That moment when...

[ronde]

Just had a new story released and the second comment called me out on a pretty major character's name changing from Susan to Sarah about two-thirds of the way through the story. Now, I've been working on this story for a while and have read it and re-read it dozens of times. So, why did I not see this? Sure, I need an outside editor but I hate to impose...

Question for you is, I'm pretty sure we've all had it happen. What's your most egregious miss.

The worst for me was changing a name in the story but leaving the original name in the title. I got several comments like, "Who the hell is Martin?" It happened like it usually does for me. I started with one name and in the middle of writing, I changed it. I did go back and change the name in all the story, just not in the title.

Don't feel bad about your mistake. I've done it more than once. You didn't find it because of the way our brains work. Your brain remembers what you wrote, and when you proof-read, if it sees an error, it just mentally corrects it to what it remembered.

The only cure is some significant time between the reading and the writing, enough time for your brain to forget what you wrote. For me that's at least a week and two weeks is better.

There is a way to find all the name changes in a story. Use the spell checker in your word processor. Type in the correct name and then let the spellchecker find all the occurrences of that name. If you're sure you used the name in a linethe spellchecker didn't find, find that line and check the name. Also, if you do spot a name change, use the spellchecker to search for the incorrect name and change them as you go.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

The worst for me was changing a name in the story but leaving the original name in the title. I got several comments like, "Who the hell is Martin?" It happened like it usually does for me. I started with one name and in the middle of writing, I changed it. I did go back and change the name in all the story, just not in the title.

Don't feel bad about your mistake. I've done it more than once. You didn't find it because of the way our brains work. Your brain remembers what you wrote, and when you proof-read, if it sees an error, it just mentally corrects it to what it remembered.

The only cure is some significant time between the reading and the writing, enough time for your brain to forget what you wrote. For me that's at least a week and two weeks is better.

There is a way to find all the name changes in a story. Use the spell checker in your word processor. Type in the correct name and then let the spellchecker find all the occurrences of that name. If you're sure you used the name in a linethe spellchecker didn't find, find that line and check the name. Also, if you do spot a name change, use the spellchecker to search for the incorrect name and change them as you go.

Good advice. The way I work, I get a story written and put it in a pending folder. Then I go back and review the stories in that folder tweaking them until I can read them a few times without making any edits. That's when I know they're ready for release. Of course, sometimes, as with this one, I still miss stuff that the gremlins only let me see after it gets published.

 

[rthnck]

One of my first stories got a comment along the lines of "good story except for the spelling mistakes". The story had been through the spell checker a couple of times as well as several deep dive reads before I published it. I incredulously pulled it up and sure enough...SMH. Now if I look at that story, the errors glare back at me flashing accusingly before my eyes. Sigh!

 

[lovecraft68]

On a story I've since pulled, it was pointed out that in the opening chapter both husbands had the same first name. Throughout the rest of the story the one I accidentally referred to as the same name had his actual name, but seeing it was in the story's opening scene it really sucked.

 

[Cagivagurl]

Just had a new story released and the second comment called me out on a pretty major character's name changing from Susan to Sarah about two-thirds of the way through the story. Now, I've been working on this story for a while and have read it and re-read it dozens of times. So, why did I not see this? Sure, I need an outside editor but I hate to impose...

Question for you is, I'm pretty sure we've all had it happen. What's your most egregious miss.

The best thing that ever happened to me regarding my writing was....
Getting an editor.
It changed my world. I'm lucky. I was lucky enough to get the best editor on lit.
She's amazing and so helpful.
it's not just the typos and silly mistakes. It's plot holes and time lines.
Another set of eyes is the absolutely game changing thing you can do...
Even asking friends to proof read would be a help.
Sometimes when writing, you will fall into a hole, or come up against a wall you cannot get past.
I run it past my editor, and she will come up with suggestions and ideas I hadn't even thought of... I shouldn't call her my editor, I didn't employ her, and she edits for literally hundreds of writers within lit. She's not mine persay, she belongs to the universe... An actual gift...
Honestly.... Get an editor

Cagivagurl

 

[AlexBailey]

My ex wife misspelled our son’s name on his birth certificate application then got defensive when I said, “hey wait.”

He’s lived with it.

 

[Djmac1031]

I have a chapter in my series The Jenna Arrangement where a character named Tiffany sits down at the kitchen table to hold a conversation with the MMC Tom.

