Floating Point 3.2 is now complete, and ready for your reading. And it should be a smoother read ’cause I’ve gone and spellchecked the damn thing. That’s going to be policy from now on. New content update? Spellchecked before it ever hits the website.
You might say “Well DUH, of course you should’ve been doing that!” but consider the story I’m writing, which is packed with nonsense words, technobabble, and slang a-plenty. It trips up the spellchecker perpetually. On top of that, I make revision sweeps through the work to tune up the wording, which can undo any checking already done. That’s why I tended to wait until after all comments were in from readers before making the spellcheck and finalizing the chapter.
Problem is… well, 90% of the feedback I’ve been getting is typo reports. And that’s nice, especially ones which an automated spellchecker wouldn’t get (“a black chat crosses your path” or “I think you you smell funny”) but it’s drowning out the one thing I really, really need now… feedback on the story.
For example… are you enjoying it? Do particular moments really stay with you? Do some things feel a little off? Did events unfold as you expected, or were you surprised? How do you feel? That’s what I need to know. By all means, if you see a typo, point it out! But I’d also love to hear your more subjective reactions, and to better enable that, I’m going to do redundant spellchecks anytime I change anything. More work for me, less hassle for you.
FP 3.3 will be starting in 1-3 weeks. I need some time to plot it; beyond “and then they dealt with the Athena Online senate and the Inquisition” and a few vague ideas, I got nothin’. Time to put that rental copy of National Treasure to good use!