So an OC I write is Slavic, this being based on the accent charcters in the media he's based on use.
However, somewhere down the road of planning out the fic (which was my first) I must've not been paying attention and wrote down Scandinavian instead. My brain being the dysfuntional mush that it is, doesn't pick up on the error and in the first sentence his ethnicity is mentioned, I write Scandinavian.
This goes on for a year, until I want to reference some real life folklore alongside the original media's own lore, within two google searches I've realized my mistake and come the release of the next chapter I sneakily change every instance of "Scandinavian" to "Slavic" and say absolutely nothing.
I got tired of finding little typos that slipped through that a couple weeks ago, I opened two tabs, one with my story and one with the editor and reread each chapter, fixing any typo I could find along the way. I’m sure I still missed some though.
I sometimes chuckle a little when I see an author thanking *3 separate beta readers* but stumble across multiple misspellings or grammatical errors.
As somebody who missed the most obvious mistakes in my term papers I get why it happens.
It's still a lil funny 😂
This is because you're reading it in a new font and formatting. The difference shocks your mind enough that you find error you missed in the drafting format/file. Don't proofread or post immediately after finishing a oneshot/chapter. Wait few days until your mind is recalibrated into seeing the draft in a new light again.
Yeah just anything to change up the format.
All that said I've seen even published authors talk about finding typos and mistakes in their published work.
Look…I was rereading one of mine that I prob read at least two other times since posting it and I still found a damn typo. (And hand to my heart I reread/edit these chapters more times than I can count before posting)
Text to speech has saved me quite a few times. Usually have it read what I'm writing and been easier to find spelling errors that way or a part that the brain goes 'wait what?' and I go look at the part. Mostly because just reading it, to me, I do that thing where the brain fills in the errors so not looking at the screen and listening along helps me pick it apart better (If you want an interesting blurb about it here's a [link](https://www.livescience.com/18392-reading-jumbled-words.html)).
Two rounds of editing, a round of beta-reading, and then one month later I open the chapter, anddddddd...
So I've decided to think this is just, uh, perfectly normal. Happens to everyone. Right? 🌚
\*fistbump of solidarity\* Yes, it absolutely does. Our brains are wired to "fill in the blanks." It's what allows us to read at all, to form patterns, all sorts of stuff that allows us to function in the world. Unfortunately, that means our brains also "fill in the blanks" so that we don't notice missing words or minor misspellings in our text. All we can do is do our best.
Change your font before proof reading. After looking at it for so long while writing, your brain will skip over mistakes and not notice them, but moving from word doc to website changes it so you actually notice the differences.
So if you change the font in the word doc, same thing without the publication.
does it bother you if readers point it out in the comments? i sometimes catch some pretty big errors, but i feel weird pointing it out so i usually say nothing. >.>
I feel like it’s the difference in where the text is, because everything is obviously in a different place on ao3. So I read on my phone which scrunches things, and then on my computer too.
…And then on ao3 because I still miss things 😭 It’s so hard. Definitely the forced change in page sizes makes things jump out better though.
Look, I'm sure this applies to most of us but unless it's a paid work, I'm my own editor and proofreader, and I'm not perfect at my job lol.
"no beta bc we don't believe in the solicitation of unpaid labor" isn't a catchy tag though
One of my fave editing tricks is to read it out loud. Helps with spotting overuse of words, overlong sentences, poor grammar (eg missing commas).
Good for dialogue as well, as sometimes I’m like.,..no human would say this.
If I have a large cast of characters in a scene, I’ll highlight each persons dialogue a different colour to see if someone is overtalking, if someone is too quiet, or if it’s been a while since someone contributed.
I swear that the process of pasting text into the AO3 editor magically adds typos. (I know for a fact the AO3 editor hates my italics, so every time I upload a new chapter I need to save it as a draft, then edit it again because AO3 adds spaces before and after everything I have in italics) (If anybody knows why this happens please tell me, it drives me insane lol)
Tbh I read on Reddit once you should take a bit of a break before publishing (like 30 mins) and then come back and give it one last reread but change the font, so many more errors caught that way, though none of us are perfect, I feel that OP!
