As I put the final touches on my inspirational thriller, The Face Behind the Veil, and about to e-mail it to my publisher, I decided to change a character’s name from Joseph to Stanley.
In an instant, this global change was made throughout the 600 page, three-part document, which traces the legend of the birth veil through three generations.
That was the only alteration I made after the book underwent extensive editing. Confident it was error-free, I clicked the mouse and off it went. It wasn’t long before I received the galley proof to review and approve, so the printing process could begin.
Weary of the seven-year project and the tedious historical research that had gone into it, I almost didn’t review the galley. But something in me couldn’t let it go until I did. That must have been Providential. Imagine my surprise when I discovered how that last minute name change affected a scene where the Christmas story is told. In horror, I read the following.
was espoused to Stanley, before they came together, she was found with
child of the Holy Ghost. Then Stanley her husband, being a just man, and
not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away
privily. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the
Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Stanley, thou son of David,
fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in
her is of the Holy Ghost . . .. Then Stanley being raised from sleep did
as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:"
(Matthew 1:18-20, 24).
After getting over my initial shock, I made the necessary changes.
However, rather than globally, I did this the old-fashioned way, one at a time.
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That's funny Flora and just goes to show that the good old fashioned way of editing is the way to go. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteHopefully, a lesson learned.
DeleteFlora
LOL. Thanks for the laugh. So glad you caught that.
ReplyDeleteMe too!
DeleteFlora
Absolutely hysterical, Fora! Stanley doesn't quite do it for me, biblically speaking!
ReplyDeleteOne of my biggest blunders. I keep a file of them for future "Grammatical Crimes" blogs.
Delete-Flora
I've heard this story from Flora before but it still makes me laugh :)
ReplyDeleteI first showed the story to my sister-in-law, who said she would wake up at night laughing about it. I knew it had to be shared!
ReplyDelete-Flora
LOL. I can see it happening. Good thing you listened to that "little voice"! So often we don't and pay the price.
ReplyDeleteAmen to that!
ReplyDelete-Flora