A manuscript is not a linear creature. We go back and change things. We revise a sentence. A paragraph. A concept. We reorder chapters. New content integrates with old. Ideally, it does this seamlessly.
However, a manuscript is also not a body of water. The changes made to the pages don’t ripple naturally through the rest of the text. (If only they did!) They need to be caught, by careful eye and hand. The mind is a tricky thing, and it often sees what it expects to see. When your eyes are so familiar with the words that you’re not entirely reading the page anymore, gradual or minor changes are very easy to miss.
Keeping aware of the tendency toward these kinds of mistakes is the best defense against them. Since they tend to creep stealthily into a manuscript, I call them creeps. This post will introduce you to two types of creep and discuss how you can guard yourself against them.
1. Creeping names.
You know this one. Your town starts out as Sullyville and changes to Sulleyville at some point halfway through the book. Character names, place names, and any other invented words are equally susceptible to the mid-manuscript creep.
Simple words, complex words, words with odd uses of apostrophes or hyphens, are all vulnerable! With complexity, however, comes increased vulnerability. You’re more likely to reproduce your choices correctly if you leave little room for variation. This is an especially sticky trap for science fiction and fantasy writers, whose texts are almost certain to be sprinkled with many invented words and unusual character and place names—if not a sampling of an entire invented language!
My defense against the creeping name is two-fold, but simple: I drop any invented name I expect to be seeing frequently into my spellchecker’s dictionary. That way, I’ll have a built-in notifier if any of them decide to evolve and change. I also keep a paper list of character and place names, for quick reference. Sometimes a name will creep to a valid name or word, so the spellcheck method isn’t guaranteed, but it is a great first line of defense. If I’m unsure, I can always glance down at the list on my desk for confirmation. You can avoid creeping names in your writing by doing the same. Storing character and place names in a document is also an option, but you may not always take the time to toggle back and forth between manuscript and file in the midst of inspiration. A written list that you can check at a glance is a simple tool, but an effective one.
2. Creeping NPCs.
NPC stands for “Non-Player Character.” In gaming circles, it’s a term used to indicate those incidental characters who exist only to forward a plot or facilitate a goal. The merchant from whom your characters buy their adventuring supplies, for instance, is probably a walk-on role. Once your characters leave his shop, the reader will likely never see him again. The character’s unseen brother back home, former roommate, ex-girlfriend or old high school teacher, whom he speaks about a few times but who is never seen, also counts as an NPC for our purposes.
The rule for NPCs is an obvious one: Name them once. However, several chapters and several months may go by while you’re working on your manuscript. As you’re working on chapter twenty, you may forget that Jane Doe was mentioned by name in chapter two. Or, conversely, as you’re editing in a personal touch to chapter two, you may forget that you named her in chapter twenty.
Again, a separate list comes in handy. At whatever point in the story you give your character a name, jot it down. Add their title or relation to your primary characters, as appropriate. If you give them any notable characteristics, note those, too. You can even start written biographies of sorts, of your characters, and profiles of your towns, adding to them as you name or describe relevant family members or neighbors. Usually names and vital stats are enough, but the more detail you set down, the easier it is to keep your story straight (so to speak) going forward.
Many of us keep our characters’ backgrounds in little capsules in our heads, pulling out strands or facts as needed. Setting those facts down in an easily referenced way can help the writer, and even inspire ideas for character development or transitionary scenes, and it can help the editor as well. Forward your lists along with your manuscript! If your sister is Jane in chapter two and Susan in chapter twenty, it’ll save both of us a query later on if I already know which name she prefers to go by. Not that your sister is, you know… a creep.
(reprinted from July, 2008)
