Submission screw-up

Fallen · Apr 17, 2010

Ok, so you'd think with BA hons in English Lang' Linguistics, I'd stop friggin' screwing up with making basic writing mistake on my submssions.

Frick, frick, frick, frickin' hell.

After editting the crap out of my work, I'd sent my submission, first three chapters, synopsis etc, got a note back saying the synopsis sounded very interesting and they were looking at the chapters. I did my usual thing of swearing not to look through the chapters I'd submitted because I could guarantee I'd find something I wanted to change--failed miserably, and found two spelling mistakes on the second and fourth pages. I mean -- for godssake, why me?

So, I guess the question is... Will it be alright? I mainly deal with poetry and this a novel submission into a publishing area I've not tried before (ebook compared to traditional). If the pace, character and plot flows good, will I be neutered for my two cock-ups in my fiction?

Bans self for crap syntactic skills... (Sorry, wrong thread)

Parametric · Apr 17, 2010

This is the stress talking. You might want to tell it to be quiet. :tongue

Nobody cares about one or two typos if a submission is good.

Ms Hollands · Apr 17, 2010

I thought you were going to say you submtted the chapters with a typo that turned it into a swear word or something. Why not you? It happens to everyone else!

kurzon · Apr 17, 2010

Typos happen. Unless you have two a paragraph, they're something that a solid story will make unimportant.

Spell check in future might be an idea though.

alleycat · Apr 17, 2010

Fallen said:
I did my usual thing of swearing not to look through the chapters I'd submitted because I could guarantee I'd find something I wanted to change--failed miserably, and found two spelling mistakes on the second and fourth pages. I mean -- for godssake, why me?

I think it probably happens to most of us from time-to-time; and having a degree in English is no guarantee it won't happen to you. We're often too rushed, and too close to the work, to see some of these little mistakes when we're trying to get something finished and out the door. You almost have to let your writing "age" for a while before you can read it with fresh eyes.

I know when it happens you'd like to slap yourself upside the head (and probably have), but don't sweat it too much. A small mistake or two isn't going to kill the submission. Consistently making mistakes, or making glaring mistakes on every page, would be a red flag, but people understand a typo or two in a submission. Heck, they might not even notice them themselves.

I once wrote a story where the main character was named Brian. I had a couple of people read it specifically to look for typos. No problem. Ran spellcheck to see if it found anything. No problem. A month or two later someone else read the story. He pointed out that I had written "Brian" as "Brain" not just once, but twice. I think my proofreaders and myself got so used to seeing the word Brian that our minds automatically read the word when it was used without really reading it each time. I sort of got a chuckle out of that one. "What am I going to do?" asked Brain.

kaitie · Apr 17, 2010

Oh man, you know I've read through my opening pages fifty billion times, and just yesterday I decided to rewrite a bit again and sure enough I found another typo in the first five pages that I've somehow always overlooked (as has everyone else who read it). Couldn't believe it. And of course it's like yup, I've sent out how many queries with that in there without noticing it?

You know, though, I think agents know that and as long as it's not filled with mistakes it's not too bad. I actually just got a request for pages from an agent I sent a query letter to without a subject line. I just forgot to type it in and realized it as soon as I hit send. I actually was convinced I'd be rejected for not putting in the right thing in the subject line, or that it'd probably never even get to her, but I actually got a request from it. Moral of the story being even a couple of mistakes aren't the end of the world.

Jamesaritchie · Apr 17, 2010

Spelling mistakes do tend to stand out because spell check should catch them, but two spelling mistakes aren't going to matter. Believe me, if you get a rejection, it will not be because of this.

Can you really imagine anyone thinking, "Damn, this book could make me a fortune. The reading public would just love it. Unfortunately, it has two spelling mistakes, so I'll have to say no."

Lady Ice · Apr 17, 2010

If it's obviously a typo, you'll be fine. People can tell the difference between a typo and an inability to spell.

