I just finished a mystery by a favorite writer, and once again I laid it aside at the end with a sigh. And it wasn't a happy sigh, either.
You're all heard my rants on this before: Punctuation errors, POV switches that are baffling to track, people changing names, story threads simply abandoned--what is going on?
In this case, the most startling error was a reference early on to a conversation that I couldn't find, even upon backtracking. Ah, but I found it several chapters later.
As soon as I saw the conversation appear later on, I knew what had happened. She had changed her mind about where something should be (and rightly so--it did belong later in the book) but she hadn't caught all the little threads associated with it when she moved it.
I immediately wanted to send all of my editors HUGE baskets of flowers. They catch my strays. I can't imagine something like this would have slipped past them, and I'm increasingly grateful for their help!
Yes, I imagine them out there with my manuscript, a mop, a roll of paper towels, and some 409, doing their own version of clean-up on aisle 4. Thank you!!!
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2 comments:
I know exactly what you mean, hon! After I finish grading papers, it can be hard to turn off the 'internal editor' in my head, and poorly edited books make it impossible for me to just relax and enjoy the story. :S
Miss you! ((hugs))
Kacie, the only way to fix this is for you TO WRITE YOUR OWN BOOKS!!!
So, having said that, you coming to DC this summer???
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