Halfway through her name changes to Trish, another character from the story. Then back to Tiffany when she gets up to leave.

It happens. Not much we can do for it except own it. Or submit a re-edit.

 

[ronde]

One of my first stories got a comment along the lines of "good story except for the spelling mistakes". The story had been through the spell checker a couple of times as well as several deep dive reads before I published it. I incredulously pulled it up and sure enough...SMH. Now if I look at that story, the errors glare back at me flashing accusingly before my eyes. Sigh!

I don't know which spell checker you use or how you use it, but you always need to spellcheck the spellchecker, and never, never, ever set the spellchecker to autocorrect. My copy of Word is ancient, so maybe they've improved over time, but here's an example of what mine would do if I allowed it to.

If I write -

The callgirl rubbed her titties when my pud shot cum on her clitty.

Word gives me this -

The Calgary rubbed her tithes when my pub shot cum on her clothe.

One other huge mistake with spellcheckers is to add your erotic words to the spellchecker dictionary unless you use that word processor for erotica and only for erotica. If you do, you could possibly make some spelling errors out of habit, and the spellchecker won't flag them. You could end up finding some embarrassing spelling in personal correspondence. Trust me. I know.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

I don't know which spell checker you use or how you use it, but you always need to spellcheck the spellchecker, and never, never, ever set the spellchecker to autocorrect. My copy of Word is ancient, so maybe they've improved over time, but here's an example of what mine would do if I allowed it to.

If I write -

The callgirl rubbed her titties when my pud shot cum on her clitty.

Word gives me this -

The Calgary rubbed her tithes when my pub shot cum on her clothe.

One other huge mistake with spellcheckers is to add your erotic words to the spellchecker dictionary unless you use that word processor for erotica and only for erotica. If you do, you could possibly make some spelling errors out of habit, and the spellchecker won't flag them. You could end up finding some embarrassing spelling in personal correspondence. Trust me. I know.

If it weren’t for the AI restrictions, that could be a fun exercise, letting the spell check replace everything it flagged. I’d bet the results would be very funny.

 

[StillStunned]

If it weren’t for the AI restrictions, that could be a fun exercise, letting the spell check replace everything it flagged. I’d bet the results would be very funny.

Mine sometimes randomly wants to replace "cock" with "clock". About once per twenty or so times, it seems to think that I meant to write, "She opened her mouth and engulfed my clock."

 

[Djmac1031]

Mine sometimes randomly wants to replace "cock" with "clock". About once per twenty or so times, it seems to think that I meant to write, "She opened her mouth and engulfed my clock."

Big hand in the pink. Little hand in the stink.

 

[WritingwhatIlike]

My most recent story got posted (yay!) and the teaser line should say “mom is not sure what she wants”

Actually? It says “Momo is not sure what she wants”

No one has called me out on it and I’m leaving it because it makes me laugh.

 

[Voboy]

Just had a new story released and the second comment called me out on a pretty major character's name changing from Susan to Sarah about two-thirds of the way through the story. Now, I've been working on this story for a while and have read it and re-read it dozens of times. So, why did I not see this? Sure, I need an outside editor but I hate to impose...

Question for you is, I'm pretty sure we've all had it happen. What's your most egregious miss.

I once uploaded two stories at once.

I downloaded both Word files onto my desktop. I went to the submissions portal. I typed out the title, description, and keywords for the first story. I slid that file over onto the page, dropped it in, and scrolled down to finish the submission.

Then I repeated the process for the second story. Only, in my haste to be done (dinner was ready), I uploaded the same story again, with the different title, description, and keywords.

I found out a couple hours later when one story had no comments and the other had, like, ten.

 

[AllAmericanMale]

That moment when your interest is piqued. You wander into a thread for the pictures and poetry and end up expanding your horizons because of a hyperlink.

 

[StillStunned]

The tagline for Flesh for Another Fantasy was first "She ties me up and puts on a show." Then I decided to highlight one of the elements of the story, and changed it to "She blindfolds me and puts on a show."

Or so I thought. I actually forgot to delete the "up", so now it reads "She blindfolds me up and puts on a show." I'm not sure any of my readers have noticed, but I can't stop seeing it.

 

[M_K_Babalon]

Note to self; search and replace all the Hannah to Hanna.

