Sunday, January 15, 2012

Anonymous asked: I've been reading TFIOS all day after receiving it at the Tour de Nerdfighting in Bethesda (which was amazing, by the way). I know this is somewhat irrelevant, but at the beginning of the book you say she is in her "seventeenth year," and later you say she is 16. Is this a typo, or am I misunderstanding something? I also apologize that this is an anonymous question, but tumblr has not yet sent the confirmation email necessary for me to ask questions while logged in. Thanks, and DFTBA!

(This is not a spoiler since it involves the seventh word in the novel.)

So here is an annoying fact: When you are in your first year of life, you are not one. You are zero. And then in your second year of life, you are one, etc. So Hazel is in her seventeenth year, meaning that she is sixteen.

This is one of those technically grammatically correct things that is more confusing than just being incorrect. (In fact, I had it “…winter of my sixteenth year” until the very end, when I finally caved to technical correctness.) So I’m sorry if this was distracting in any way while you were reading the book. (I hope you liked it.)

Posted at 3:11 PM 222 notes

Notes

  1. papermaiden said: I ALMOST SENT THIS EXACT MESSAGE, before realizing what Mr.Green just explained. Thank you Anon<3
  2. madsawesomepants said: If we go to the Tour de Nerdfighting, are you to only sign The Fault in Our Stars or can I annoy you to pieces and have you sign all of the books? Also, you’re a giant inspiration to me and your books are terrific. TFIOS was fantastic as well.
  3. far-fiction said: Still haven’t received my copy. It apparently shipped on the 13th, thank you Amazon.ca. :(
  4. shadowplayed said: i guess it’s like how 17th century means 1600’s.
  5. less-than-infinity said: alkdjghlasdjkh you answered my question! I submitted that! Thank you so much for clearing that up, and I definitely enjoyed the book. (I cried.)