Saturday, November 06, 2010

The Departure

Remember my previous post about the Asteroid Belt? Well I've just finished going through the copy edited typescript and my perceived error required and addition of five words, and they weren't really needed.




Really, my screw-up was in the book Zero Point, which I haven't even finished. In The Departure I mention the Asteroid Belt a total of about three times. Now time to get back to some research on a vaguely remembered figure of eight route between Earth and Mars...

Note to self: do not turn into a histrionic writer!

5 comments:

Spencer said...

I think people who pick up continuity flaws in books and films can never enjoy them as much. I mean to a certain degree its needed, but people do get very anal, when after all, its entertainment!!! And frankly, having created as many characters, aliens and planets as you have, with all the different storylines and technologies to keep in check, i think you're allowed to make as many mistakes as you like :)

Neal Asher said...

Ah, but Spencer, this was a really big error which, in Zero Point, would have been a serious one. I had some sort of brainstorm I think, concentrating on the plot and forgetting the somewhat larger picture. It would have been the equivalent of writing a near future novel and positioning Japan just off the coast of Norway.

Spencer said...

Ha, nicely put. Well i guess the best part is that when it comes out, people that read your blog can chuckle silently with you, knowing that you nearly made a major sci-fi faux pas and fucked up the distances hehe

Grim's Reality said...

Continuity is critical. Those silly schoolboy errors make authors look like they don't give a flying @!*%.

I am cursed with a good memory, and you run into a jar point, and all of a sudden, you sit and think; is this just paying the bills?

Histrionic is good, it shows commitment?

Neal Asher said...

Graeme, I think a better word than histrionic is pedantic (both parents teachers, go figure). I too have a good memory for detail and get very annoyed if I fuck up.