Fifty Shades of Grey

by: Romany Howes (24 February 2015)

I haven’t read it and I haven’t seen the film. There’s a simple explanation: someone told me that there were so many grammatical errors in the book that it was hard to read, and, being a grammatist, I find it impossible not to read a book for pleasure without spotting mistakes. And I don’t like watching films until I’ve read the book. So it seems that my film-going ventures will be limited to The Theory of Everything and Big Six Hero!

However, having spent the past few years proofreading old novels, it’s surprising how many books have mistakes in them. One classic example was the name change of one of the sub-characters half way through . . . Marion suddenly became Marianne. Confusing? Just slightly. In American-published novels, ‘ton’ often changes to ‘tonne’ , ‘center’ frequently becomes ‘centre’ and so on and so forth. A writer, just like a film director, must always aim for complete continuity in spelling and grammar.

Third party proofread

The purpose of a novel is to lose yourself in the story, not pick up on annoying little grammar or spelling mistakes. So if you are writing a novel, or if you are a publisher or owner of an author’s estate who wants to put that author’s books onto e-media, then get it proofed properly. Once it’s in hard print, then there’s no going back. A professional proofreader is essential, so don’t cut corners, get a free quote and make sure that your work is perfect for reading.

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