too obvious way and the femdom tendencies means it doesn't have to be to realistic.

Learning to write within my capabilities has also been interesting. I am learning what I struggle to write then start looking for a way round it.

The suggestion from Melissa about reading aloud is good particularly in respect of dialogue. Many people type dialogue as the written word not the spoken word and it comes across as unnatural. But if you read what you’ve written you realise it doesn’t sound right. Even such things as punctuation become evident. For example, if you’ve written a long sentence and, when reading it, run out of breath before getting to the end is an indication you need to look at punctuation within it.

As for male and female speech I think there’s not a lot of difference, although a woman will sometimes use a word a man wouldn’t, and vice versa. It’s the emotions behind the speech which are sometimes different. Read it aloud and think about emotions and, although it won’t be exactly as a woman would write it, you’ll be doing a good job.

Learning to write within your capabilities can be a good idea but it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t test yourself. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. The good writer learns from them. The bad writer doesn’t because they think they’re perfect already. But the only perfect person is an idiot. Because only an idiot believes they’re perfect.

 

[gunhilltrain]

The suggestion from Melissa about reading aloud is good particularly in respect of dialogue. Many people type dialogue as the written word not the spoken word and it comes across as unnatural. But if you read what you’ve written you realise it doesn’t sound right. Even such things as punctuation become evident. For example, if you’ve written a long sentence and, when reading it, run out of breath before getting to the end is an indication you need to look at punctuation within it.

As for male and female speech I think there’s not a lot of difference, although a woman will sometimes use a word a man wouldn’t, and vice versa. It’s the emotions behind the speech which are sometimes different. Read it aloud and think about emotions and, although it won’t be exactly as a woman would write it, you’ll be doing a good job.

Learning to write within your capabilities can be a good idea but it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t test yourself. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. The good writer learns from them. The bad writer doesn’t because they think they’re perfect already. But the only perfect person is an idiot. Because only an idiot believes they’re perfect.

Written dialogue (which may may become spoken in a movie or stage play) can be plausible without being like a transcript from, say, a taped real-life conversation. If you've ever read one of those, you'll find that people - depending somewhat on their personalities and other factors - will often ramble around before getting to the point, assuming they even have a point.

So writing, I guess, has to both "heighten" and condense the literal truth of how people speak. For one thing, certain connecting parts of a conversation will be skipped over or described rather than completely reported.

I have a good time writing women's dialogue. My tendency is to make them witty and articulate. That's my bias perhaps because that's the kind of woman I go for. Of course, that may not be a statistical cross-section of how many women (mostly in the United States) actually talk, but it works for me.

 

[oggbashan]

I check on screen. I change the typeface and check again.

I print out a hard copy and read through.

All that and the first person to comment on my latest story noticed that I had changed a character's name halfway through - my most frequent fault.

Doh!

PS. I have just used find/replace. I used the wrong name 44 times!

 

[jaF0]

Wonder how bad the system would puke if you submitted one that was spelled phonetically throughout.

Or like that word puzzled often quoted to show how our minds miss letters but still understand the message.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Wonder how bad the system would puke if you submitted one that was spelled phonetically throughout.

Or like that word puzzled often quoted to show how our minds miss letters but still understand the message.

You seem to have some James Joyce in you, although those weren't his techniques. What I mean is you are entertaining some unconventional ways to do things.

Didn't William Burroughs cut up his novels and then put them back into some seemingly random order? I tried to read one of those and I just couldn't stand it.

 

[jaF0]

Unconventional? Me?





(And dammit, there's a typo up there .....)

 

[Enchantment_of_Nyx]

Unconventional? Me?

Says the angry human corn!

 

[gunhilltrain]

Unconventional? Me?

(And dammit, there's a typo up there .....)

You can still edit your original post although I doubt it will show up in the quote of it. I'd be curious to see if it does.

Yeah, those techniques are amusing although I doubt I'd want to read too much of that kind of thing.

 

[TxRad]

I tried the word puzzle thing. Sixty thousand words in a box, some assembly required. Scrabble out sold it ten to one. Or was that ten thousand to one? I may have the only copy sold.

 

[yowser]

There is an old 15th century German printer's term 'der Fehlerteufel' that means the 'mistake devil' that was used to describe the typos that appeared on the final printed page of a work. The proofreader had been diligent and thorough checking the final galley prints, multiple times, correcting all the mistakes, and yet, there was a glaring typo in the final copy!

How did that happen? A Fehlerteufel must have inserted the error in the final copy in between proofreading and production! The contemporary digital equivalent is surely alive and well.

 

[Enchantment_of_Nyx]

There is an old 15th century German printer's term 'der Fehlerteufel' that means the 'mistake devil' that was used to describe the typos that appeared on the final printed page of a work. The proofreader had been diligent and thorough checking the final galley prints, multiple times, correcting all the mistakes, and yet, there was a glaring typo in the final copy!

How did that happen? A Fehlerteufel must have inserted the error in the final copy in between proofreading and production! The contemporary digital equivalent is surely alive and well.

Aha! Like gremlins on aircraft, but for writing. Who knows what else those Fehlerteufel get up to? Continuity errors, perhaps?