![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The devil really is in the details, and the little things? They really matter. Sure, they matter more when you're talking about a plot point (I'm looking at you, author who - in a book that hinges on DNA evidence - said that not even identical twins have the same DNA) but even a little thing can throw you off a book.
Take, for instance, the book I'm reading (or, was reading, I put it down because this irritated me). It was released last year, and it's set in current times in Minnesota. The character wanders into someone's office and they're watching a football game. She admits she knows nothing about football, but recognizes the Vikings. THIS IS WHERE THE AUTHOR SHOULD HAVE STOPPED. Instead, trying to be cute, I think, she has the character see that the Vikings are playing 'LA', and because of the lack of punctuation (the character is a stickler for grammar, for which I don't blame her, but this is a case of where trying to squeeze that in bites her in the ass) she can't tell if it's Los Angeles or Louisiana*.
...
She then decides to play off her lack of knowledge and just says "So how about those Vikings?". Which she still could have done without mentioning the other team, other than a 'she didn't recognize them'.
Now, I know not everyone is a football fan. This might not leap out at everyone and annoy them the way it annoys me. But, as a writer, do you want to annoy ANY potential reader when you can so easily - by leaving out the punctuation comment and other team name - skip over it? It has no real place in the plot, it doesn't matter in the slightest, and all you've done is screw up.
* For the non-football people, there is no Los Angeles team and hasn't been for 15 years. And even back then, I don't think they would have been playing the Vikings in December (it seems moot to look it up because the book was recently written and is supposed to be set right now, obvious by the technology and whatnot, but the Raiders - LA and Oakland - were/are AFC and the Vikings are NFC).
Also, while there is and has been a Louisiana team (as everyone knows now!) they are ALWAYS abbreviated 'NO'.
Take, for instance, the book I'm reading (or, was reading, I put it down because this irritated me). It was released last year, and it's set in current times in Minnesota. The character wanders into someone's office and they're watching a football game. She admits she knows nothing about football, but recognizes the Vikings. THIS IS WHERE THE AUTHOR SHOULD HAVE STOPPED. Instead, trying to be cute, I think, she has the character see that the Vikings are playing 'LA', and because of the lack of punctuation (the character is a stickler for grammar, for which I don't blame her, but this is a case of where trying to squeeze that in bites her in the ass) she can't tell if it's Los Angeles or Louisiana*.
...
She then decides to play off her lack of knowledge and just says "So how about those Vikings?". Which she still could have done without mentioning the other team, other than a 'she didn't recognize them'.
Now, I know not everyone is a football fan. This might not leap out at everyone and annoy them the way it annoys me. But, as a writer, do you want to annoy ANY potential reader when you can so easily - by leaving out the punctuation comment and other team name - skip over it? It has no real place in the plot, it doesn't matter in the slightest, and all you've done is screw up.
* For the non-football people, there is no Los Angeles team and hasn't been for 15 years. And even back then, I don't think they would have been playing the Vikings in December (it seems moot to look it up because the book was recently written and is supposed to be set right now, obvious by the technology and whatnot, but the Raiders - LA and Oakland - were/are AFC and the Vikings are NFC).
Also, while there is and has been a Louisiana team (as everyone knows now!) they are ALWAYS abbreviated 'NO'.