Hey Folks,
I’m a very lucky guy.
The first reader for my Nick Spalding series sent me an email last night. (I got it this morning.)
While reading back through Nightfall (Book 1) she noticed I’d misspelled “cannon” as “canon.” In her email, she sounded as if she were hyperventilating. (grin, but great catch, Nan)
So when I emailed her back this morning, basically I just told her typos happen (yes, even in books published by the “Big 5”) and to not worry about it. It was an easy fix.
Then, because the typo occurred in the first few pages of the story, I opened the docs, changed the spelling, and uploaded the new versions to Smashwords, D2D and Amazon. They’re already available again.
And all of that took about two minutes.
A minor lesson on typos, maybe, if you want it —
Had the typo been much later in the story, after the reader was already invested, and had the book been published a few months ago instead of a few days ago, I probably would have let it slide.
Why? Because 1) most readers would have missed it, 2) those who did notice it would have quickly forgiven it, and 3) it wasn’t much of a typo.
I say that because it was a homophone. That alone made it a minor typo.
There are varying degrees of typos. As a reader myself, I would have been much more put off by “teh” for “the” or “it’s” to show possession (“it’s” always means “it is”) or “mine” instead of “mind.” Things like that.
That’s my rule of thumb: If the typo might cause the average reader to close the book and find something else to do, and especially if it occurs early in the story, I fix it.
On the other side of that, it also falls to me to tell a story that’s good enough to pull the reader in deep. If the story is well-told, there’s a greater chance that the reader won’t notice (or will forgive) the typo.
***
To the Hovel at 8:30. Making great headway on the story. Goodness, this thing is flying. Just over 2000 words in the first two sessions, and it’s almost 10. Up to the house for a break.
Back to the Hovel a little after 10 for another session, another thousand words. For a “break” this time I just walked up to the house and back, then dove back in. (grin)
A final session of a thousand words and I’m done for the day. I think I could write one more session, but I’m dragging my feet a little bit. I want to be sure I have something left to write tomorrow.
Not only is this one racing along, but the story’s developing quickly too. I have a feeling it might not make novel length.
I don’t have a clue to the end yet (yay) but I feel like it’s only a few thousand words away, unless the characters throw me a serious curve. That’s all right. The world needs novellas too, especially in series. (grin)
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
See “Character Name Generator” at https://blog.reedsy.com/character-name-generator.
See “D2D Print now in beta!” at https://draft2digital.com/blog/d2d-print-now-in-beta-heres-what-you-need-to-know/.
See “When a Pet Iguana Could Help Police Search…” at https://www.leelofland.com/when-a-pet-iguana-could-help-police-search-without-a-warrant-search-incident-to-arrest/.
Fiction Words: 4118
Nonfiction Words: 530 (Journal)
So total words for the day: 4648
Writing of The Case of the Disappearing Worm (Stern Talbot 9)
Day 1…… 3703 words. Total words to date…… 3703
Day 2…… 2317 words. Total words to date…… 6020
Day 3…… 6283 words. Total words to date…… 12303
Day 4…… 4118 words. Total words to date…… 16421
Total fiction words for the month……… 38545
Total fiction words for the year………… 375271
Total nonfiction words for the month… 17480
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 150576
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 525597
Calendar Year 2018 Novels to Date………………………… 8
Calenday Year 2018 Novellas to Date…………………… 2
Calendar Year 2018 Short Stories to Date……… 11
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)………………………………………… 34
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)……………………………………… 6
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……………………… 193
Short story collections…………………………………………………… 31