I read e-books. I love the instant gratification of downloading a new mystery or thriller. I love that authors can write their works and self-publish without having to pay more than a simple royalty percentage to companies like Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Apple. This is a great opportunity to make your literary voice heard.
Sadly, not every author has edited his or her work thoroughly.
I know it's daunting. Other authors make these mistakes. I make these mistakes. One noted author wound up using 'Calvary' instead of 'cavalry' to refer to a group of mounted soldiers. If you're curious, Calvary is also known as Golgotha. Followers of the Christian faith know it as the site of the Crucifixion. That's why almost every city has at least one church with Calvary in the name.
What is the difference between you and an author signed up with a big-name publishing house? He or she has a professional editor to find these errors.
My fellow authors, you need to pay special attention to the following:
1) Incorrectly Spelled Words - Out of every ten to twenty works that I start to read, I will stop mid-book. Why? The author can't spell common words, phrases or - worst of all - names. If it is an original character, we can assume that is just how the author chose to spell the name. There is a lot of variation, after all. (Elayne, Elaine, Elane, etc.)
However, let's say you're referring to a real person or even the brain-child of another author. Look it up. It takes all of twenty seconds to have the correct name. This is the age of the Internet. You can quickly discover that it's spelled "Shakespeare" as opposed to "Sakspear." The same goes for titles and more generic names. It is not "lutanant." It is "lieutenant."
Once or twice is understandable. We're only human. If it happens multiple times in a paragraph, that's when I find something else to do.
2) Capitalization - Proper nouns that refer to specific people, places and things should be capitalized. "West End Park" is not the same as "the park." One is a specific park and the other is any park. "Harry Potter" is not the same as "Harry potter." The first is the lead character in a popular children's book series. The other is a potter by the name of Harry or, possibly, a hairy potter. By the way, were you aiming for the last option? In that case, dear author, you need to review your homophones, too.
3) Grammar - I'm not a big stickler for comma use, split infinitives, or dangling participles. I'm sure you've noticed that in my own writings. Still, if you're listing items in a sentence, use your commas. There is no shortage. Nor is there a shortage of periods, semi-colons, hyphens, or any other punctuation mark. The factory will keep churning them out for as long as you care to use them. They're wonderful tools for making your sentences readable.
4) Homophones - These words are painful. Commonly-cited examples include "their" (possessive), "they're" (they are), and "there" (not here). How about "eye" (you see with), "I" (me), and "aye" (a mariner's yes)? Or "colonel" (rank) and "kernel" (a piece of corn or the main component of an operating system)? It really doesn't take long to clear up any lingering doubts using a dictionary, and there are plenty of free dictionaries on the Internet.
5) Word and Phrase Choice - Here we can find a combination of personal over-use and abuse as a culture.
Have you used "however" twice in your last twelve sentences? Is "and" the most common way you start one? That repetition is like having a conversation with someone that uses "um," "like," or "yeah" every five to six words. The perceived age group of your target audience drops by a decade.
Our culture abuses certain phrases to the point where it's a surprise to hear a conversation without at least one of them in it. Almost everyone has used it in a sentence, but how can something be "as dead as a doornail?" The nail is made of metal. It was never alive to begin with. Some pancakes are flatter than others. Mice can make more noise than the military base down the street. Try to come up with more original - and accurate - comparisons.
6) Blindly Following Spell-Check - Using Google's spell check for this post, I might have made a dozen different mistakes. Amusingly, Google's own spell check would have me change the possessive form of the name to "Googly's." Ten seconds on Google, and I learn that "googly" is a cricket term and "Googly's" is a restaurant. So, while it can help you find words that need to be corrected, spell check is not your English teacher and should never be treated as one.
Finally, I offer the following example paragraph as a bit of comedy. (I wrote it myself so that no one would feel singled out.) My thoughts are in red.
Sadly, not every author has edited his or her work thoroughly.
