I was amused by the flurry of true confessions by my fellow Type M'ers. Donis Casey's contribution really struck home. She mentioned grammatical errors that were a source of deep embarrassment because she was an English teacher and dithering over lay, lie, laid, and lain. For some reason, I can't send a letter ending with "yours truly" without checking on line to see if truly needs an "e."
For the life of me I can't understand how proofing errors can slip by when I've read a manuscript a jillion times. My most frequent manuscript error is leaving out words. I could swear little articles (a, an, the, etc.) are there. Until someone points out they are not.
My most embarrassing error of that nature was a FB post lauding one of my dearest friends and explaining why I was unable to attend her birthday party. As luck would have it, FB turned on me that day and the post didn't go through. I hastily rewrote the darn thing and wouldn't you know, it flew right through this time. As "my dead friend" not "my dear friend." I had a lot of explaining to do. Especially to those who were alarmed by her demise so close to the party.
For some reason historical errors really bother me even though in a novel I'm supposed to be able to invent stuff. I make a heroic effort to keep everything in historical novels and mysteries accurate. But with my first mystery, Deadly Descent, I mentioned that people had stolen Matt Dillon's papers from the Dodge City court house. It's true that some of Wyatt Earp's documents went missing. But a former chairman of the Department of History at Fort Hays State University emailed to ask that I surely knew Matt Dillon was a fictional character?
Actually, I didn't. I was mortified! Gunsmoke was one of my favorite series. Naturally that meant Miss Kitty was also fictitious. I was grief-stricken.
Another error was in Hidden Heritage. I thought Laura Ingalls Wilder's father was John J. Ingalls and he wasn't. It didn't take long for fans to correct me.
I got my first taste of the perils of historical reference when I wrote my first historical novel, Come Spring. I mentioned the legal description of a land location. Made it up, of course. A man wrote to tell me that was his property and he didn't appreciate my using it. Who would have thought?
Historical and grammatical errors don't weigh on my soul forever. I'm over them, painful though they were at the time. But how about it, my darling Type M'ers? What was your most embarrassing moment as a writer?
I have to go down the list a ways. I'm willing to share my fourth most embarrassing moment.
6 comments:
Oh try not to fret too much over Matt. Apparently the number of people who think Sherlock Holmes was real are legion. (And for my money, he's a lot more real than, um, some politicians.)
I've made my share of such mistakes and that is my biggest worry in writing. I'd mention a few but I can't bear to bring them to light again.
Not on the scale of the very well-known author of popular historical works who had World War I ending in August.
Well, Anna, Susan and Irene: I did it again today. Yes this very day!! I turned in a synopsis of my next mystery to my editor and in the last line I proudly mentioned that my heroine had found an anecdote for a deadly bacterium. Not an antidote. Ah yes, the next time you have an ailment try telling the infection a cute story. See where that gets you.
Okay, true confession....I had a book taking place in 1912, where the protagonists enter an elevator with an electric light. That's fine. But for some reason, I called it an eclectic light. And neither I nor the editors caught it. I noticed it long after publication.
I know of an author who shall remain nameless whose book says his protagonist was kicked between the legs and fell to the ground "in the coital position" -- I kid you not. Oh, the shame, the ignominy!! I feel so sorry for the author (who is a friend). It was a massive failure of the whole publishing machine, but you gotta admit, that's one funny typo!
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