The other day I did some substitute teaching in a first grade classroom. Since they didn’t know me, I introduced myself as “Miss Pat.” One little girl responded with “Miss Pack.” That’s the way she heard it. Yes, I did correct her emphasizing the “t” and she repeated, also emphasizing the “t.”
Is this what we do when we listen to our characters in the stories we write? Do we really understand what they are saying? After all, we have just written the words down on paper so we also have a visual of their remarks. But do they make sense? Did we sneak in, or leave out, a letter or two? Did we transpose some letters? Did our fingers fly across the keyboard so quickly that all the wrong letters appeared and we were just too much in a hurry to pay attention? After all, the words came from the imagination part of our brain. We know what they are saying.
Point–Take time to go over your piece, not just once, but several times. Change the point of emphasis on certain words, maybe to clarify the meaning, or make it sound more realistic. If you are not a good speller, rely on the Thesaurus or Dictionary on your computer, not on Spell-Check. “They’re” is a correctly spelled word, but in a sentence such as, “Their coming to our house at nine o’clock”, it is totally wrong. But Spell-Check won’t catch the error and you’ve made an unforgivable grammatical blunder!
Not only do you need to put yourself into your story, or article, but you need a trustworthy person or group of people to read over your work. Their (or is it There???) suggestions might be just the “shot on the page” that your work needs.
I’ve read too many books, not only by “newbie” authors, but well-paid professional ones and wonder what happened to the English language. I’m a pretty good speller, but I have found I need to review everything I write, whether on facebook, in email, or just in general, because I have made those errors of which I spoke. When my name is attached to the written word, I want it to be as perfect as possible. Every author should feel the same sense of pride.