Paranormal Romance & Urban Fantasy discussion

I read mostly e-books, and find many to be poorly edited. I'm not the grammar police, but do wince at the ones I notice like the misused their/there, your/you're, to/too.

Last night I was reading a paranormal romance with vampires. During a tense scene between two of the males, the author wrote that the one warrior wisely gave the other "wide girth". (Meant "wide berth"). It struck me as so funny I found myself laughing like a crazy person. At least it was worth a chuckle!

OK, "wide girth" would make me laugh too. Those type do make me chuckle.

But most of the other ones annoy me. Misused words, comma placement, never ending sentences, and so on.

The misuse of homophones is enough to make me want to scream. Adults should know when to use to/too, its/it's, there/their/they're, your/you're, and one that I've seen a lot, then/than. I taught fourth grade for 38 years. If fourth graders can use these words correctly 95% of the time, so can adults. Spell check won't work on this.

don't forget past/passed which have totally different meanings and people use them interchangeably.

Lay/laid/lie/lied comes to mind. Further/Farther. Using nauseous instead of nauseated always makes me smile. :)

Sad but true. Part of the problem is the economics of e-books. Most authors, even traditionally published authors, will not sell very much. So it makes it difficult for them to justify editing. Of course, this doesn't mean the reader should be used as an editor either, pointing out the grammatical errors to the author. No one is perfect, but most authors worth reading would not be making these kinds of mistakes in their books.

While not a teacher myself, I grew up in a family that ran to 3 occupations--military, teaching and medicine. And sometimes multiples of these at the same time. So bad editing drives me totally batty.

And the use of words that are essentially "made up" instead of using the correct past/present tense are another thing that drives me insane.

And we won't even talk about creative spelling. . .

But the run on sentences, use of the word irreguardless (no such WORD people, get a dictionary for heaven's sake) and many other mistakes like this. I've actually stopped reading a story and given bad reviews because I couldn't get past (NOT passed, like I saw in one book that is not to be named.) And that's another one, come on people, past/passed are not even remotely the same word. And it's not even always the free or .99 e-books that do this either. I've had some "full price" books with as many, if not more, mistakes.

Sandra J wrote: "The misuse of homophones is enough to make me want to scream. Adults should know when to use to/too, its/it's, there/their/they're, your/you're, and one that I've seen a lot, then/than. I taught fo..."

Yes!

The English language has deteriorated so much it is really telling. If you read a book published a mere 30 years ago and one today you would probably be appalled.

For me

I read a book recently where the woman had buxom hips. I was completely confused. And went running to my dictionary When I learned the definition of buxom, it meant busty, (So I don't have to explain my visual)

Now it's curvaceous and chubby even. I looked in three different dictionaries and depending on the age of the person you ask your answers will differ.

So as Michelle pointed out a book written 30 years ago takes on a whole different meaning.

Ann aka Iftcan wrote: "While not a teacher myself, I grew up in a family that ran to 3 occupations--military, teaching and medicine. And sometimes multiples of these at the same time. So bad editing drives me totally bat..."

Yes! This!

PepperP0t wrote: "I read a book recently where the woman had buxom hips. I was completely confused. And went running to my dictionary When I learned the definition of buxom, it meant busty, (So I don't have to expla..."

Oh, that would have had me laughing. In the Merriam-Webster it means 'a healthy and attractive woman with large breasts'. The adjective can't really be applied to a woman's hips only. Too funny.

I would like to make a comment on behalf of the illiterate writers out there. I have written a few books now and from this side of things I am able to understand it. In the rush to get a great idea typed up or written; your first draft can be a war zone of grammar shrapnel. I personally edited a book five times and then paid for a professional edit. Then while reading it again after publishing I still found an unsightly error. And trust me that it irritated the hell out of me too. Imagine that 'he grabbed her around her waste.' My God! So what I'm saying is that sometimes in our passion as writers we make plenty of mistakes. Is that an excuse for a book that is entirely unreadable? No. And I know readers should not have to point it out. But after my first reviews mentioned grammar I grew a brain and hired an editor. Then republished the better version (Luckily before too many had made a purchase). Sometimes a gentle push from a well meaning reader can help a new author. Hopefully, right?

You know, I don't think most readers mind the occasional error. It happens even in the best written and edited books. The thing I have a hard time with are the mistakes that most people shouldn't be making in basic grammar and word usage. If my kids in fourth grade could spot the error, an adult should be able to spot it and correct it, too.

Sandra J wrote: "You know, I don't think most readers mind the occasional error. It happens even in the best written and edited books. The thing I have a hard time with are the mistakes that most people shouldn't b..."

I totally agree with this. I often find at least one error in any book, including the most professional. I never mind human error. But blatant issues drive me batty. It tells me the author doesn't care much about their craft or story, so why should I care to read it?

I don't mind it if small errors pop up. It happens. Plus, no matter how much I check my own writing I know I always miss something it happens.

What drives me crazy is when I read reviews and no one mentions the typos and grammar errors. Especially when the book is one big red mark up from front to back.

I retired from teaching 7 years ago (yes, I'm old). If a book I'm reading makes me reach for my red pen, there are too many uncorrected errors.

Sandra J wrote: "I retired from teaching 7 years ago (yes, I'm old). If a book I'm reading makes me reach for my red pen, there are too many uncorrected errors."


Kristen Ashley is a huge mess. I have found her a little easier in audio because I don't "see" the issues.

I also read many e-books and find A LOT of errors! However, I see mistakes in traditionally published books too. I started highlighting the errors in one series because it started to drive me crazy. I also figured it would help the author out to know where the mistakes were located . I also write (for fun) and have errors in my work I don't notice until someone else takes a look at it for me. I like to support self-published authors so unless there are so many errors or the errors make reading not fun, I try to ignore things!

I have to admit, a certain author that I mostly enjoy has a tendency to refer to her shifter's paws as their "claw" instead of their paw. An example, one character tells another while holding up her hand, "By this claw I rule." And yes, that does annoy me, and I have had the urge to send her a message of complaint about it, but in the case of this particular author I don't let it stop me from reading her books. She tells a good story, that is fun to read and is FUNNY.

Ann aka Iftcan wrote: "I have to admit, a certain author that I mostly enjoy has a tendency to refer to her shifter's paws as their "claw" instead of their paw. An example, one character tells another while holding up he..."

That is the main idea. No-one is perfect, so it's not realistic to think that there will be no errors, but I guess if the book is full of them, that reflects badly.