On 16 Sep 96, 07:51pm, James Mcneill wrote to David Chessler
on the subject of "LIVING FOREVER":
DC>>  No, it's a matter of forgetting whether you had a pony car or a
DC>>  pony. For someone who doesn't know or care much about firearms,
DC>>  it's an easy mistake to make, whether the character had a
DC>>  revolver or an automatic, 100 pages back. (Usually the plot
DC>>  doesn't hinge on the detail.) Thus, I think Christie did make the
DC>>  mistake in the first of the Tommy and Tuppence novels (N or M?),
DC>>  back at the beginning of her career, and later had Adriane Oliver
DC>>  complain of people who notice things like that.
 >    It's hard not to notice that the hero is suddenly putting a saddle
 >    on the Mustang that he was driving just a few chapters before.
 >    If I didn't notice, then I must be asleep. Either way, they lost the
 >    reader, something no writer should do.       (8-}
The question is whether the detail is significant (and guns are
very significant to some people, even if they are only minor
elements of the plot). However, often there are serious mistakes
because the book was extensively rewritten and something was
missed. I've seen authors admit to calling characters by the
wrong name in the early printings of some novels (back before
word-processors with an S&R function).
--
  ___   __      david.chessler@mix.cpcug.org   david.chessler@neteast.com
   d_)--/d      chessler@capaccess.org         chessler@trinitydc.edu
... E-mail:   ->132     1:109/1111     david.chessler@mix.cpcug.org
 * Evaluation copy of Silver Xpress. Day # 0
 * Silver Xpress V4.3
--- Synchronet+SBBSecho v1.23á
---------------