Timewaster's Guide Archive
Local Authors => Brandon Sanderson => Topic started by: Ruthie on January 06, 2011, 04:49:02 AM
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While I loved the interior art, it was baffling to me why the publisher placed each illustration where it was. Why was Shallan's drawing of the dog thing, for instance, placed hundreds of pages after the part where she draws it? I would much rather have had all of it a page or two away from the scene that references it.
Furthermore, why are all of Brandon's books so poorly proofread? With his first books, I assumed he was too new for TOR to want to invest much in the way of proofreading on him. Now that he's such a success, the continued poor quality just doesn't make sense. I am a copy editor, so I notice such things more than most people do, probably, but I also compare books with each other, and Brandon's seem to be in relatively bad shape typo-wise.
[Addition: My husband, also a copy editor, says the new Tad Williams book he's reading is poorly proofread too. He thinks that maybe publishers are just having to cut back on editing in this economy, or maybe in general in response to the changes in the industry, such as the move to e-books. It might be.]
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Brandon picked where the illustrations went. He wanted them spaced out.
The recent books' errors have been due to production speed. You should have seen them BEFORE they were copyedited, because oh my. Anyway, I really hope we can get more time in the future. But all of Brandon's books have had the same copyeditor, I believe, and Moshe thinks highly of her.
Some authors go through their books with a fine-tooth comb before they're even copyedited. Brandon is not such an author.
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Also we do have an official typo thread around here, if you find any typos/errors in the book that aren't already posted you can post them there to be fixed in a future edition.
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Yeah, I've used it before. I wonder sometimes if I'm wasting my time, though. How long will it be before such changes are implemented?
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It makes me feel better that Brandon chose the placement of the pictures. The idea of it being haphazard was bothering me.
I feel like I'm being really negative here. I totally understand time restraints undermining good intentions for editing. I myself have had to say "good enough for the time I have" on a few projects, and it drives me nuts.
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As a copy editor you're probably catching things most readers miss. Especially since many people don't even registter minor mistakes in spelling or grammar; their brains edit it right out. The ability to edit copy is an acquired skill, and it's not like you can turn it off when you're not at work.
I catch errors while watching animation all the time, but regular viewers don't notice and rarely care.
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I'm fixing over 100 things in the paperback, many of which were reported in the typos threads. Also, a ton of Towers of Midnight errors are getting fixed in the ebook coming out at the end of this month.
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Good to know. Maybe I should keep my red pen with me while I read. ;)
Oh, also, were there creatures like chulls in White Sand? They seemed very familiar to me . . .
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I can't remember. There's something like something from Aether of Night, though.
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Oh, also, were there creatures like chulls in White Sand? They seemed very familiar to me . . .
The creatures in White Sand are called Tonks and they are like horses but have reptilian/insect-like plates and horns on their heads.
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I can't remember. There's something like something from Aether of Night, though.
Hm, haven't read that one.
It sounds like I was conflating plates on a horse-like animal that you ride. I did read that book about ten years ago.