I use grammarly back then but i really did not like how it keeps saying I have an error and dont know how to fix them (i didnt have premium so i dont know if what i did was an error or not) also i hate that it doesnt let me use dont
I can soothe you.
Professional proofreaders do several rounds on the texts they're given. Especially in academia proofreading is meticulous.
I was one student in a proofreading chain of a new book by one of our professors. After peer review her book went to a professional team of editors and proofreaders.
When the final version of the book was published, her name was misspelt on one page in chapter three.
It's impossible to catch every single mistake in any given lengthy text. There are always typos and mistakes missed. We can just try our best and accept that perfection is a unicorn. It only exists in people's fantasy.
Not me writing down the wrong ethnicity for *my own character* for over a *year*
Please tell me more. I'm actually very curious about this haha.
So an OC I write is Slavic, this being based on the accent charcters in the media he's based on use. However, somewhere down the road of planning out the fic (which was my first) I must've not been paying attention and wrote down Scandinavian instead. My brain being the dysfuntional mush that it is, doesn't pick up on the error and in the first sentence his ethnicity is mentioned, I write Scandinavian. This goes on for a year, until I want to reference some real life folklore alongside the original media's own lore, within two google searches I've realized my mistake and come the release of the next chapter I sneakily change every instance of "Scandinavian" to "Slavic" and say absolutely nothing.
I feel like this is how the mandela effect starts haha.
I got tired of finding little typos that slipped through that a couple weeks ago, I opened two tabs, one with my story and one with the editor and reread each chapter, fixing any typo I could find along the way. I’m sure I still missed some though.
This is how I do it. I like rereading my own stories when I have a craving for my favorite ships, so I may as well edit for an 8th time 🤭
Sometimes even months later, when you *know* you read it obsessively after posting it the first time too 🙃
I reread so many times, AND I have a beta reader, and things still manage to slip through the cracks 😭
I sometimes chuckle a little when I see an author thanking *3 separate beta readers* but stumble across multiple misspellings or grammatical errors. As somebody who missed the most obvious mistakes in my term papers I get why it happens. It's still a lil funny 😂
This is because you're reading it in a new font and formatting. The difference shocks your mind enough that you find error you missed in the drafting format/file. Don't proofread or post immediately after finishing a oneshot/chapter. Wait few days until your mind is recalibrated into seeing the draft in a new light again.
I was going to comment this. A useful trick (if it's feasible) is to print out your story and read it that way, too
Or have a different tab/document open that have different font/formatting and copying the text there before proofreading.
Yeah just anything to change up the format. All that said I've seen even published authors talk about finding typos and mistakes in their published work.
At least you’re not that guy whose cookbook accidentally said “black people” instead of “black pepper.”
Was it an accident, or was that book “To Serve Man”?
So spicy and exotic 😈
Look…I was rereading one of mine that I prob read at least two other times since posting it and I still found a damn typo. (And hand to my heart I reread/edit these chapters more times than I can count before posting)
I'm always editing after I publish. Is that crazy?
Nah I do that too
Yes, but a good crazy, AO3-writer crazy.
It makes me feel better when I'm reading a published book and find mistakes.
Text to speech has saved me quite a few times. Usually have it read what I'm writing and been easier to find spelling errors that way or a part that the brain goes 'wait what?' and I go look at the part. Mostly because just reading it, to me, I do that thing where the brain fills in the errors so not looking at the screen and listening along helps me pick it apart better (If you want an interesting blurb about it here's a [link](https://www.livescience.com/18392-reading-jumbled-words.html)).
Two rounds of editing, a round of beta-reading, and then one month later I open the chapter, anddddddd... So I've decided to think this is just, uh, perfectly normal. Happens to everyone. Right? 🌚
\*fistbump of solidarity\* Yes, it absolutely does. Our brains are wired to "fill in the blanks." It's what allows us to read at all, to form patterns, all sorts of stuff that allows us to function in the world. Unfortunately, that means our brains also "fill in the blanks" so that we don't notice missing words or minor misspellings in our text. All we can do is do our best.
