Anachronisms and Non Sequiturs

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BruceJ

BruceJ

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Anybody other than I let an obvious disconnect in your fiction go all the way through to the final draft? This is embarrassing, but in my 8th-Century BC Palestinian setting, I actually have a donkey-cart driver say, "Whoa!"
:e2thud:

All other exclamatories are appropriate (e.g., Hoi!). How on earth did that one get through?

Am I alone in this?
 
zornhau

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BruceJ said:
Anybody other than I let an obvious disconnect in your fiction go all the way through to the final draft? This is embarrassing, but in my 8th-Century BC Palestinian setting, I actually have a donkey-cart driver say, "Whoa!"
:e2thud:

All other exclamatories are appropriate (e.g., Hoi!). How on earth did that one get through?

Am I alone in this?
Click to expand...

I don't see anything wrong with "Whoa!". You're writing in idiomatic translation. Otherwise you'd end up with comically literal translations of figures of speech: "My kidneys crave your embrace." "Rejoice! My yellow bile rises!" And so on. (OK, I made those up.)
 
JeanneTGC

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LOL! I can relate to that a LOT.

I caught the fact that I had somehow combined 1876 and 1878, while completely omitting 1877, in one of my WIPs. I created 18768no7ish, basically. No worries, right, except it's set in the Old West and weaves real people in. Sort of embarrassing to explain. Happily, caught before it went to final (and the subsequent improvements made improved the work greatly).
 
RTH

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I like to embrace the anachronisms and non-sequiturs in my writing.

If I didn't, I'd have nothing on the page. :D
 
BruceJ

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Ooops! Well, at least you caught it. Mine's in the final...

Similarly, I read a recent novel that was quite good (the sequel to Tenney's Hadassah) in which a private jet was doing Mach 8.5. I think what the author meant to say was Mach .85. That was good for a chuckle and some relief that it happens to more folks than just me.
 
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