This has ticked off a LOT of people...

That's the most absurd statement ever written. You ruined my life. You're a jerk. You should be killed. Take a long walk off a short pier. You are wrong.

Diane, it wouldn't be fair to call someone out over something like that (humorous as it may be ), and it would likely cause more contention and lose respect. But it also kind of proves the point I'm trying to make; there's no such thing as a perfect, error free manuscript.

I'm speaking about this subject based on what I've learned from video game development. One of the things you learn is that even AAA games almost always have bugs in them on release. The devs are fully aware of these bugs, but ignore them because they don't have a significant impact on gameplay. To them it's more important that the product gets shipped. Besides, their fans will likely find bugs they didn't even know existed, and they can fix those bugs later on with patches.

Video game dev companies know the importance of having a clean, error free product. So they fix all the important errors that disrupt the gameplay. But they leave the other errors alone, because they know there will always be one more error to fix. It's more important to them that the product gets shipped then that they make a perfect product.

I thought the same concept applied to writing a novel, but maybe I'm wrong.

@spec: I agree. I think it's more important that the reader has a positive emotional experience, and that sometimes grammar can get in the way of that. This has some people saying that I'm contributing to the downfall of the English language. LOL!

I do all of my writing in MS Word and rely heavily on spell check. Even then I have to proof read the material several times to eliminate as many errors as possible.

The truth is that after the first few sentences I have an almost uncontrollable tendency to skim the words and mentally compensate for bad sentence structure and bad spelling.

That being said I often see stuff in forums that leaves me wondering if English is not the first language of the author or if it is just stuff that was posted by software that has a built in spinner.

And Microsoft, as well. :rolleyes:

Amen!

People who read a lot of fiction are often curmudgeons when it comes to proper writing. They see it, know it, and expect it. And of course big publishing houses have editors crawling works of authors making sure it is right.

I do think in the IM niche people get away with murder sometimes when it comes to their writing. Granted, if a guy can show me how to make a million dollars I'm not likely to worry about whether he used a "which or that" in a sentence.

Still, I believe that language is the antecedent to knowledge. One of the first clues to the overall intelligence of an individual is how they use or misuse their native language. --Mike

In a world of "Spell check", spelling mistakes and a lot of grammar mistakes are inexcusable, although you still need to check the final product yourself to make sure words like "their" and "there" have not been used incorrectly. Spell check won't catch those if they are spelled correctly, and some grammar programs won't either.

Spelling mistakes, misused words, typos and obvious grammar mistakes cause readers to stumble as they are absorbed in the story. That is irritating. It pulls the reader out of the story while they stop to make sense of that error. If the manuscript is heading to a book publisher, the concern is less important since they have their own proofreaders for that very purpose.

If you are publishing yourself, however, you definitely need to do a final read through to catch those errors.

As people already stated, no one is perfect. I'm a pro writer and I'm not perfect. I don't even try to be. At least, not any more than is absolutely necessary. I mean, I'm not about to run to my grammar text book to see how to correctly form a specific sentence or to make sure I don't have run-on sentences or misplaced adjectives.... ad infinitum. The work would never be completed.

The unfortunate thing about threads like your other one is that people read into it what you did not intend. When I first read your example para above, I thought, "Whoa! You certainly should try to perfect your manuscript." But then, I put your suggestion into perspective and do grasp what you're trying to say. Basically, don't spend your life trying to perfect a manuscript before letting it go or you'll never get there. I can't recall your entire OP but you might have received a better response if you'd added something to the effect that they should "make it the best you can" but don't obsess over it.

Of course, digital products can be fixed easily later after the manuscript has been published. You never know. The thing might not sell, after all, and you'd waste all that time trying to perfect it. See if it sells first, and then go back and fix mistakes you find afterwards.

As a pro writer, though, I understand how important it is to protect the English language, which is slipping away quickly with all the texting that's going on these days. Let's face it, someone has to protect the language and pressure authors to do their best to do the same.

Sylvia

I'm actually familiar with that term. In video games it is referred to as "Suspension of Disbelief". It's basically where you make the reader forget the rules of the real world in order to enjoy the story. Instead, you use a different set of rules to follow. Of course, if you break those rules, the suspension of disbelief can break also.

Hi John92,

How do you know that you don't mind?

Misspelling and mistakes in grammar certainly get my attention, and often lessen the credibility of facts. This is more of a reflex and does not necessarily have any bearing on the true value, but the writer does have a responsibility for effective presentation.