Fine Tuning

Last week, I said my little revision project should be just about done by today. Well... it is. It has been tweaked and poked and prodded down to 25 pages, the plot kinks have been worked out, the characters have all been given important roles, and I'm fairly certain each and every scene is necessary (very important in a short story, I'm told). Which means it's time to break out the polish and make this sucker shine.

So what does that mean? Well, mostly it's playing around with word choice - making the characters pop and the language flow while keeping it interesting and enjoyable to read. On the list of things to do with the story today: figure out my most common words, hunt them down, and add a little variation.

Sometimes, you have to use the same word. There are only so many ways you can refer to a door without whacking your reader over the head with a thesaurus or straying into purple prose territory. But for, say, verbs, you want to take a hard look at some of your favorites, the old stand-bys you toss in while writing that first draft when you don't think too hard right then.

There's usually nothing wrong with the word itself, but it doesn't hurt to take a second look and see if there isn't a verb that would work better, one that paints a more precise picture in your reader's mind.

For example, "He headed across the street."

It works, but that is about the least precise way of saying that. How did he cross the street? Did he walk? Run? Sprint, slink, sneak, saunter, stroll, jog, waltz? Pick the one that best fits the image in your mind.

The word I'm currently reworking is "peek." Yeah, of all the words to toss in, I had to use "peek." The MC "peeks" several times - out from under the covers and around a few corners. Light and the sun "peek" out from behind the clouds. Everything's "peeking." It's a wee bit repetitive, so time to search out better words and cut the use of "peek" down to maybe two. Three, if it's absolutely necessary.

Also on chopping board: "peer," "bolt," and "glance." Yeah, your time is coming. Let the hunt begin!