Quote:
Originally Posted by Lukusaukko
What would you call an error, where the author describes something in a way that makes no sense in a later context (well, except bad writing...)? I was reading an urban fantasy book where the author describes someone as wearing a suit with frayed seams two sizes too small for him. Later in the book, the character is described as growing in size and sprouting spikes when angry - if the suit were too small for him to begin with, it would simply be torn apart, so the only way it makes sense if the character actually had a suit too large for him in his normal form. I would imagine an editor would have caught that kind of a lack of logic - though given the genre, logical discrepancies are often par for the course...
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That's not the kind of thing, though should be edited after an early "proof" reading of a draft. But some don't care about that.
I think people in this thread (certainly myself) are talking about definite typos, wrong punctuation, absolutely wrong words, grammar that's clear cut errors rather than style or ethnic variation and lack of consistency were alternate spelling or grammar is allowed (like am, pm, spelling ages or not). Stuff that should be spotted between a final draft and final proof.
What you're taking about is stuff that beta readers or developmental editors should pickup and complain about even in the first complete draft. At a certain point re-writing should stop* and proofing is then about local mistakes. Not plot holes or logical inconsistency or glaringly wrong facts about factual things etc.
[* I know one guy that takes years to "finish" a novel because after final proofing he'll decide it needs re-written]