From: Raymond E. Feist
Date: 03 April 2009
No, most of the typos start with me. I have a childhood learning disorder called a binocular dysfunction, which is similar to dyslexia. It gets worse as I get stressed, tired, or sick. Homonyms are the worst. I literally can't "see" those typos on the page unless I put away the manuscript and read it slowly a week later. Time doesn't often permit.
If my editor can catch them, she does. If she's rushed . . . additionally, what used to be done in house by a brilliant copy editor named Elaine Chubb at Doubleday, is now done by computers. They can be programmed to catch a lot of stuff, but there are "exceptions" which will tend to be place and character names.
Now that I'm working a year ahead, I should have the time to be more thorough and cut down on this stuff.
Best, R.E.F.
From: Raymond E. Feist
Date: 03 April 2009
Binocular dysfunction is simply a neurological issue where the eyes are sending data at slightly different rates to the brain. Looking back, it's why I could never catch a ball as a little kid; always hit me in the face or went over my head. Depth perception is a learned thing; you lose it after about eighteen feet and from then out out, it's the relative size of things you're brain learns to interpret. So i could see a ball coming but about fifteen feet away, my brain started processing things differently that most people and the ball would whack me in the face. The other kids though I just couldn't catch.
It also makes letters look funny at times, though my brain has learned after thirty years of touch typing to see 90% of the "funny" the right way; it's the 10% that still lingers that's drying people nuts.
Best, R.E.F.
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