[ SECRET POST #5169 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #5169 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 33 secrets from Secret Submission Post #740.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

07. https://i.imgur.com/Ce7iedc.jpg

[feotakahari]

There was this one godawful fantasy trilogy . . . I forget the name of it, but the author falsely claimed to be an Olympic-level fencer, and he falsely claimed Ben Bova loved his book, even though Bova had never heard of it, and I think there was a plagiarism scandal too? Anyway, the second book in the series averaged one spelling or grammar error every two pages.

[(Anonymous)]

(Cozy werewolf Anon)

I have been like trying to google this and like was it Robert Stanek? I swear, I should know this but the last few years of plagiarism scandals and trademark bullshit is beginning to blur together.

The only thing is Robert Stanek has like 22 books b/c he publishes almost every three months. My entire body just recoils.

[feotakahari]

No, I think his first name was Matt or Matthew or something like that. The series involves a young man who finds a magic ring that basically lets him pull whatever power he wants out of his ass, and he fights an army of thousands of orc-like creatures called Orlocks, which turn out to be called that because their origin story is the same as Morlocks. And also the setting backstory is ripped wholesale from Forbidden Planet. And there’s this weird thing about “chivalry” where letting thousands of people die is worse than killing someone in an unfair fight. And the guy is weirdly possessive of his girlfriend, but it’s treated as completely justified. And no one other than the guy knows anything about battlefield tactics . . .

[(Anonymous)]

Ooo, that secret made me grit my teeth to finish reading it.

Reading fic has made me realize how few people actually seem to know the proper past tenses of so many verbs. Actually, tense changes in general, reading 'sat' instead of sitting was an epidemic for a while in the fics I read. (And they would use the proper tenses in the sentences around it! but for some reason it was always 'He was sat in the chair' I Hate It.)

[(Anonymous)]

"He was sat in the chair" isn't incorrect, it's British usage.

[(Anonymous)]

It's regional British usage and distracting if the characters and fandom aren't British.

I'm just as hard on improper Americanisms in those fandoms, btw.

And goddamned "anyways." Anyways is fucking wrong! /Gordon Ramsey voice

[(Anonymous)]

AYRT

I'm not British but most of my main fandoms are, so I got used to it. (I have got, NOT "gotten" used to it!) :D

[(Anonymous)]

*Ramsay

[tree_and_leaf]

Yeah, I'm British and I'd never say that.

Have people stopped saying "he's nutters" instead of "he's nuts" or "he's a nutter" in Potter fic yet? That was all over the place for a while, and it drove me... nuts.

[chamonix]

I remember the nutters thing! Misinformation spreading like wildfire. Always pulled me out of a fic when I saw that.

[tree_and_leaf]

Yes, it was so jarring (much worse than the odd Americanism).

[(Anonymous)]

No, it isn't. It's just wrong. Yours, a British person.

[(Anonymous)]

A few errors are okay for me. I’ve published fic only to find that I’ve missed something and had to go back and correct it. But endless spelling and grammar errors are an instant back button.

[(Anonymous)]

(Cozy Werewolf Anon)

ow, reading that hurt.

As an indie, I do the best I can (and I do have an editor), and I figure if there is like 6 mistakes or less in 110,000 words, I'm doing good. I dunno, I reread Lone Prospect this past month b/c I'm posting it to Wattpad/Royal Road and aside a few comma things most people aren't going to notice, there was maybe 3 or 4 wrong words/spelling mistakes. I don't even know. I wasn't paying strict attention. It wasn't a LOT. It's 174,000 words. Go me!

Unfortunately in Trad Pubbed, due to "budget cuts" if a book gets ONE edit, it's lucky. So, the author might have their own beta readers, but they're going to be doing their own grammar and it will get ONE edit through an acquisitions editor before publishing. (And you can hope they catch everything.)

But if there are spelling mistakes every page. Yeah. In fan fiction, it's one thing, at least run spell check and add odd fandom words to your dictionary! Okay, you're learning. I mean, I read a fic the other day where I figured the person had english as a second language because while the words were spelled right, the meanings of them were absolutely WRONG. If you're indie pubbing, like do your best, put your best foot forward for goodness sakes, there's a lot of FREE editing tools out there. No excuse.

[(Anonymous)]

This is a real problem in journalism too. Newspapers and magazines used to have lots of people who were dedicated proofreaders. That was their job. Most of those folks have been laid off long ago.

[(Anonymous)]

(Cozy Werewolf Anon)

In trad publishing... they became agents. So, despite what still ends up being published, just imagine how much higher the bar is for debut writers because, oh the editors are agents now! That is, if they take anything from their slush pile at all and don't just take on people who are "winning" magazine awards in hopes they have a novel in them someday.

Then the pandemic hit and yeah, debuts got quietly dropped.

Yes, I'm cynical. Trad pub needs some major reform.

[(Anonymous)]

This is my job - freelance copy editor. Most of the work I do is for social media these days, so a month's worth of Facebook posts, some blog entries, and things that go to a client like proposals. I charge $60 an hour for this.

But I beta-read fanfic for freeeeeee! People need to ask if they want a spelling and grammar check, because some of us like doing this instead of correcting boring shit about investing strategies and diet pills.

[(Anonymous)]

I try to make damn sure my fics don't have errors like that.

I'll ... write it. Check it. Edit it. Check it. Edit it. Leave it a day or two so I'm not accidentally correcting it with my eyes. Check it. Edit it. Get a friend to check it. Edit it. Read it. Post it.

It's not even a big fandom I write for. Or particularly often. I just hate the idea of somebody thinking I'm stupid. Even if it's just fanfiction in a small fandom with unpopular characters.

[starwatcher]

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I've found one thing that helps me with so much re-editing is... change the font away from your usual. EG, I prefer reading in Times New Roman. If I highlight all and change it to / edit in Verdana, that's enough of a visual dissonance that I'm more likely to notice any errors.

And/or -- I post it in my DW, under a 'private lock', and read the preview to catch errors. Again, it's just different enough from my writing doc that it's easier to notice those little slip-ups.
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[rudehannibal]

What is that thing where your brain expects a word and automatically finishes it for you without actually registering the exact word? This secret had me cruising along until 'speled' and then I was like 'wait, what?' and went back.

(I gotta admit, they had us in the first half)

I used to be a copy editor for a newspaper when I was in college and the work was a slog of hell. Bless Beta readers (who don't try to take over the plot as part of their 'job').