Typos.
You’ve got to love them.
Especially when they prowl in the paragraphs of your most important papers.
I view it as a blessing when I’m required to read it one more time before the whole class: It’s my last chance to spot that little monster and cross it out.
I’ve had my fair share of typos as I am sure every writer has.
When the words start pounding in my head and flying out my fingers, the scene of the story playing out before my eyes, I can hardly keep up with myself or my spelling lessons. I have no time to check myself and soon the squiggly red lines are blurring until they disappear behind my character’s surroundings.
When I first started editing my very first competed novel, I came across many a misused comma.
There is a great satisfaction to surfing through pages and pages of manuscript and adding those little missing punctuation marks, but after a certain amount of time, as the sun sets in the west and my eyes grow weary and my hands cramp up from crossing out everything.
It is in those moments typos no longer are those embarrassing mistakes, but suddenly my greatest friends, entertaining me when I most need it.
I even began writing them down.
So today, you get a glimpse into what crazy things sometimes pop out of my fingers.
Welcome to my rough draft world, where my character gallop away on their hoses and the air is filled with humility!
First up we have some brilliant prose dug up from the one and only, Unnamed Fantasy Novel of my childhood:
“The chickens squawked widely.”
What profound wisdom is this?
Meaning their range was wide?
I’ve never payed attention to the pitch of squawking chickens, but now I will have to notice.
Very intriguing.
“The first raised his head and stared at Ethel, screeching, as his boy started to shrivel and shrink until it was a black feathery creature: A vulture.”
Yikes… I feel sorry for his boy.
Poor kid.
“Behind, in the courtyard, yelling arose and then something began to thudded below in the streets.”
This sentence is actually pulled from the same scene as the last two…
When it rains, it pours, my friends.
“Ethel could barely see his shadow stop and pull something from a self.”
Wow, is this stranger a magician? O.O
Or is he just a guy reaching into his pockets?
And will Ethel ever really know?
“I have brought you breakfast and a new dress, since the one I dressed you in the first day was too big. It was the only one we had at the moment,” she chattered setting everything she held on the self, along with items from the stool.”
What can I say?
I’m a person of habit.
“Dried herbs dangled from strings off the low rafters, fragmenting the room with a mix of strong smells.”
I mean.
It works…
“He held out the plate and Ethel accepted it sullenly. The rice and rice smelled good. He handed her the fork too.”
Rice and rice guys.
You heard it here first.
Best dish ever.
“…The Riders: Two black dots drifted amidst the blue ribbon that snacked into the horizen’s grasp.”
Wow… just.
Wow.
Blue ribbon snacked into a horizen’s grasp?
Is English even my first language?
And what is up with these descriptions?
All I can picture is a small mythical rodent nibbling on a blue ribbon.
I promise I don’t describe things this way any more.
“Seth grabbed the boy’s shoulders with venomous and leaned forward.”
Wait… so was Seth secretly a venomous creature? Like a snake? 😮
I mean the other guy’s boy turns into a vulture sooo
The things an author doesn’t know about her characters until it happens.
And that’s fun and all, but even more recently as I combed through my first set of twenty chapters from 51, I found stuff:
“Stay with my Zeb,” she whispered. “Don’t you dare faint now.”
Woah, woah, woah.
Charlie, my dear.
Don’t go to fast here… you’ve only known him for 24 hours.
That was supposed to say me…
And then a few lines later Zeb asks Charlie:
“How much father?”
Can their situation here get any more confusing?
Charlie nodded. “I’m sorry… I know it hurts and I quash we were closer.”
Well apparently.
Wait…
There’s even more.
“They limped on and Sarah and she dumped the paper bag into the trash.”
Look.
I don’t even have a character named Sarah.
Talk about random people showing up in scenes.
Well, Sarah, you got your little debut in the middle of no where, may we return to the story?
“Zeb looked down at his tights where the bloodied strip of white was tied around his tattered jeans. Where had that come from?”
Oh totally.
Ballerina tights are so Zeb’s style, guys.
Like totally.
Yeah…
No.
That’s supposed to say “thigh.”
So where did those random tights come from, Zeb? Do tell. 😉
i am going to start saying “snacked into the horizen’s grasp” because it is just amazing XD
LikeLiked by 2 people
😂🤣
Oh dear…
Have I started a trend? 😳
Just make sure not to give me credit for the phrase. 😜
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love how funny you made this! I was laughing the entire time I read. 😂 I should look back at my own typos and see what crazy weird things I find.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Haha thanks Camille. 😂 Yes! You should. It’s a lot of fun.
LikeLike
Amusing post and very entertaining! I actually read “shelf” twice when you had typed “self”! So realizing there had to be a mistake in the sentence I went back and reread to find the typo that my mind had automatically corrected in my brain. Weird.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Haha that’s what kept happening to me too! 😂 Great minds have the same problems I guess. 😜
LikeLike
“Chickens squawked widely”. . . 🤣🤣
I’m literally tearing up from laughing. That was fantastic.
Years ago I tried to write a story about a bunch of penguins, and as I was reading back through it one day, I found this:
“Did you see how Dr. Peterson’s face reacted when I asked about Prince?”
. . . *laughs/sobs with pity*
LikeLike
Yes. 😂😂 The chickens in my world are very strange. 😜
Why am I not surprised you were writing a story about penguins?? 😂 How his face reacted. 🤣 That’s amazing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love this. Typos can be a source of much-needed laughter at yourself. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes! 😄
LikeLiked by 1 person
It happens so often to me. Sometimes I feel like leaving them in to make people laugh. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Haha yes! 😄
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is such a fantastic post! I laughed through the entire thing. 🤣 Your sarcasm makes me happy. 😜
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Eden. 😂😂 It was a lot of fun. But hey. At least I didn’t put THE typo here. 🤣🤣😜
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ohmyword! 🤣🤣 THAT TYPO is going to be funny forever.
LikeLiked by 1 person
😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Aha, I have found another person with typo issues! XD Thanks for posting this, it was a real laugh!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It brings me joy to be the one to tell you….You are not alone in this fight, my friend. 😂😂👍
LikeLiked by 1 person
I giggled so much, my sisters were all demanding to know what was so funny.
I think the “rice and rice” one was my personal favorite. I will definitely give you credit when I become a millionaire with my Rice & Rice restaurant.
XD
LikeLiked by 1 person
😂😂 I’m… honored that you find my mistakes so utterly hysterical. 😳🤣
Yes. You can’t go wrong with rice. Nor alliterations. 😜
LikeLike
Hilarious!
LikeLike
This is… Absolutely fantastic. I laughed so hard, and it is just… Wow.
Once I misspelled ‘Lion’ and it turned into ‘Loin’ on accident.
And ‘He yanked his fingers through his air’.
Don’t question it. Just don’t.
LikeLiked by 1 person
*wonders how one can own air… does one buy and sell it? Who owns it in the first place. And would air property be taxed?*
I smell a story….
LikeLike
[…] The March of the Typos […]
LikeLike