No, I'm not going to rant about the weather. Although, winter is NOT my favourite season of the year.
No, what I'm silently chuckling about is edits and corrections. Those who know me know I have a heck of an issue with being corrected in my writing.
I accept I make typos - I can read the line - I sea the cat - and not see the mistake.
I use 2 editing programs to help catch those. And this is where the fun starts.
First I love to confuse them. I put a comma in a sentence - editing program 1 says - take it out. Editing program 2 says - put it in. BUT - when I put it in - editing program 2 then says - take it out.
That so makes my day. I'm weird, I know.
And if I choose to write a phrase a certain way - that's how I want it written. The editing programs are fine, but still not set up for fiction writers - especially ones doing medieval stories. I am driving them crazy. "Why he be doing that?" is perfectly fine in the proper context.
It's this that annoys me - and I know it's a little thing - but it is the little things that catch us.
I think I should know what my character's name is and how he/she spells it.
I've been told this more than once and not only by an editing program. I had an editor fix every misspelled version of a main character's name. Thing was - the misspelling was important for a twist at the end of the book.
So, dear editors and editing programs - please stop assuming we writers don't have a clue about what we are doing. We sorta, kinda do.
(I can just imagine the editing program clenching its processors at that line and a human editor stammering - but...but...)
Here's a happy meme to brighten your day. Because I could have also included auto correct.
Author Group / Newsletter
or if you prefer -
I tend not to use editing programmes. I use my own eyes and ARC readers. I think your editing programme would make me angry too!
ReplyDeleteI try to use my eyes - but sometimes I don't see silly things like - I sea the cat.
DeleteI can't necessarily trust my eyes, especially if I've been immersed in a story for a while. Reading the text aloud to myself helps me catch many errors I'd miss otherwise. Word Tune has been pretty helpful too.
DeleteIf I used some the suggestions that Grammarly gives me, it would sound stupid. It's like GPS directions "Nope, not goin' that way".
ReplyDeleteYes, it isn't really designed for fiction.
DeleteSpeaking of GPS errors, Waze has gotten me badly lost on a few occasions. I live in the sticks in northeastern Colorado. I was hoping for directions from the pharmacy in Windsor to the butcher shop in Fort Collins. I could have done without ever visiting Pierce or Nunn, but that's where Waze put me. Fortunately I was able to figure out how to get to Ault via Highway 85 and knew how to get myself to Fort Collins from there.
DeleteFortunately, Grammarly's sometimes inane suggestions don't put me in remote towns!
Ha! I can relate to this. I have both Grammarly and Pro Writing Aid attached to my browser and I edit my work using Word Tune. Grammarly is very insistent that my character, Gerry Clifford, should be named Terry Clifford. I'm not quite sure what Grammarly's problem with Gerry is.
ReplyDelete