What’s the biggest blooper you have made in a story?

[Voboy]

I don’t think I ever had occasion to write the word (either spelling) before this story. Not that this is a great excuse as I did quite a lot of research about ranks in the Marshals Service, and entrance requirements, and badges / ID cards, and their duties, and vehicles, and guns - lots of guns (thanks again @Voboy ).

I also did quite a bit of research about West Coast locations (down to the architecture of specific prisons), though the East Coast ones I left vague (as based on where I live TBH).

Emily

It's the research that's the most fun.

 

[EmilyMiller]

It's the research that's the most fun.

It was - and educational as well. Thanks for helping with both aspects

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I knew a female rocker who played guitar through a Marshall amplifier. She broke the two “L”s off of the emblem.

Was her name Marsha?

Now there's a name you don't get in Britain, along with Marcie/Marcy. The odd Marcia, but pronounced with all three syllables.

(See also Alicia, and the subset of them who pronounce it Aleesha)

 

[32aa]

Very first story I ever wrote... first paragraph I made reference to the 60's rock band "Jefferson Airplane " by their new name 'Jefferson Starship ". And yes, got called out on it. Only comment it the 12K word chapter.

 

[jehoram]

In my story "Nude Day at the Daredevil Club," a reader noticed that for some magical reason, ten women in swim suits became fifteen naked women. That's what I get when I skip the step of submitting it to my editor (I was rushing to get the story into the "Nude Day" contest). I fixed the error and re-submitted it, but I left the comment there to remind me of my folly.

 

[AchtungNight]

My biggest blooper was the original version of Debrief. I wanted to cast a Muslim celebrity as the female lead, didn’t do adequate research, assumed every Arab celebrity was Muslim, and put a Christian in the role in error. Thanks again to the fan who pointed out my error and prompted the proper recast of Deeyah Khan.

Second biggest blooper- I cast my original character Stephanie Coleman as a grade school friendly rival of celebrity softball pitcher Cat Osterman without checking the math on their ages. They’re about four years apart and thus would never have opposed each other in a grade school game normally. Except Cat is a pitching prodigy and that changes things up. If a story I have pending here ever gets published, it will reflect this fact.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Not so much a blooper as a fuck up, but three lines in Ted to Teddy.

I changed a story of love and acceptance into one of lies and deceit. My readers let me know about it, too. It would have been so easy to just change those three lines, but I didn't see it the way it came across until the story was already published.

I've thought about going back and updating the story, but I actually et a strange validation when someone calls me out on it. It's like they connected with the characters and took that betrayal as their own.