 

[PapaRomantic]

I have dropped in a new name for a main character before - in fact, I was called out for this again today in one of my stories by someone who commented on it.

But the one I hate the most is the man who has two daughters. His oldest is 26. His youngest is 26. They are not twins, the second one is supposed to be two years younger.

Oh well, not worth resubmitting it.

 

[Duleigh]

Question for you is, I'm pretty sure we've all had it happen. What's your most egregious miss.

In my most recent story Friend Zoned, two lonely GIs stationed in Korea, come back from the Valentines party and bed down to make passionate love for the very first time. Their passion MUST have caused a magical tear in the fabric of the time/space continuum because King Verence III of Lancre, born Pommeraie de la Montesquieu Worblehat-Stein but known to everyone as Nick, somehow travelled across the multiverse from the Discworld which rides atop four immense elephants which stand on a giant space turtle, and ended up on Kunsan Air Base in the Republic of Korea. Poor Nick found himself in bed with USAF Technical Sergeant Roxanne Dawson. (And she was probably the first black girl he ever saw.)

Nick's Enchantress wife Octavia is the most powerful source of magic in the Multiverse (she's a sourceress) and she's quite jealous. So is his other wife Chung Hau Ning, mother of the Emperor of the Agatean Empire. After that long journey across the multiverse Nick wisely chose not to say anything. He probably saved a lot of lives because Octavia is not found of Roundworlds (She studied at Hogwarts and really didn't like it) and she could have flattened this world. Roxie was really cool about it, she simply said "Let's start with the beginning," and suddenly her lover Wedge Donovan was back and Nick was back on the discworld, sipping brandy with the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork.

That's the problem with magical characters, you have to keep your eye on them constantly EVEN THOUGH THEIR OCTALOGY IS COMPLETE! (Do you hear me Octavia?) I think she got pissed at Nick for some reason and sent him to Korea to get even with him.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

The moment that just happened to me. Not exactly a mistake, but I have about 12 stories either done or in some level of draft.

All of them take place in something like our world.

No character wears glasses or has a vision issue.

I am unable to function without my glasses.

Oops.

Thinking about it: one character has glasses in my outline. But in the actual draft, when he's described, he doesn't. Apparently my brain edits glasses right off people's faces. The worst part is, the glasses are a plot device in a later outline.

-Annie

 

[DarkWhispers2U]

I had one story where the main male protagonist was Gray. I somehow switched it to Gary like three or so times during the story. Also, had another story with a secondary character named Gary. Yep, switch his name to Gray a few too many times. I did catch these errors eventually, usually in my read-it-out-loud phase.

One time I was improvising a fantasy story for a friend over chat while we were <i>working</i>. Typing frantically away a few sentences at a time, I managed to sabotage a romantic scene where the shapeshifter sneaked into his fiancee's chambers the morning of their wedding by typing 'shiting on the bed' instead of 'shifting on the bed."

 

[ElectricBlue]

One time I was improvising a fantasy story for a friend over chat while we were <i>working</i>. Typing frantically away a few sentences at a time, I managed to sabotage a romantic scene where the shapeshifter sneaked into his fiancee's chambers the morning of their wedding by typing 'shiting on the bed' instead of 'shifting on the bed."

Story set in Scotland, was it?

 

[TheWritingGroup]

The moment that just happened to me: Literotica just rejected one of my stories for the first time. They misunderstood something I put in an author's note, that it's has some similarities to a story by Carl Bradford, to mean that it was a rewrite of Carl's story without permission.

It shares no characters nor locations nor dialogue with Carl's story. It's just a vaguely similar premise.

Oh, well.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

The moment that just happened to me: Literotica just rejected one of my stories for the first time. They misunderstood something I put in an author's note, that it's has some similarities to a story by Carl Bradford, to mean that it was a rewrite of Carl's story without permission.

It shares no characters nor locations nor dialogue with Carl's story. It's just a vaguely similar premise.

Oh, well.

Accepted on second try, after I explained.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

The moment I just had (again): I decided it was time to publish a particular story, and I thought, "It's time to submit Maria." And then I snorted.

The story is titled, "Maria and the Tack Shop". In Maria's only previous appearance, she submitted to her partner. I accidentally punned myself.

-Annie

 

[AllAmericanMale]

The moment when she uses a baseball analogy...