Thinking before we speak

[SecondCircle]

I know a lot of people that don't do this. They just rattle off what's on their mind without thinking of the impact of their words or how they said them. Sometimes, it's not even what they say as much as how. The way they put it and the words they use.

I've noticed that when I read back over my stories before submitting, or starting a new "session", that I do a lot of word replacing. When I'm reading it, I'll think, "shit, that doesn't really sound right." Even if the phrase is correct, grammatically and everything, I'll change it to make the even "appear" differently.

I just recently wrote in third person POV, and though it was third person I painted it in a way that you saw from one characters eyes only. The way they felt. What happened around them. Not cluing anyone in to something they could not know, or sounding as though a narrator said the words or told the story. Lot of word replacing.

As I said, the words are correct but they have a different feeling in each context. Such as "drove" and "cruised", but a lot more complicated than that. In the descriptions (of the horror story) I would change words to ones that have more negative correlation with the audience. If you say the phrase "long and slender fingers" to someone, I just think "spidery fingers" or something like that would have more of an impact, or something like that.

So I watch what I "say" and "mean" a lot. By doing this, am I going overboard or over analyzing things? Should I just leave the words the hell alone and let them fall where they spill forth?

 

[Stella_Omega]

You can tell who "lets the words spill out" and who works with them-- in my case, by how fast I click off the page.

Someone recently passed along advice from some literary genius, saying that you should re-write every sentence a hundred times. That's going a long way overboard, but it never hurts to re-write some of them at least once. Or a dozen times, in those problem areas.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Words impact when they resonate with the reader's fund of experience and knowledge, otherwise its like watering rocks.

 

[CeasarBoobage]

So I watch what I "say" and "mean" a lot. By doing this, am I going overboard or over analyzing things? Should I just leave the words the hell alone and let them fall where they spill forth?

I frequently do this as well. I think that by re-reading and changing words to be more realistic helps my stories work better.
The downside is that it takes so damn long to get a final draft finished. Also by changing things after my proof reading is done, I create more problems. This can all become a cyclic nightmare, which I can cure by just submitting it, which means I submit a story with errors.

Don't just let the words fall where they may, by all means make an effort to make your work better and better.

(Yay for giving advise I can't even follow, lol)

 

[PayDay]

"It's all in the reflexes." -Jack Burton, American Hero

 

[D_Lynn]

I can't even write without having thesaurus open. I agonize over choosing the right word. And later, when I'm reading someone else's brilliant work, it starts all over again ... Why didn't I think of using that gorgeous, descriptive word/phrase?