Why World-Building Errors Slip Through Self-Edits (And How Proofreaders Catch Them)
Building worlds, solar systems and entire universes is what makes science fiction such a joy to write (and read!). When you’re developing all the parts to make your universe real, it can be easy to lose track of the details. Even the most careful writers will miss inconsistencies as the story progresses and more elements are introduced. Readers, however, will notice these mistakes and their immersion in your story will be broken. In some cases, they might even give up on your book altogether.
What are the main causes of errors slipping through your world-building efforts?
Familiarity blindness. When you’ve been working closely on a manuscript for months or years, it makes it harder to spot inconsistencies and mistakes. That’s familiarity blindness. You know the text so well that when you read it, your brain sometimes reads what it expects to see, not what is actually on the page. Complex invented terms are especially easy to overlook; you know the term so well you don’t notice when letters are the wrong way round or a hyphen is missing. Whenever you come across these terms, slow down and take the time to really make sure those words are correct.
Complexity increases as the story progresses. The longer the story goes on, the more characters, planets and technology are introduced, the more complicated timelines become. The overall complexity of the story increases. Later on, there will be multiple rewrites and changes of names and locations. Even small changes during revisions can introduce unnoticed contradictions. When making revisions, keep these issues in mind. It’ll save both you and your editors time in the future.
These are some common world-building errors that can slip through:
- Inconsistent spelling of invented terminology.
- Timeline contradictions (travel time, character ages, event order).
- Technology behaving differently across scenes.
- Changes in rules of the world (e.g. AI limits, faster-than-light travel constraints).
- Geographic or environmental inconsistencies between chapters.
Can I self-edit or leave it to beta readers?
There’s a lot you can do as writer to keep your manuscript as consistent as possible, especially if you keep the points above in mind) but it often isn’t enough self-edit. Your focus as an author is story flow, pacing and character arcs. They’re enough to be dealing with on their own, let alone having to think about everything else!
Beta readers are a critical part of the publishing process. They are not, however, professional editors. Their main focus is on enjoyment and plot clarity rather than systematic error tracking.
How Professional Proofreaders Catch These Issues
A proofreader will bring a pair of ‘fresh eyes’ to your manuscript with no prior assumptions about the world you’ve created. Any proofreader worth their salt will be meticulous and methodical, building and checking against style sheets and terminology lists. They will flag up inconsistencies for you, even when they’re not grammatical errors, and make focused passes over the text for names, numbers, timelines and terminology.
How authors can reduce errors before proofreading
- Keep a worldbuilding reference document. This will be your bible for your invented terms, character names and ages, timelines and style choices. This will be invaluable, not only for rewrites, but for any editing professionals you bring into the process.
- Make some focused self-check passes when your story is in place. Focus specifically on things like names, timelines and technology rules.
- Avoid making any major terminology changes after formatting whenever possible.
World-building errors are completely normal in complex, sci-fi novels. If you want to be sure that your manuscript is completely ready for publishing, a combination of structured self-checking and professional proofreading will give your story the strongest final polish.
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