Writing mistake 4 – Rephrasing those phrases
Phrasing is really important when you start revising your manuscript prior to submission. Are all the words you have used the correct ones? Have you checked the meaning of any that you aren’t sure about?
We all use the wrong word from time to time. A slip of the tongue, a lapse in concentration, and prostrate becomes prostate…or how about illicit instead of elicit? I’ve seen all four used wrongly. And there are the more usual ones too. The ones we all think we know about, but which it is still easy to get wrong. Effect/affect, accept/except, few/less, too/to, its/it’s, there/their. Even the simplest of words can be misspelt or misused when you are in a hurry. Maybe you are writing to a deadline and you are tired. Your eyes ache, your brain refuses to concentrate. That’s the time to put your manuscript away. Leave it for a while. Revisit it later when your eyes and your brain are fresh.
Of course you could be lucky. An editor might like your work sufficiently to correct one or two of your mistakes without comment. If your manuscript has too many mix ups, however, it will be pushed over to the slush pile, never to be read again.
There is that other phrasing problem too. The one that happens when you are trying too hard. You know, the times when you feel that you need to spice things up a bit. If your character is angry, for example, do you rush into full blown phrases such as: He gritted his teeth and his face darkened as he stared at her through reddened eyes, a pulse throbbing at his temple. This has too much action and far too much color. You just need to pick out two of the four maximum or it’s overkill.
Half the book is in the writing, the other half is in the revision, the editing, the rephrasing, the checking. So that is what I am going to do right now. I’m going to check and double check the manuscript that I was about to submit. After all a few extra days won’t make any difference but a few extra mistakes might.
