I've been working with a narrator to create an audiobook version of my novel, SHIFTER, which means I've spent a lot of time listening to individual chapters and the entire 11-hour long book over and over again to ensure a quality release. Aside from being slightly maddening, I'm noticing (and sometimes cringing at) errors in my writing.
Here are just a few of the high points:
- Mixing in too many imperial units when I intended Ellen to use only metric.
- The sidearm Adam the PMC uses switches from a Glock 5 to Sig P226 when he brings Ellen in for her second ‘job interview.’
- The style of writing in the big race in chapter 27 is not consistent - this was actually going to be the first scene of the book but it got reshuffled later on.
- There is a bit of missing / messy content around a costume party at Ellen’s place that was remixed / edited out so I’m not sure I was consistent with mentions of Ellen’s ex boyfriend Ian, the beer can pyramid, and some of the cosplay stuff. I’m also not 100% on the introduction of her childhood injury & scars.
- There are A LOT of loose threads that are meant to lead onto more content that didn’t get included in this book, which was originally only a third of a larger story before it was cut down to be a bit more ‘market friendly’ for a first time author.
- One of the things I learned is a common first time writers mistake is creating characters with similar names: Alec, Ash, Adam, Ajax - Guilty! Ellen’s dad even gets Ash’s name wrong, something that was intentional, but kinda ironic in an Alanis Morissette kinda way.
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