I recently did an interview after my book, To Enchant a Lady’s Heart, won the Heart Award in the novella category.
The interviewer asked me to share my funniest typo. Sometimes I’m asked questions that leave me scratching my head for a while. It can take time to dredge up an answer. But I had a fast reply for that question. I thought I would share that story with you plus one other, the second one making it into print.
1) Funniest typo. Caught in time.
In my manuscript for the book, How Sweet It Is, I meant to type, “Releasing another sigh, she …” But what my fingers typed was, “Releasing another thigh, she …”
Thanks to my line editor, that typo didn’t make it into my sweet Christian romance. Funny how one word can paint a completely different picture in the mind than what I intended.
2) Major error. Made it into book.
About thirty years ago, I wrote a series set in a small town. The hero and heroine of Book #1 were secondary characters in Book #2. Not an unusual choice. Hero #1 appeared in quite a few scenes.
After Book #2 was published, I got a letter (this was before emails were a common thing), and the reader mentioned the scene after Hero #2 and Heroine #2 were married. Turns out my couple went to bed at the end of that chapter, just as they should have, but the first scene the next morning had Hero #1 in bed with Heroine #2.
Out loud, I said, “No way!!” I rushed up the stairs to the library where the copies of the new book were kept. I opened the book and flipped through the pages until I found the scene. Sure enough. I had used the name of Hero #1 in place of the name of Hero #2. Of course, it was a silly error, and most readers knew it wasn’t really Hero #1 where he shouldn’t be. It was a typographical error. But oh my goodness. The mortification!! So awful, I just have to laugh or else I would cry.
Sometimes I think my fingers are totally disconnected from my brain. They can type the weirdest things. Thankfully, most of them never make it into print. But when they do, I try to find the humor. I hope readers do too.
Have you found a funny typo in a book lately?
~robin
Robin Lee Hatcher
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Kim says
I am an ARC reader for several authors. I have noticed several typos that made me laugh. Wish I could remember them. I chuckled at your name switch. God bless,.Kim in NC