I was reading for pleasure for years before I ever started trying to write my own. I devoured series romances as fast as I could get my hands on them. Back then, I had no idea how much work went into producing one of those books. I had this mythical idea that the book somehow magically emerge whole cloth from the writer’s talented imagination. I’ve since learned just how wrong I was. There are regular people behind all those stories, and however skilled or talented they may be, we all make mistakes. In fact, most of us have common mistakes that we make nearly every time. Here are a few of mine.
Dragon Speak
I have a physical disability that limits my ability to type (and to do a lot of other physical things). As such, I use dictation software almost exclusively when I write. Over the years, I’ve developed a set up that works pretty well for me. For the most part, it’s amazingly accurate. However, it’s inevitable that some words get misunderstood and mistakes get made. Case in point, in the previous sentence, Dragon misinterpreted mistakes get made to say mistakes it made. This is probably the biggest category of my mistakes. Most of them are small and easily caught, but a few always slip through. Luckily, my primary beta reader is used to it and has gotten very good at interpreting what Dragon Speak is supposed to mean. On occasion, it has even inadvertently led to some pretty amusing errors.
Repetition and Wordiness
As far as mistakes I make as opposed to ones made by my software, the biggest ones are probably repetition and wordiness. I like long sentences. When I tell stories, I get very detailed and can rattle a bit. A book I have coming out in March was actually 3000 words shorter after it came out of the editing phase. I’m just a wordy writer. That’s why it’s important for me to have good editors and beta readers who can help me tighten it up.
By the same token, I struggle with repetition. It’s not unusual for me to repeat the same word two or three times in a given paragraph or page. I particularly seem to struggle with the words just and that. They seem to multiply like bunnies in my manuscripts. Sometimes I repeat explanations too. That’s partly because I often don’t write in order and as I’m going along through the draft I don’t realize that I’ve already splaying this somewhere before and don’t need to do it again. That doesn’t always become obvious until all the different pieces of the story have been put together.
I could doubtless go on for a while. There are plenty of other mistakes I make on a regular basis. I’m not, nor have I ever claimed to be perfect, but I always hope to create a reader experience that far overrides the occasional mistake that might slip through.
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Lol, “just” and “that” are some of my favorite words, too. I haven’t tried Dragon, but I hear good things. I bet there is a huge learning curve for those of us who speak quickly and probably don’t enunciate like we should… Ahem…
Dragon NaturallySpeaking is my fall back when fingers don’t want to work. Although I have to find myself a quiet private space. Talking to myself, especially in a dragon voice when my characters speak to me, can earn some odd looks.
I have never tried Dragon but with my Southern accent I can only imagine. You should see what my smartphone comes up with when I talk to text. LOL!!!
And I think we all repeat words. I do.
I use Dragon Speak too. I use it for the editing process by having it read me the story so I can catch where I have left out words or used the wrong tenses. Great post.
I have tried Dragon and it is useless for me. I seem to have several different accents that creep out when I am not careful. But I love the idea and someday maybe it will work for me.
I’ve always been curious about Dragon Speak. I’d love to see some of those interesting errors, too. Ever thought about combining them into one manuscript for a blog post or something? It’d probably give your readers plenty of amusement! On the other hand, isn’t technology terrific in that it gives many options for people to do what they love–like writing!
I tried Dragon but it didn’t like my southern accent or my list ( or it liked it too much) We had lots of arguing matches and I spent lots of time saying strike that…
Sounds like we have a lot of the same problems, though I don’t use dictation. Glad it works for you.
I’m also a fan of long, complex sentences, and have had to rein myself in a bit. My latest ‘oops’ has been beginning sentences the same, instead of using clauses to break up the monotony.