sheesh

[telophase]

One thing writing and art have in common is that it takes uploading or sending it elsewhere to notice the GLARING MISTAKES that were completely invisible prior to that.

I have been trying not to reread (and therefore rewrite) Deadfall (formerly The Thing) before I get notes back, although I did check out the first few pages and noted:

1) a typo in the VERY FIRST LINE
2) the same word used over and over and over within two paragraphs
3) a linking sentence accidentally edited out so Character B has an action that is immediately interrupted by a paragraph of description that bears no relation to the action. Sigh.

I can only hope I didn't do that throughout the entire damn thing. Ah well.

Comments

[yhlee]

You've seen my raw roughs. I reuse words over and over ALL THE TIME. Including in some published stuff where it also escaped the editor. *sob*

XD

[telophase]

XD

I got annoyed with trying to figure out ways to say something like THE AIR WAS STILL over and over that were both in character for each and didn't look like I ate a thesaurus. At least C could say THE ATMOSPHERE WAS CLOSE and B would say NO WIND.

[yhlee]

I feel you.

You also write it much closer third than I typically do; I tend to write description from a narrative distance from the POV, so I don't worry as much about being true to the character's word choices as long as the narrator's voice is consistent. (There's nothing wrong with either method; they're just different narrative choices.)

[telophase]

:) I'm not sure why I picked that option, maybe because it's an interesting exercise in working out what the character would notice and what they wouldn't. (Although I feel like I ought to go back and redo some bits...BUT NOT UNTIL AFTER NOTES. NO REREADING.)

[yhlee]

Well, my traditional response to waiting on notes is to...start the next project. ;) But you may well want a break!

[telophase]

I sat down at the computer determined to get some design work done, then failed my will save and reread it. I suppose it's a good sign that I like my characters and want to know what happens next. XD

[indywind]

"The air was still."
And a couple paragraphs later it was still still.

Heck, at least you don't have to talk about the complete lack of movement around the moonshiners' apparatus.

[telophase]

XD They spend multiple days at the site, and I don't say it more than once a day, I believe. Although after a while I started seeing it as a noun, rather than an adjective...

[larryhammer]

Deep breaths. Remember: This is a first draft. That means it's a rough draft. That means it's ROUGH.

It's not supposed to have no mistakes. You're trying to get the story down. Fix the story first, THEN worry about spackling over the holes you knocked in the plaster, the moulding on one wall that doesn't match the other walls, and all the paint splatters on the floor. Let alone that the floor needs a belt-sander.

Your betas don't care (or shouldn't) about the little stuff at this point.

[telophase]

Yeah, I know. There's just that little part of me going NOOOO YOU SUCK that I am attempting to stuff in a bin.

[larryhammer]

Stuff it in! (But don't lock the bin. You'll need that annoying little nitpicker later.)

[used_songs]

I always do that repeated word thing.

[jenett]

I now use ProWritingAid so I can tell it to tell me when I say "Made a noise", "Made a face" or "Murmured" so I can stop doing that. (It's actually been very effective, and I mostly don't do them much now!)

[telophase]

I had to go back and make characters fetch or pull things out because they constantly fished things from pockets, coats, and bags.

[telophase]

I feel like one of my characters is constantly nodding, like a bobblehead. But I'll have to see if he really is, or if it's just my memory exaggerating.

[jenett]

I read it this afternoon, and enjoyed it greatly! Enough that I got about 2 pages in, went "I'm not even going to try and make brief notes on comment, I am going to read and see where this goes, and then come back and do notes later."

(Which will not be tonight, but should be sometime tomorrow.)

[telophase]

Yay! XD

[selenite0]

I've gone through a file for typos, sent it to the alpha reader, and immediately found typos. They breed when you're not looking.

[telophase]

I lost my saving throw and re-read it. I also accidentally a word in several places. XD

[thawrecka]

Isn't that always the way? I just looked over a recent draft and realised I'd started three separate sentences with 'clearly' in the same paragraph.

[telophase]

XD

[viridian5]

With enough distance from when I wrote it, I sometimes read my old fic online. (Hey, it's an author who shares similar views of characters as I do and uses tropes I mostly enjoy.) Some of these have had two editors, I've reread it more than once since then, it's been online and read by any people, and seven or ten years later I notice a typo.

[telophase]

XD