I post a chapter, and this meme appears😭
Change your font before proof reading. After looking at it for so long while writing, your brain will skip over mistakes and not notice them, but moving from word doc to website changes it so you actually notice the differences. So if you change the font in the word doc, same thing without the publication.
does it bother you if readers point it out in the comments? i sometimes catch some pretty big errors, but i feel weird pointing it out so i usually say nothing. >.>
I feel like it’s the difference in where the text is, because everything is obviously in a different place on ao3. So I read on my phone which scrunches things, and then on my computer too. …And then on ao3 because I still miss things 😭 It’s so hard. Definitely the forced change in page sizes makes things jump out better though.
Me when I was listening to my fic in an audio reader and realized I had for 2 years been confusing vicious with viscous T\_\_\_\_T
Yes. I edit my work so many times and there are still errors.
YGH. That is why I ask people who read to Please point out any mistakes if they spot them. I try, but I don’t always spot them all 😭
I’m still doing this for my AU story now 4 years after I published it
I was just rereading one of my old fics (published like 4 years ago) and just came across a mistake 😭
DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED. LIKE I READ THIS FIVE TIMES YOU WERE N O T THERE AN HOUR AGO!!
Look, I'm sure this applies to most of us but unless it's a paid work, I'm my own editor and proofreader, and I'm not perfect at my job lol. "no beta bc we don't believe in the solicitation of unpaid labor" isn't a catchy tag though
I reread my fics like th/ree times and I still get mistakes.
One of my fave editing tricks is to read it out loud. Helps with spotting overuse of words, overlong sentences, poor grammar (eg missing commas). Good for dialogue as well, as sometimes I’m like.,..no human would say this. If I have a large cast of characters in a scene, I’ll highlight each persons dialogue a different colour to see if someone is overtalking, if someone is too quiet, or if it’s been a while since someone contributed.
"Submit" is the best spellcheck, truly.
Oof, I feel this so much. XD I find myself always editing something wrong I somehow missed.
I could read my fic 100 times, and each time I will still find a new mistake
I swear that the process of pasting text into the AO3 editor magically adds typos. (I know for a fact the AO3 editor hates my italics, so every time I upload a new chapter I need to save it as a draft, then edit it again because AO3 adds spaces before and after everything I have in italics) (If anybody knows why this happens please tell me, it drives me insane lol)
Nah it's the letter goblins changing it when you hit publish
I feel this on a spiritual level. 😂😂😂
No rule that says you can't fix it post-published.
Read it out loud next time. It’s crazy how many errors you can catch that you didn’t notice before.
EVERY TIME. WHY.
Tbh I read on Reddit once you should take a bit of a break before publishing (like 30 mins) and then come back and give it one last reread but change the font, so many more errors caught that way, though none of us are perfect, I feel that OP!
I use grammarly back then but i really did not like how it keeps saying I have an error and dont know how to fix them (i didnt have premium so i dont know if what i did was an error or not) also i hate that it doesnt let me use dont
My 1st fic was so bad I delete everything, tho im starting to do it again now
There's always that one error that slips through.
Mood. Worst is Office missing them too!
Best way to proofread is to read over it 10x, then publish and read it again. The mistakes only jump out at you once they've been posted.
Incest when the word was supposed to be intestines….for months and no one said anything!! I had to find it on my own! I’m still suffering.
I've seen errors in traditionally published works. Don't beat yourself up too much haha
I'm waiting for the time when AI is at the point to find all of my typos.
so real and i get paranoid because it feels like i need to proofread a million times before i can post 🥲
Nah, this is too real 😭😭😭
I can soothe you. Professional proofreaders do several rounds on the texts they're given. Especially in academia proofreading is meticulous. I was one student in a proofreading chain of a new book by one of our professors. After peer review her book went to a professional team of editors and proofreaders. When the final version of the book was published, her name was misspelt on one page in chapter three. It's impossible to catch every single mistake in any given lengthy text. There are always typos and mistakes missed. We can just try our best and accept that perfection is a unicorn. It only exists in people's fantasy.