Friday 6 November 2009

Never Ever

Never ever:
  1. re-read your competition entry after it's been sent
  2. edit when you have flu
Have discovered hideously idiotic mistake in my chapter - the caretaker's wife inexplicably changes her name from Sofia to Maria mid chapter. How? How on earth could I miss this blatant character rebellion? Is it because I only gave her one line and described her as dour???

Aargh. I knew it was a bad idea to read but did it anyway. Like buying a tube of Pringles and thinking you'll only eat a handful, it had that same feeling of inevitability about it.

Sigh.

Has any else caved and re-read their entry? Can anyone beat my mistake?

10 comments:

Rachael Johns said...

Lorraine I FEEL your pain! I didn't enter the contest but reread the partial I subbed last week and cringed. I had 'Granted, she...' TWICE on the first page! Argh!

I'm just hoping they see potential in the story and overlook silly little errors!
:)

Judy Jarvie said...

I have a bit of a 'trademark' that I KNOW there is ALWAYS a mistook no matter how many painful times I check. So I do the chicken and hide away from it prefering not to know. I think I've always been proven right too.Sigh.

Personally I think it's cos the flow is so good in your entry no one would even notice a mere dour maid. Try not to sweat it. And if in doubt...eat Pringles! jx

Caroline said...

Hi Lorraine - I don't think I made any blatant mistakes...but I did re-read my comp Chapter again....um. It read clunky with way too much backstory. Sigh. Ah well too late now. Take care. Caroline x

Tara Pammi said...

Hey Lorraine,
I haven't reread mine either just for the reason. I know I'll find something and feel bad about it. Still, I think you're ok since it's just a dour maid. :-)
Sri.

Jackie Ashenden said...

Noooo! Never re-read! :-) You know what, though? Character names are easily changed - it's the story that matters! And yours is great.
BTW, you can shoot me because I didn't pick it up either. :-)

Lacey Devlin said...

(((HUGS))) You're sooo much braver than me Lorraine! You couldn't pay me to reread. I prefer to be blissfully ignorant of my mistakes (it stops me from grinding my teeth at night ;) ). You're right about those evil Pringles too :P.

Heidi Rice said...

Much better to have your caretaker's wife change her name half-way through (and you not notice) than have her take over the opening chapter and be so prominent her name becomes really significant!!

If she only got two nods they probably won't notice either. Heck in my last submission my heroine changed her eye colour twice and neither I or the ed noticed... Until the proof stage when the copy-editor picked it up!!

The story's the thing! Now stop re-reading it and get on with something else... Says she who is currently writing blog comments instead of working on a book which is nearly two months late!!

Sally Clements said...

Lorraine, if it was wrong when I read it, I didn't notice it either. I remember him (who could forget him, yum!) and the crystal glasses, but the dour maid's name isn't a big deal. Your story is great, witty, sexy and warm. If you don't believe me read a couple of moderns just out. You're first chapter is right up there, better than some, even. I haven't looked at mine. I never do once its sent, because I can't do anything about it. Still fretting though!
xS

Lorraine said...

I know it was a bad idea, in mitigation I was re-reading because I wanted to jot chapter 2 down while it was in my head and needed to remember what I'd changed in 1!
It's nice to know I'm in good company though. LOL re the eye colour Heidi :-)

Oh and those of you who read the chapter? You're off the hook, it was a last minute change when I realised something didn't make sense so it wasn't in the version you saw!

Thanks for all the lovely comments everyone.

Suzanne Ross Jones said...

I haven't read my comp entry since I sent it, but only because I've been obsessively re-reading my NWS sub (12 weeks and counting) and boy have I found some humdingers in there - way too many to list here. Your maid is a minor slip and will be forgiven because the writing is terrific.

XX