It’s Iola here. Welcome to our Australasian Christian Writers Tuesday Book Chat, where we encourage book lovers to answer our bookish question of the week.
Today’s question is:
What’s your view on grammatical errors in novels?
I will admit that my view is biased—I’m a freelance editor, which means I spend most days picking up errors in novels, and it can be hard to switch off even when I want to! What about you? Do you notice grammatical errors? Do they bother you?
We look forward to hearing your thoughts. Please join in the conversation in a comment on this post or in a comment on the blog post shared in our Australasian Christian Writers Facebook Group. Or, if you’re feeling wordy (like me), write a blog post and link to it in the comments.
Infuriating! Especially when I see it in contemporary junior novels. (Usually somewhere in the middle- as if they edit the first and last chapter and forget about the rest). When I was a child teaching grammar was not in fashion so I learnt everything I know about grammar from reading! So ironic we have all this digital help with editing now and yet there appears to be more errors slipping through. However, there is one tiny spelling error in my recently published book. I can’t use spell check in some parts as the words are in bedded in the artwork. A friend pointed it out to me and then a seven year old pointed It out ata presentation I gave. I am so devastated that I can’t even look at the page where the supposed spelling mistake occurs. I guess I should be happy that only 1 error slipped through, all the others were caught even when it meant clawing it back from the printer when an error was found after the proofs were
Signed off. Recently I found a grammatical error in a newly printed bible by one of the top bible publishers. The word was spelt correctly but it was the wrong word. I’ve never seen an error in a bible before and it’s not a new translation, I don’t know how they got it wrong. It’s a fast paced world and it seems like grammatical errors are here to stay.
I agree that errors in children’s and teen novels are especially bad, as children are still learning and absorbing grammar. Like you, I learned so much of what is right and wrong in writing through extensive reading.
I suspect more errors slip through now because the publishers are doing less editing. I read a blog post today which claimed many publishers laid off half their editors in the recession.
Have you ever heard of the Wicked Bible? Apparently, it forgot the “not” in one of the Ten Commandments!
For me I have to say grammar isn’t the strong suit so it probably will go unnoticed. I am more likely to notice a major spelling error or word errors. One instance was they had two words repeated think it was something like, I went I went. I know it was an error but annoying. Also having the hero called the wrong name (in this case name of another male but it was that male talking to the hero). I reread it about 4 times to check.
I hate having to go back and reread something to see if I didn’t understand it, or if the author made a mistake. It really brings the story to a stop.
The deeper I am in the story, the more annoyed I am. They pull me out quite abruptly from a happy place. If a story is riddled with errors I will stop reading.
Good point – the errors can pull us out of our happy place, and who wants that?
I notice some grammatical and spelling errors. I also notice inconsistencies in plot and characters. For example, there is one series that I have read where in the early books of the series a character got married and had children, then in later books in the series it said they never married. I’ve also noted name changes between books, and plot changes that end up making no sense. In movies there is someone who checks for continuity with costumes etc, is that checked in books?
I have noticed some of those things to like one book they have 2 sisters and 3 brothers the next only one brother. The other beef I have is when real places are used like Alice Springs and Adelaide and say its a 3 hour drive. Americans may not know the true distance but we do. (or saying Washington DC is a 3 hour drive from Washington state).
I like when a series has a family tree in the front it keeps the people in check.
Those kind of continuity things should be checked during the editing process, but it can be hard e.g. if the editor of book #5 hasn’t read the earlier books, then the editor won’t know that John and Jane are supposed to be married with children. But the author should!
Continuity errors bother me more than grammatical or spelling errors – unless they are really bad!
I read a book recently and in the middle of the story we were told, that the cleaners come every Friday. But in the penultimate chapter, it was Friday but no cleaners! I’m sure it was an oversight and it wasn’t important, so I’m not sure why I found it annoying. But I did!
Hi Iola, great question! One or two minor errors or typos won’t bother me. As an author, I know how easy it is to miss seeing these things during the proofreading process. If there are multiple issues per chapter, especially if it’s a pattern with the same mistake over and over, I will get irritated with the poor quality of the copy editing and proofreading. If I reach chapter three and I’m noticing issues with the writing rather than being absorbed in the story, I’ll put the book aside.