Oops, Sorry about That

I think every writer faces the occasional OOPS moment. In the ideal situation, the mistake is found and corrected before the book is sent off to print, but that’s not always possible. Once the book hits the store shelf, it’s usually a reader who finds the error and lets the writer, or maybe the whole world, know all about it.

I’ve found that most of my oops moments happen when I change my mind about some minor character detail after I’ve already completed the first draft. I then have to go back and correct all references, and that’s where things can get dicey. In Going Organic Can Kill You, my characters originally used flip phones. After my husband went to the store to get himself a new cell phone and discovered that flip phones aren’t nearly as prevalent as years past, I decided to change the sister’s phone in the book to an iPhone. She’s a hip girl. She buys the latest gadgets. That should have been an easy change, but apparently I left more than one reference in the book where Ashlee “flips her phone shut.” Oops. I completely missed that, even though I did a final read-through before the book went to print. So far, only one reader has commented on the error, but I have to wonder how many others noticed.

For my latest book, I’m already worried about another last minute update. After I finished the manuscript and my agent reviewed it, I decided that a couple of my characters were too similar, so I changed one from a female to a male. I searched for every occurrence of the old name and changed all the shes to hes and hers to his, thinking I’d caught them all. Then I read the entire manuscript again and was horrified to find at least half a dozen references to the wrong gender. On the plus side, my editor and the copy editor will both be reading the manuscript soon, plus I’ll get another chance myself, but I still worry that we’ll all overlook an incorrect reference. I can already
picture a day in the future when a reader casually asks, “Say now, when did Marvin get that sex-change operation?”

Hopefully, readers understand that we’re all human and mistakes are a part of life. And if they don’t understand, well, there’s not a lot I can do about that, except say, “Oops, sorry about that.”

Comments

[Susan Shea]

Agree that reading like a hawk is vital before you get to galley stage. What's scary these days is how inadequate some publishers' proofreaders are. I proofed my whole first book after I discovered many "oops" the publishers' proofreader didn't catch... and a few she apparently created! Arduous, but "oops" after printing didn't feel like a good option.

[Staci]

Eek -- it's not good when the proofreader needs to be proofread! I agree that it's worth the trouble of reading the book again if it catches even just one mistake.

[Terry Shames]

Staci, I laughed at your post. It's a nightmare finding those tiny changes. One technique I just tried for the "very last pass" through the book was to read it backwards. Read the last page, then the next to the last, etc. I hoped I would find at least a few errors so I wouldn't think it was a waste of time. Jeez! I found an error on ever other page--little things like you are talking about.

[Staci]

I'd never thought to read the book backwards, but it sounds like it definitely works!

[Carole Price]

Great article, Staci. Funny, too. One reader said she gave me 4 stars in stead of 5 because of a word choice/typo and that the editor should "read" it, not just "scan" it. I read the hardcover looking for errors and found none. Go figure!

[Staci]

Carole, it always amazes me how those sneaky little typos manage to slip by multiple readings of a manuscript. Sometimes, I'd swear someone breaks into my computer and puts them back in when I'm not looking!

[Michael A. Black]

Right on, Staci. I think the fear of finding a missed typo is the major reason why writers never want to read their own work. And as for those people who find the typos the proof reader missed and seem to take delight in telling everyone, the author included, if you know of any I've got my Taser.

[Priscilla]

I think the sex change is hardest, although I thought a name change was easy...until I realized I hadn't changed it on the "flap squib". The printer actually caught that.