Into the Fire

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Those pesky typos . . .

 

                        
Typos

Do typos in blog posts matter to you? In books? Ever? I know it bothers writers when typos appear in the articles, posts, and books they read. Just one once in a while wouldn't bother most of us. But for many of us picky writers and readers, those typos make us stop reading if even for a flash in time. And if they appear in a published author's post? Well . . .

Typos can be simple oversights. Quick typing mistakes. And they're not always easy to spot as we reread our posts because we know what we wanted to say and type and automatically insert those things with our eyes. But they do speak to our carelessness. I hate it when I spot one after I've posted. I get back to it as fast as I can to make it correct. I can't afford to be sloppy – meaning I'm a nobody and will remain one if my posts speak of shoddy preparation and delivery. Not that I expect to be Somebody, but I suspect you know what I mean.  

So. What do you think when published authors render mistakes and typos in posts or articles? Do you think they probably didn't have time to go over their material, and it's all "good"? Or . . . what? Does it tempt you to think they're unprofessional? Or is that too extreme? 

 

Father, we're error prone in most cases. We depend on you for everything. Sometimes we forget that. Help us to always remember: Apart from you we can do nothing. Period. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

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4 responses to “Those pesky typos . . .”

  1. BK Jackson Avatar
    BK Jackson

    I used to be rabid about that–in both my own and the work of other people. Certainly too many errors speaks of sloppiness, but a negligible amount doesn’t bother me.
    I have noticed that as I’ve gotten older and my eyes have worsened, that I’m not as good at catching my errors as I used to be. Or perhaps that was just the arrogance of youth and I assumed I always caught all my errors when I was younger. But I notice the problem a lot more now and often have to go back and make corrections.
    Typos in blog posts and articles don’t bother me much, but it drives me nuttier if there are lots of errors in books.

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  2. Nicole Avatar
    Nicole

    I think there have been more in books and newspapers, in all professional media in the last 20 years. I see them even in “professional” letters and posts. I don’t mind one or two in the novels I read, but I find more than that unprofessional. One of the excuses I’ve heard is the downsizing of proofreaders, etc., but is that really an excuse for putting out books with mistakes in them? I understand it far more in digital books because it’s new formatting, etc., but I do think it’s unprofessional to be satisfied either and all ways with mistakes. I hate it when I put something out there with errors in it.

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  3. Robert Liparulo Avatar
    Robert Liparulo

    Typos used to drive me crazy—in my own books, of course, but also in the books of others, because they go through so many proofreaders; and in blogs because they can so easily be corrected. I’m more tolerant now, since I’ve caught typos in EVERY book, from the likes of Michael Crichton and James Patterson to self-pubbed authors.
    The unfortunate thing is that they do tend to jar readers out of the story, even if for only a nanosecond. We writers try so hard to craft our sentences and storylines in such a way to avoid knocking readers out of the story, only to have a typo trump these efforts.
    As for my own work, I tend to get so lost in my stories that typos are inevitable. I’m writing as fast as I can, trying to keep up with the story playing out in my head, I’m surprised there aren’t more typos than there are. Then, when I re-read my text, there’s a forest-for-the-trees thing going on, so I fail to spot all of them. I depend on proofreaders (and editors tell their authors to be more concerned about the story and structure and characterizations than spelling or grammar because proofreaders will catch the small stuff); unfortunately, they don’t catch everything. We console ourself by believing the proofreaders got so caught up in the story that they missed a few typos (and proofreaders have told me this happens).
    The best way to catch typos is to read text backward, which forces us to look at every word (the mind tends to read forward as well, making sure the words strung together also make sense). But who has the patience or discipline to do that, especially with a 130,000-word book?
    The areas in which I’m most prone to commit typos are in Facebook posts and responding to fan mail. To post on Facebook or reply to fan mail at all, I have to be fast. I’m just too busy to take my time (as horrible as that sounds), so typos are the price I (and the people who read them) pay for my trying to stay in touch personally. At this point, it’s either that, or not doing it at all. (Not to say I don’t try to type accurately, but typos happen.)
    I always enjoy your posts, Nicole, and don’t remember ever seeing typos here. And, of course you ARE somebody…somebody very special. Never think otherwise.

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  4. Nicole Avatar
    Nicole

    Thanks, Robert. As you are, my friend.
    Since I self-published, I was very conscious of errors – had to be. The final text belonged to me. Not to a proofreader. I had to submit all corrections. I remember skipping over them with my first novel and counting nine errors in the final rendition of 700+ pages. I think I caught them all in The Famous One, and I think there were two errors which I thought I could get away with in Breath of Life – not real noticeable. And I’d caught so many, frankly I was tired of correcting them. So I left the two.
    Time and space lets us find them. And you rarely have either, my friend.

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