In the post that was distributed earlier today (part 17 of the series) I misspelled the word “essencial” (rather, essential) in the subhead.
Happily, I didn’t just misspell the word “misspell” in that first paragraph, or this one, where I’ve unwisely used it twice.
Typos suck. We all make them, but saying that doesn’t remotely justify it. As someone who writes about craft and principles, I am an especially juicy target for writers who love to jump on this (the last person who wrote me about a typo used the term “For shame!!!” in her closing, as if I’d just maligned the Pope).
So, this is me acknowledging the mistake, which has been repaired on the website. For all I know there are more typos to be discovered there, and here (I’ve found four in my first pass at proofing this piece), and in all my future endeavors, but I’ll always be “for shamed” when they happen, and I’ll continue to do my best to execute better proofing.
Hope you are enjoying the series. Especially today’s earlier entry, and the one that will arrive over the weekend. These are the center of the Oreo, and they really can empower your storytelling once you commit these principles to instinct.
As a fun footnote…
essencial – Wiktionary
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/essencial
Mar 14, 2020 · “essencial” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana. “essencial” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua. “essencial” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
4 Responses
I find this interesting. I am not my own best proofreader. I’m one of those people who miss at least a couple of things no matter what because if I am passionate about it, what I want to say is fixed in my head and I see it that way on the written page. We all have this problem to some degree–although some people are certainly better at proofreading their own work for typos than others. I think I am a reasonably intelligent person with a pretty fair handle on craft. But if I were to write a blog, unless I had someone else proofread every piece, I guess I would be hanging in the hall of shame myself.
Bottom line, all writers make mistakes. If you see a published author make a few online, take it as proof they are human. I’ve shared emails with several published writers I could list here and all of them have had random typos at some point. If my first reaction was to point them out and cry “For shame!” this would have been both immature and stupid. It would have also ended any chance of potentially remaining friends.
Here’s a great idea. Learn from writers that have actually done something you haven’t. Respect that they are indeed human and have fought the same uphill battles everyone else had to to get there. If you’re busy picking at their mistakes, you’re going to miss a lot. Kind of like you missed the entire definition of common courtesy. In which case, here’s a refresher: don’t be a dick. You’ll live longer and possibly even get smarter because you’ll have some extra time on you hands.
One more and I will hush. I solved my typo issue. I married my editor!
Larry,
I was going to leave this on the #17 but forgot it.
Larry,
Thank you for each of these condensations. And, thank you for struggling with this one. Every word from “Just remember… in genre fiction it isn’t a story until something goes wrong. ” on, is pure gold. Clearly, these posts are your distilled thoughts of how many years now? Ten? Fifteen? Your life time?
Thank you,
Curtis
Larry,
It ain’t but at thang. Life goes on!