tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29478962.post6300609041419682044..comments2023-10-02T02:52:59.461-07:00Comments on Twigs and Brambles: Imagination isn't enoughDaniel Ausemahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00478942286366751753noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29478962.post-10600095686828404772012-04-15T14:50:00.670-07:002012-04-15T14:50:00.670-07:00A reasonable opinion based on a sample size greate...A reasonable opinion based on a sample size greater than 1? What is THAT about? <br /><br />:DLauren Michellehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09517994602774355541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29478962.post-69451361144323738262012-04-15T14:29:22.145-07:002012-04-15T14:29:22.145-07:00Yeah, Night Shade. I wonder how much a difference ...Yeah, Night Shade. I wonder how much a difference those points make--greater need to pay attention to copy-edits, since they're not prose writers originally plus less perceived need on the publishers' end because they know it'll sell. Just speculation, of course. I've always felt that Night Shade does a good job choosing their books, though, finding high quality writers whose work might not always be quite commercial enough for the bigger publishers.Daniel Ausemahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00478942286366751753noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29478962.post-51658962675865994142012-04-13T17:32:49.478-07:002012-04-13T17:32:49.478-07:00You mean Night Shade?
One thing the authors said ...You mean Night Shade?<br /><br />One thing the authors said about the current book at their reading was that the publishers were really pestering them for it. The husband submitted a draft to "show them how it was going," and the editor basically called it good, took it as a final, and worked it up for publishing. They were not happy about this, especially when the wife read out an obvious proofreading error /during the reading/ and had to catch herself. So I think it's possible that, because they know this series will sell, they're more eager to push it out the door than they are to make sure it's had as thorough a vetting as their other books might. But that's just my speculation. <br /><br />Or perhaps they just had more work to do on this book than they would on the other things they publish, because these two are not prose authors generally. Maybe every other author they have submits nearly flawless manuscripts.Lauren Michellehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09517994602774355541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29478962.post-49546116256888922212012-04-12T21:36:19.077-07:002012-04-12T21:36:19.077-07:00That's too bad the book is full of errors. I&#...That's too bad the book is full of errors. I've bought a number of books from that publisher and hadn't noticed a big difference from other major publishers. Or maybe I'm just more likely to skim over such errors...Daniel Ausemahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00478942286366751753noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29478962.post-64789680105555613562012-04-11T19:44:50.306-07:002012-04-11T19:44:50.306-07:00I have a bit of a hang-up in the opposite directio...I have a bit of a hang-up in the opposite direction--a story can be (I suspect) deeply imaginative, profound, or delightful, but if the author clearly doesn't know how to punctuate a sentence, my forebrain refuses to believe it's worth my attention. As defensible as that reaction probably is, I think there's an extent to which it's detrimental in a big-picture sense. I've had someone (whose taste I trust) enthusiastically recommend me stories that I just could not get through because the copyediting was so godawful. There was a recent one in particular I could tell was self-published before I even looked at the name of the website. I made it to the third paragraph, and there had been errors--real, flagrant errors--in every single sentence up to that point.<br /><br />If it was some kind of grammatical Flowers for Algernon, well... oops, I guess. I still have it saved somewhere, but at this point I doubt I'll go back to find out.<br /><br />Sometimes I'm sad about it, and I wonder how many great stories I might be missing out on because I know too much about the "rules" to enjoy them. Then again, I think to myself that there's enough fiction in the world that I can restrict myself in that way and probably not miss all that much. And I also think--barring any sort of non-retentive learning disability--grammar is damn easy and writers should suck it up and learn it. Why wouldn't they? It's like being a professional photographer and not knowing how to clean your lenses. Of course the water spots are going to detract from the picture. Just clean them so no one has to think about it!<br /><br />Like you, I'm trying to push through this to read a book right now... one I'm likely to enjoy as long as I can turn the editor off. But man, why couldn't they have just gotten a better editor so I wouldn't have to? That would be a win-win, wouldn't it? <br /><br />(Well, except for their crummy editor who'd be out of a job, but I'd call that a net gain for the universe.)Lauren Michellehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09517994602774355541noreply@blogger.com