At this point I've had five different people (three since release) send me a list of typos (or grammar errors) that they have found in Perfect Strangers. There has been about 20 percent overlap, but not one of them found them all. Two of the people (at least) involved are pros.
Then this morning I get an email from Amazon with two new typos that none of the prior five found.
Plus I run the files through two different grammar / typo checking programs before they go out as well.
That's why some typos and grammar errors always slip through, even on books published by the best houses in the business. Then on top of that, there are changing grammar rules. The rules on apostrophes have changed, more than once, in the last fifty years. Think about that. I read a lot of old books (or I used to at least) and the grammar rules in some of them are way different than today. It used to be that if you pluralized a slang or abbreviation, you used the apostrophe, now you don't. And they're now talking about taking it away from certain possessives.
Part of the problem with it, is that it was invented by a typesetter a couple hundred years ago, all on his own. Yes, the apostrophe is the bane of my writing. Because some of the rules I was taught about how to use it, just don't apply anymore. And I think my pinky just loves to stick them in there when I'm not looking. '''''
Dammit!
And then there are the official grammar style books, the three biggest of which don't even agree with each other (much less use the very rules that they espouse).
Burn it with Fire!
ReplyDeleteI understand how that can happen. If it helps your books have fewer than many other books I have read.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I do try hard to find as many as possible, and I'm lucky to have several good people who help me out, as well as a couple of readers who are quick to send me anything that they find so I can update when necessary.
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