Only a couple more viewpoint sections to go. I should finish the submission draft for A MAGIC OF NIGHTFALL either today or at the latest tomorrow, then it's off to a couple first readers (actually, Denise is already reading it) and to Sheila, and I'll await comments for editorial revision. This novel has come in at a little more than 173,000 words, which makes it slightly longer than A MAGIC OF TWILIGHT...

What I find upsetting is that Denise, in going through the revisions, has already found some 'technical' errors, most of them arising from editing and changes, where I've either obviously left out a word or where I've left in a word or two from the 'old' version that should have been deleted. I swear I'd been carefully reading what I'd edited, but evidently my mind will see what it thinks is there rather than what is actually there. Obviously I've read this manuscript Too Many Times...

From: [identity profile] minnehaha.livejournal.com

Technical Errors


That kind of stuff really pisses me off, too. Errors should always decrease; they should never increase.

B

From: [identity profile] sethb.livejournal.com

Re: Technical Errors


100 little bugs in the code,
100 bugs in the code.
Fix one bug, compile it again,
101 little bugs in the code.

From: [identity profile] sethb.livejournal.com

Re: Technical Errors


My advisor taught me how to proofread: using a ruler to block the stuff I'm not looking at yet, read it one line at a time, bottom up.

From: [identity profile] tshaile.livejournal.com


I don't think you should feel upset by the finding of technical errors (though I do understand it, I'm pretty sure I'd feel the same way). That's why you have readers. It's very hard to catch everything in your own writing. You bring a familiarity to what you're reading that leaves you at a significant disadvantage.

From: [identity profile] ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com

Thoughts


Yeah, few things are as frustrating as Tired Eyeballs.

One reason I resist certain types of changes, like character names or historic events, is ... they don't change. What it is, is what it is. Once I change something in the manuscript from the story version to the fake version, it has to be re-corrected forever after in anything that ever touches the same territory, because the original version is what comes out. Fortunately I have more wiggle room in other areas -- room to find different variations or interpretations of what happened or why, room to add or subtract details from the pool of known or potential material. That usually suffices. But if something has to be faked, someone else has to proof that, because my eyes won't catch it.
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