Help!

[sophinisba]

Last week I reread a fic of mine that I'd posted a few months ago. I still like the story a lot, but I was distressed to find several typos and one real misspelling. I thought about putting up a post begging readers to inform me any time they noticed an error in one of my fics. But then I thought, Why should they bother to do such a nice thing for me? And, How do they know that I'm serious about wanting to know?

So, I'm going to try out a new policy/challenge: Anyone who e-mails me pointing out two or more mistakes in one of my fics gets a free drabble on a fictional character or pairing of her or his choice. (My address is sophinisba at gmail.com; a comment on LJ works too.) This is extending to all fics old and new, wherever they're posted (unless it's somewhere where I can't fix them), until I take it back. If you write to me about just one mistake I'll still be grateful but I might not give you a drabble. And this applies to clear-cut technical mistakes like spelling, missing quotation marks, etc., although I'm also interested to know if you disagree with me on more substantive stuff like canon and characterization.

And if I apply this retroactively, I owe a drabble to mews1945 for helping me out with one of my first Faculty ficlets. Julia, anything in particular you'd like?

Comments

[baranduin.livejournal.com]

Oh, it makes me crazy to find typos in old fics of mine! Back when I used to post fic on Yahoo groups, I was forever deleting and reposting on account of always finding one typo after I'd posted.

Excellent offer!

[mariole.livejournal.com]

Sorry, Sophie! You were very helpful with Devoted, I should return the favor.

I noticed a serious error in your PWP for Dana, http://sophinisba.livejournal.com/56518.html

Error: This story is WAY too short.

For pointing out this hideous, nigh-unforgivable mistake, I request a drabble of three-way hot sex between Aragorn/Frodo/Boromir. I'm sure I can find equally useful suggestions to make after reading that one. :) Cheers.

[mews1945.livejournal.com]

Casey and Zeke at a beach resort? A little sunburn, a little romance back in their room? If that's too much, just the beach scene will be just fine. Oh, goody! *hugs in advance*

[mews1945.livejournal.com]

Oh, and you know that goes for me too, right? If you see any typos in any of my stuff. please let me know. Can't promise a drabble, but I'll be really grateful.

[slightlytookish]

I've wondered about this. There are times when I've immediately fired off an email or comment about a typo I've discovered, and at other times I've been more hesitant. I wouldn't want to embarrass someone. So thanks for clearing this one up, and if I ever notice anything I'll let you know, drabble offer or not :)

[gentlehobbit.livejournal.com]

Well, as I love proofreading, and have been known to be quite picky, I thought I'd try out one of your stories. However, I found that it was quite hard to track down any typos or grammar errors. There were a few sentence fragments and sentences beginning with conjunctions (and, but); however, I could see that those were deliberate and part of the style of story-telling. I didn't bother to note those.

I did, however, catch two items. The first one you might not choose to accept, but the other needs fixing!

There! I feel triumphant in catching something! :D

"Conspiratorial fic"
http://sophinisba.livejournal.com/27215.html

1. "It's to do with the ring, yes?"

This isn't exactly an error (depending on how you view it), but once the Ring has been given importance in the eyes of the speaker, and simply called "the Ring", the R is customarily capitalized (customarily, that is, by Tolkien.)

2. "Ah, well, that's the last thing Frodo needs in a time of crisis, isn't it? His cousin and his gardener at each other's throats." He grinned. "Don't worry, Sam, I know how to handle him; though you can't leave it all to me either. From what I understand we have a few months left before we need to leave, so you and Merry have time to get more comfortable around each other before we're all sleeping under the stars together and deciding who carries how much in his pack.

Aha! You forgot the closing quotation marks.

So, there you go. One error, or 1.5, or even two full errors if you're feeling generous. :)

(While I like to proofread my stories and keep them 'clean' so-to-speak, one of my weaknesses is in closing quatation marks and also parentheses. Argh!)

[lilybaggins.livejournal.com]

Wow, I think every writer should be so willing to take constructive criticism. So refreshing. :)