My Biggest Complaint: Insufficient Editing

Discuss the August 2016 Book of the Month, The Lost Identity Casualties by Kim Ekemar.

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gali
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Re: My Biggest Complaint: Insufficient Editing

Post by gali »

CatInTheHat wrote:
Jennifer Allsbrook wrote:I noticed several errors but as mentioned in the original forum post some of this could be due to differences between American and British spellings. For example the word check was spelled cheque (p175).
I think that can be an issue, as people don't realize that the author is English, not American, or is trying to write using the verbiage of the area. Sometimes different terminology is used as well. For example, when one says "London's ton", they are referring to the high society of London. Nothing weight related ;)
I found a few spelling errors unconnected to American vs. British spellings. 8)
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Post by hannahbm13 »

Sometimes when I'm reading a good book I absolutely cannot get past some very obvious grammatical or spelling errors. Despite the content of the book, my opinion of it is almost always lowered.
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Post by RonelleAntoinette »

This is a hard one. Too many typos--whether they are spelling, punctuation, or structural mistakes--often jar me out of the story. Once I'm out, I have a hard time reimmersing myself and it usually makes me much more sensitive to future issues with the story. Even if your plot is good, if it's difficult to read, I probably won't finish because I get to a point where I just get mad.
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Post by psychopathycathy »

Grammatical and formatting errors always catch my attention, and they're definitely factors that affect how enjoyable a book is for me. For example, I'm very intense about the you're/your and it's/its kind of error, and seeing these kinds of mistakes in books really show how unprofessional and careless the editors/writers were. I find that these errors also greatly influence how a book flows as I read it, and therefore, the book becomes much harder to enjoy.
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Post by Holladay »

Life is a beach. It seems we all have our deal breakers. Remember the poor author who is giving it a hundred per cent to get the message out and it should not cost half of the farm for it to happen. Greedy guts keep wanting more of a cut regardless of the importance or entertainment value of the work. I guess that is our life in a microcosm.
If one goes in looking for errors the story possible passes by. There is a divide somewhere, probably different with each esteemed reader, when the errors over ride even the Bible but for the most part even if it is badly written or edited, one can mush thru to the conclusion.
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Post by abithacker »

I agree, good editing is a big part of the reading experience. Personally, no matter how good the book is, if there are a lot of grammatical errors I really get thrown off balance and am distracted from the story line. Unless the idea of the author is to make their reader uncomfortable and reread passages, authors should pay just as much attention to the editing and grammatical details as they do the story line.
"Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think" ~Albert Einstein
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Post by Holladay »

Now I have something in total agreement. The details can be so off-putting to make a thing unreadable much less understandable.

After that acceptance, how do we reach a place without loss of limb, were the work can be made whole, righteous, understandable and acceptable without costing the first born?

Gad, I am becoming too embedded in this. There is nor ever will be a perfect answer or end.

-- 26 Aug 2016, 11:12 --

Take that Scott!!!!
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Post by Yonit »

Insufficient editing common even among educated people working in literary fields. "The Lost Identity Casualties" is not well edited; neither are many, perhaps most novels today. I read novels to enjoy writing as well as the story. When there are errors (more than several) or when the writing is uneven or ordinary, I read speed read as I did here. If the writing is art. I read slowly, lose myself, and savor images and metaphors.
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Post by Joy V Smith »

Mostly, obvious errors make me give up, but one book was so good that I persevered. That doesn't happen often because I think a good book should have been edited.
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Post by sandra tomko »

My biggest complaint about a book is when the author spends 95% percent of the book setting up the plot, and then....the ending is over in a chapter. It almost seems like some authors just want to hurry up and finish the book. :cry: :(
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Post by Yelitzag08 »

It's such a shame when a good story is bogged down by grammatical errors. I feel like the biggest problem with errors like these are that it stops the flow of the book. If I find strange or incorrect phrasing I get stuck on it and try to figure out exactly what was meant. It's distracting to have many errors in a finished novel.
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Post by MrsPotts »

Typos and bad editing always stand out to me. I know I'm not perfect however someone who's getting paid to edit a book should do so with a more careful eye. The ones who aren't getting paid should remember at some point their friend or family member they're helping out could always hit it big and they could eventually start getting paid.

Formatting errors REALLY bother me. I understand some of these errors are occurring during the upload onto eBook websites but I know there are ways to correct that, which again comes back to the editing.
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Post by Insomniac07 »

For the most part, I've learnt to ignore some of the grammatical errors if the plot is engrossing and I try not to let them lower my opinion on an otherwise great book. Mistakes are part of human nature after all. But, sometimes when the errors are so obvious and repetitive, I consider that as sloppy writing and lower my rating on the book.
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Post by cheryltkn »

Like everyone who loves reading, I get lost in a good book to the point that I no longer see the pages turn or even recognize that I am seeing words. A typo or glaring grammatical error shocks me out of the trance I achieve and forces me back to reality when I may not be ready to come down.
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Post by AA1495 »

MrsPotts wrote:Typos and bad editing always stand out to me. I know I'm not perfect however someone who's getting paid to edit a book should do so with a more careful eye. The ones who aren't getting paid should remember at some point their friend or family member they're helping out could always hit it big and they could eventually start getting paid.

Formatting errors REALLY bother me. I understand some of these errors are occurring during the upload onto eBook websites but I know there are ways to correct that, which again comes back to the editing.
Agree. specially when there are a series of dialogues and the quotation marks get messed up, or the dialogues have spaces/breaks in between. That can get really really confusing.

-- 06 Sep 2016, 11:18 --
sandra tomko wrote:My biggest complaint about a book is when the author spends 95% percent of the book setting up the plot, and then....the ending is over in a chapter. It almost seems like some authors just want to hurry up and finish the book. :cry: :(
I have the opposite complaint. A lot of books I've read have amazing beginnings. The plot is really interesting in the first few chapters and then suddenly the rest of the chapters are the "happily ever after" ones. Maybe it's just the books I select, but that can get very annoying.
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