And if you go talk to any professional writer they will tell you that those kinds of errors slip in. It doesn’t matter if the writer is closely following an outline or just going with the flow as they write, mistakes happen. They try to catch them when proofing the galleys, but they usually only have a few days to do that. And the copy editing is sporadic in the publishing world these days, so they get through. It is much better to realize that and enjoy the experience rather than get mad at the writer because they goofed.
I don’t. Let it go.
Lok
I’m a published author married to someone who writes children’s fantasy. Rest assured I’m well familiar with mistakes getting through and continuity glitches but in Rowling’s case, there’s mistakes which IMO are preventable by a bit of forward planning. The storyline is getting so complex that she really needs to be a lot more assiduous than she was in GoF. I’m not saying it’s a doddle but I don’t agree that things couldn’t be improved.
And even though editing is not as thorough as it was a decade ago, a book like GoF which has a hell of a lot of Bloomsbury’s money riding on it would get more than a cursory proofing at galley stage. Even at our end of the market, we get the book back once after copyediting, and after proofing. It’s usually get this done ASAP and I find it very difficult to believe that Rowling is not given this courtesy. People I know who publish in the British market get it and she’s got far more clout than we do.
Oh what a loverly sentence!
I wrote with admirable syntax:
“It’s usually get this done ASAP and I find it very difficult to believe that Rowling is not given this courtesy”.
Beautiful, just beautiful.
I meant that when the MS comes back it’s usually get this proofed and back to the editor ASAP. I find it very difficult to believe that Rowling would just hand over her MS and not see again until it is printed.
The OP sent an e-mail asking that this thread be locked, so I’m gonna do it out of respect for his wishes.
If one of you would like to open another to continue the debate, or would like to open it in the Pit in order to properly bash Ms. Rowling, go for it.
– Uke, Cafe Society moderator