I Exist (Photo credit: C-Monster)
While I already told you about my most frequent typo when I’m writing dialog, there’s another typo that I make all the time that’s even more dangerous.
Just about every time a character in one of my plays leaves the stage, I write exists instead of exits. This typo is particularly deadly because, at first glance, it looks right and not even grammar check is going to catch this one.
The one plus to this is that it adds this strange extra level to every scene since even the simplest lines come off as some kind of existential statement.
JOHN
I don’t even know who I am anymore.
He exists.
See what I mean?
This issue has been plaguing me since I first starting writing plays but it’s become a particular problem with The Muppet Play where there is actually some question of which characters really exist and which ones don’t over the course of the show. I have to be extra vigilant to make sure I don’t let this typo through because it can drastically alter the meaning of some scenes and confuses The Heck out of my readers. But it does make for some very funny first draft moments.
How about you? What typo ends up being your ache-nemesis when writing?
Hillary DePiano is a playwright, fiction and non-fiction writer who loves writing of all kinds except for writing bios like this.
0 Comments