Novel writing.?

Question

Is it usual for professional authors to make grammatical mistakes? If so will the book not be published if there are to many grammatical mistakes - or do they simple get edited out?

Answer 1

They are edited out. There are multiple people to touch a book before it is published. It is copy edited more than once by more than one person. I know people who have edited text books. She was just one of a dozen or so people in the book as someone who edited it.

Answer 2

A writer's job is to learn the craft of writing (mechanics as well as plotting) to put out the best product possible. To assume that Word's grammar and spell check will do it all for you is to assume incorrectly. Spell/grammar check does not look for misused words, redundancy, etc.

A professional author proofreads very carefully before submitting a final manuscript to a publisher, because they want to put their best foot forward when showcasing their work. Manuscripts riddled with errors are not often contracted because obviously the piece is not ready for publication.

Of course, writers are human and sometimes they can miss a spelling or grammatical error. This is why every manuscript accepted by a publishing firm receives several rounds of editing. Content editing, line editing, copyediting all helps to produce a quality product that both the publisher and author can be proud of.

So yes, it is very common for authors to make mistakes. But a book isn't generally published until those mistakes are fixed.

Answer 3

The writer's job is to come up with the story and communicate it as best as they can, the rest is up to the editors. Publishers do like it when there's very little editing involved, it just looks good. They like to know that your book won't take as much work and can be published right away, so everyone can make money, and the publishers won't lose money.

It's important to realize, for every mistake, someone is being paid to fix them, that's money lost. For very successful writers, since their books sell so well, the loss from editing is not as big of a deal.

I have trouble with grammar sometimes, so I use a free program called AbiWord, it works beautifully, both grammar and spelling check, in any language. I highly recommend it. :)

Answer 4

Unusual, probably not. Common, not as likely. For someone who has been published already and has a working relationship with their editor, there is going to be more room for mistakes.

If you haven't been published by a particular publisher make sure you fix as many errors as possible beforehand when submitting work to them. Some editors will overlook more mistakes than others if the writing is good, but don't count on them doing so.

Answer 5

If your novel is brilliant it won't matter - that's what copy editors are for. If you write it on a computer you can use the the Grammar facillity. However, if you don't have a basic grasp of the English language it seems unlikely to me that your novel will be brilliant. Novels depend a lot on writing style as well as plot, characterisation, dialogue, background etc..
Fowler's English Usage is a good reference book for use when you're not sure of grammar.

Answer 6

if they are lucky they get edited out but for myself, I wrote to andrew morton some years ago because of 3 mistakes in his book on the royal wedding of prince andrew and sarah ferguson. never received a reply so doubt the mistakes were ever rectified.maybe he thought anyone who bought the book was a mug of the first degree......

Answer 7

Yes, it is unusual. If you are worried, hire a proofreader BEFORE you submit your book to a publisher.

Answer 8

They use professional editors

Answer 9

i thought "Microsoft Words" would help you out with grammar and spelling!