I have two real serious pet peeves. Interestingly, they both have to do with words. The first pet peeve is that I cant stand when I see bad spelling. Bad spelling and bad grammar are two different things. SPELLING DOES NOT CHANGE! Grammar, however, does. The second pet peeve is the use of words. Connotation and denotation are two concepts that should be taught in HS and Collegiate English classes. Without these concepts, people won't understand word usage.
The reason I bring this up is that I am reading Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. Yes, I gave in and I blame her leaked book. It's a good book. A wonderful read for those who love romance. It's a teenage love story with vampires involved. That's it, nothing more. She is a good storyteller but a horrible writer and this is why.
My issue is that her editor, seriously needs to go back to school. While I am reading this (and I'm not saying I am perfect, I just am conscious as to how I use certain words with their denotative/connotative meanings.) My grammar is horrible, but my spelling is usually flawless. If I make a mistake here or there, it's because I overlooked my typing. But for the most part, I am a really awesome speller. It's one of my defining qualities, I think.
So I'm reading this book and I'm picking up how she uses some words and they are used, for the most part, incorrectly. AND IT IRKS ME! If it isn't that, it is how they're spelled. HOW DO YOU AS AN EDITOR ALLOW SOMETHING TO GO IN A BOOK MISPELLED??! I don't understand that. I really don't. So I'm highly peeved and needed to vent about this. I just don't understand how someone could be paid to do a job they are not good at. Obviously this editor needs a new career because "editing" is not their thing!
Tell me, if you were supposed to be this aspiring author, and you finally get your book published wouldn't you feel like you are being played or cheated if the editor doesn't edit your book the way they should? At the very least, in the minimal, by correcting your spelling errors? Word usage, fine, I'll let it go(only because as a writer, I know why I use some words in the sense I use them) but SPELLING?? Really?
8 comments:
I've seen a lot of this sort of thing lately and all I can think is that as budgets have tightened, maybe publishing houses are cutting back on editing/proofing staff?
you know ive wondered if thats the case, but still, I dont think thats enough of an excuse to slack off on these little things. ESPECIALLY coming from a publishing company. Like I know Im not an English major and my grammar is horrible but I would expect a publishing company to hire people who know better, not just because they need a job and they seem OK for it. Maybe Im looking at this the wrong way.
Shame! Its sad because I had a professor last year who yelled at us if we handed in work with misspelled words. Maybe we need more professors like her
Yes maam definitely do! And I so posted something similar to this on FB. You are going to laugh!
I just saw a word misused the other day! I had to wonder about the editor too....
Also, so cool to meet a fellow speller! I'm not super great at grammar, but like you I rarely mispell stuff. :-)
Oh, no! You're going to hate me then!! I really can't spell!! So much that if I can't spell check things, I copy/paste it either into Word or my e-mail so I can!!
LOL JEN! I wont hate you! Probably just correct you a lot. At least you use spell check. A lot of folk just dont bother!
Wow! I hadn't even noticed that :/ I guess I must have read it too quickly because I fully agree with being annoyed by misspellings and poor grammar!
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