27 March 2009

The Curse of the Character with the Changing Name

I've just received a pdf of Bought: One Damsel in Distress with line numbers for me to make any last minute corrections, which is thrilling but kind of scary.

The last time I read the story, about a week after I'd sent the revisions to my editor, I noticed that my heroine's sister, Anna, briefly becomes an Alice. Oops. Schoolgirl error. (Cue absolute horror and cold sweat and the conviction that they'd whip the contract back.) But then I reckoned that someone more eagle-eyed than me would pick this up while cutting dialogue and removing any madey-uppy words. However, Alice is still there and I'm wondering what else is lurking. Yikes. I'd better go and find a fine-toothed comb.

9 comments:

Felicity Roger said...

The big question to ask I guess is...has the cheque cleared. Only joking. I am sure your search will not be as bad as you think. And as far as madey-uppy words, I love them, so let a few of them pass through to the keeper.

Jackie Ashenden said...

Ha ha! Sorry, not laughing at you, Lucy. I'm just remembering a character of mine who changed their name and I didn't notice in an ms I write a while back. At least it wasn't the heroine's eh? :-)

How exciting for you, though! You're going to have to change your blog bio since you are now actually published. :-)

Michelle Styles said...

Use a ruler, so you can focus on each line rather than being sucked into the story.
Remember you are checking for flow. Does it pull you out of the story?
Copy editors can only flag, it is your editor who will have made the changes.

Rachael Johns said...

I like Alice! Can we change to Alice? Just kidding...she's the name of the heroine's sister in one of my proposals :)

Good luck! Can't wait to read it!

Lacey Devlin said...

Lol! I've done this and found it seriously funny! Who said rewriting wasn't entertaining? Recently I was reading a Betty Neels book and the heroine put on an amber shift which then changed to a blue shift and then back to amber... I'd love a dress that could do that ;)

Suzanne Ross Jones said...

In one of the Harry Potter's Ron's name changes to Rupert - my daughter thought it was deliberate (her argument being that it was something to do with the actor who plays Ron in the films being Rupert in real life and one of the teachers in the book being a bit dotty, I think). But it really annoyed me. And it annoyed me more because I seemed to be the only one who WAS annoyed by it (but I'm old and crabbit so my views don't count).

Anonymous said...

You are in good company with the changing names, Lucy. Over on IHP, Rach's Matt and Libby become Eve and Marcos during the editorial feedback.

Perhaps everyone needs to put the glasses of champagne aside and reach for the reading glasses instead. Lol.

Lucy King said...

Good question, Felicity. And the answer's no, not yet. Oh dear.

Jackie - yep, I should change the blog bio. And get a website.

Thanks for the ruler tip, Michelle. I guess I'll have to print out all 240 pages. BTW, does this doc have a name? Is it a proof? Line edits?

Rach - she started off being an Alice then changed to Anna which may account for the slip!

Lacey - a colour changing dress. Why hasn't someone invented this yet?!

I think you have every right to be annoyed, Suzanne. It's a careless and avoidable slip. JK Rowling can probably get away with it what with her massive fan base. Me with my first book? I don't think so. If I was the reader, I'd be so annoyed I'd never read me again (if that makes any sense).

Elisabeth - yes, I saw that and was slightly surprised to say the least! The worrying thing is I already wear glasses :)

Rachael Johns said...

Haha Elisabeth - glad someone else noticed! I just can't wait to read about Marcus and Eve somewhere else... as I'm sure they're probably h&H of someones!