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Thursday, September 12, 2013

Whoops! That's Not What I Meant!

What's the funniest thing you've ever "accidentally" written?

Mine would have to be: "Grasping his dar'dul-adz firmly in his right hand..." Whoops!

Now I knew perfectly well what I meant to say by that line. A dar'dul-adz is a spear traditionally carried by Shalt-ahnk warriors on the planet Tartarus. But someone unfamiliar with my work could get another idea entirely!

My two daughters nearly died laughing when they read that line in one of my first drafts of Judgment on Tartarus. Not at all the effect I was trying to achieve!

A few of my typos have turned out to be unintentionally humorous, too. For instance: "She loved herons." Herons? Really? Well, I love them as well, but that line should have read: "She loved her sons." Big difference!

The infamous autocorrect often leads to inadvertent comedy. It once insisted that the word I wanted to type was not "goddammit" but "goldsmith!" Huh? How on earth did it reach that conclusion?

I can imagine an irate Captain Richard Hughes shouting, "Goldsmith, Fleet Admiral Gutierrez! Goldsmith!"

Ah, the many trials and tribulations of being a writer, in any genre. But no matter what difficulties you may encounter, hilarious or not, keep on writing and keep on reading!

MRTighe

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