Bufty · Apr 17, 2010

Deja vu, again. :Hug2:

Lady Ice said:
If it's obviously a typo, you'll be fine. People can tell the difference between a typo and an inability to spell.

Fallen · Apr 17, 2010

Thanks, everyone. I wrote this just as I bloomin' caught them. Grrr. I'd missed a word out and done the typical 'you're' instead of 'your'. Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid...

scarletpeaches · Apr 17, 2010

Don't know if this is any consolation but I recently emailed a manuscript to an editor with a typo in the covering email - after having read it over three times.

An hour later she emailed me back to thank me, without mentioning it so she either didn't notice, or chose to be polite and 'forget to mention it'.

It happens.

dgiharris · Apr 17, 2010

Fallen said:
Thanks, everyone. I wrote this just as I bloomin' caught them. Grrr. I'd missed a word out and done the typical 'you're' instead of 'your'. Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid...

Could be worse, you could have done the pubic instead of public typo :e2smack:

.

scope · Apr 17, 2010

Don't even give it a second thought. The minor errors are meaningless if they desire your work.

SWest · Apr 17, 2010

Spell check can deceive you--don't trust it!

This is why G-d make proofreaders. Not to fear: I read many published books by big-name authors that contain spelling/usage errors. The books are still good, and I only notice 'cause that's my thing.

The fact that this bothers you is a good indication that you spent a lot of time on the other important things...plot, character development, flow, impact, rewrites, query, synopsis, etc..

Unbans Fallen 'cause she's sitting in a very large boat full of friends that is not really leaking...

gothicangel · Apr 17, 2010

I'm giggling to myself here. Started a new draft and found a rogue spelling error after six edits. It was the where/were chestnut.

I know people with English doctorates who make spelling errors. A degree doesn't eradicate human error.

shaldna · Apr 18, 2010

I once submitted a history essay to a journal and only realised that I had mispelled 'Cnut' wrong. Every. Single. Time.

They bought it anyway. And we had a laugh about it. But I really thought my career was over at that stage.

My advice? Don't sweat the small stuff. One or two spelling mistakes is fine, they aren't going to reject you over it. It;s not like every other word was spelled incorrectly, or you wrote the whole thing in txt spk

Matera the Mad · Apr 18, 2010

No one ever catches all the typos. Nothing to worry about, everyone knows they will be there. They breed when you're not looking. All you can do is try not to feed them.

rbuckley9104 · Apr 19, 2010

I've never read any published novel that did not contain at least one typo.

Fallen · Apr 20, 2010

I don't usually panic so much (honest). But it's nice to see this is the right place to go 'headless chicken' without getting giggled at. The work's not been sent back yet with 'Don't ever darken my doors again' on it, so I'm calming (unless it's that bad -- they couldn't even find it within them to reply) :ROFL:

Seriously, who ever said writers get it easy sitting in their hide-holes need screwing.

seun · Apr 20, 2010

shaldna said:
I once submitted a history essay to a journal and only realised that I had mispelled 'Cnut' wrong. Every. Single. Time.

Best story ever.

scarletpeaches · Apr 20, 2010

I'd buy it for the typo alone.

Mystic Blossom · Apr 21, 2010

I've had stuff accepted with typos. Don't worry about it

Submission screw-up

Fallen

Stood at the coalface

Parametric

Ms Hollands

Cow lover

kurzon

alleycat

Still around

kaitie

With great power comes

Jamesaritchie

Lady Ice

Makes useful distinctions

Bufty

Where have the last ten years gone?

Fallen

Stood at the coalface

scarletpeaches

dgiharris

Disgruntled Scientist

scope

Commonsensical Maverick

SWest

In the garden...

gothicangel

Toughen up.

shaldna

The cake is a lie. But still cake.

Matera the Mad

Bartender, gimme a Linux Mint

rbuckley9104

Fiction Writer

Fallen

Stood at the coalface

seun

Horror Man

scarletpeaches

Mystic Blossom

My heart's a battleground