I know it's daunting. Other authors make these mistakes. I make these mistakes. One noted author wound up using 'Calvary' instead of 'cavalry' to refer to a group of mounted soldiers. If you're curious, Calvary is also known as Golgotha. Followers of the Christian faith know it as the site of the Crucifixion. That's why almost every city has at least one church with Calvary in the name.
What is the difference between you and an author signed up with a big-name publishing house? He or she has a professional editor to find these errors.
My fellow authors, you need to pay special attention to the following:
1) Incorrectly Spelled Words - Out of every ten to twenty works that I start to read, I will stop mid-book. Why? The author can't spell common words, phrases or - worst of all - names. If it is an original character, we can assume that is just how the author chose to spell the name. There is a lot of variation, after all. (Elayne, Elaine, Elane, etc.)
However, let's say you're referring to a real person or even the brain-child of another author. Look it up. It takes all of twenty seconds to have the correct name. This is the age of the Internet. You can quickly discover that it's spelled "Shakespeare" as opposed to "Sakspear." The same goes for titles and more generic names. It is not "lutanant." It is "lieutenant."
Once or twice is understandable. We're only human. If it happens multiple times in a paragraph, that's when I find something else to do.
2) Capitalization - Proper nouns that refer to specific people, places and things should be capitalized. "West End Park" is not the same as "the park." One is a specific park and the other is any park. "Harry Potter" is not the same as "Harry potter." The first is the lead character in a popular children's book series. The other is a potter by the name of Harry or, possibly, a hairy potter. By the way, were you aiming for the last option? In that case, dear author, you need to review your homophones, too.
3) Grammar - I'm not a big stickler for comma use, split infinitives, or dangling participles. I'm sure you've noticed that in my own writings. Still, if you're listing items in a sentence, use your commas. There is no shortage. Nor is there a shortage of periods, semi-colons, hyphens, or any other punctuation mark. The factory will keep churning them out for as long as you care to use them. They're wonderful tools for making your sentences readable.
4) Homophones - These words are painful. Commonly-cited examples include "their" (possessive), "they're" (they are), and "there" (not here). How about "eye" (you see with), "I" (me), and "aye" (a mariner's yes)? Or "colonel" (rank) and "kernel" (a piece of corn or the main component of an operating system)? It really doesn't take long to clear up any lingering doubts using a dictionary, and there are plenty of free dictionaries on the Internet.
5) Word and Phrase Choice - Here we can find a combination of personal over-use and abuse as a culture.
Have you used "however" twice in your last twelve sentences? Is "and" the most common way you start one? That repetition is like having a conversation with someone that uses "um," "like," or "yeah" every five to six words. The perceived age group of your target audience drops by a decade.
Our culture abuses certain phrases to the point where it's a surprise to hear a conversation without at least one of them in it. Almost everyone has used it in a sentence, but how can something be "as dead as a doornail?" The nail is made of metal. It was never alive to begin with. Some pancakes are flatter than others. Mice can make more noise than the military base down the street. Try to come up with more original - and accurate - comparisons.
6) Blindly Following Spell-Check - Using Google's spell check for this post, I might have made a dozen different mistakes. Amusingly, Google's own spell check would have me change the possessive form of the name to "Googly's." Ten seconds on Google, and I learn that "googly" is a cricket term and "Googly's" is a restaurant. So, while it can help you find words that need to be corrected, spell check is not your English teacher and should never be treated as one.
Finally, I offer the following example paragraph as a bit of comedy. (I wrote it myself so that no one would feel singled out.) My thoughts are in red.
She licked tea. (Ew.) She liked tea like a duck to water. (She swam in it?) She didn't care what. (What 'what' are you referring to?) She just wanted to drink it. (Good sentence, repeated concept for emphasis?) And so she drinked a lot of it. (Shouldn't that be 'drank?') She drunked so much tee she taught she would flout away. (That's it. I've got laundry to do....)
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