Sunday, October 21, 2012

Biggie Wiggie Or Teensie Weensie?

Biggie Wiggie?

Teensie Weensie?

Yes, that is the burning question for today's post. Do we write an incredibly long and seriously verbose post, aka Biggie Wiggie? Or, do we write a post that is wickedly short on grammar and gets to the point, aka Teensie Weensie?

If this was a Teensie Weensie, then the only thing I would tell you is that if you stumble over to the house next door, you will see part deux of Autumn on Cedar Mountain 2012.

If this was a Biggie Wiggie, then not only would I tell you to stumble over to the house next door, but I would start to prattle on about how the writing bug finally bit me but it didn't bite me in the right place and that I started writing a seriously long post (five hand written pages so far, which translates to two and a half blog pages) about what I should work on next, 'cause you know that what I'm writing now isn't necessarily fit for normal human consumption.

And I would probably tell you the reason as to why I'm asking this seemly innocuous question is that I got the final version of my manuscript back from my publisher and I spent the past few days going over it with a fine tooth comb.

But, since this is a combo Teensie Weensie/Biggie Wiggie post, I will leave you with this thought that I'd posted for a status update on Facebook (people, if you want to see a side of me that I rarely show here on the blog, you should subscribe to my status updates).

The working definition of "Stress" for a writer is this: The overwhelming need to return the final version of the book back to the publisher so that the final course of action can be taken, versus the overwhelming need to point out a half-dozen very nit-picky, yet somewhat noticeable grammar/punctuation errors to the publisher that you found while proofing the final version, versus facing the overwhelming fact that should you point this out to the publisher the book may be put to the back of the line so that it could be properly fixed.

11 comments:

  1. I would buff and polish no matter how long it delayed the publication process. It's so annoying as a reader to see obvious spelling, grammar or punctuation errors. It really detracts from the final product, IMHO.

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  2. Debra: This is very true.

    I've found that out the hard way with my self-pubbed chapbook, when I belatedly discovered that one of the character's names is wrong on the jacket blurb.

    It really does help to have as many eyes as possible looking at the final product.

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  3. My grandfather did a book with Publish America a few years ago, and they misspelled "Christ" on the title. So I'm with Debra.

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  4. M: To be honest, when you use companies like Publish America and ASI, the onus is on the writer to make sure everything is kosher.

    Aside from that, that is a serious For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge up.

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  5. When I was a graphic designer I used to have to get the customer to proof read their artwork before it was printed, but of course some things ended up being printed with spelling errors and whoevers fault it is, it leaves a bad taste in the mouth, and actually ruins the final product because all you can see after that is the damn typo.

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  6. But editing out the boo-boos is very important before the volume goes to press- n you wouldn't want to look bad when it's out there in the world, so do your grammar check duty anyhow!

    You've already waited forever, what's another week or so tacked on?

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  7. Joe: This is so very true.

    You want to make a good impression so anything that you do you want to be absolutely perfect, and yes, all you need is that one typo, that one glitch, and that'll be the only thing that people will remember about that particular product.

    I remember one time at work, the store supervisor had to reject about a pallet's worth of letterhead paper 'cause the word "Capitol" was spelled "Captiol".

    Snaggle: Absolutely, I want to edit out all of the boo-boo's and what not, and since I have a better understanding of the glacial nature of commercial publishing (as opposed to self-pubbling), I actually have no problem in waiting.

    And I know the publisher has no qualms in putting something back to the end of the line so that it can be edited and proofed again.

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  8. So this is a "hybrid" post of sorts. I'm all for it!

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  9. Charles: Absolutely!

    I wasn't feeling very wordy yesterday, but I wanted to touch on a few things just the same.

    Blog efficiency is the name of the game in today's green world.

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  10. I'm with the others - I would submit for those corrections.

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  11. Lynn: I wound up doing that late last night.

    I wrote a very nice half page e-mail detailing the six errors that I'd found while proofing my book.

    Also told them I didn't have a problem if having to correct them would push back the release date either.

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G. B. Miller

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