@franky1: That whole “read it out loud like you’re performing it” thing – yeah, I can already picture myself doing it and immediately cringing in three places I thought were “fine” before. It’s such a different filter when you hear it instead of just staring at it. And you’re right, if the line doesn’t carry its own weight without me artificially leaning on it with tone or hand gestures, then the word choice probably isn’t pulling its load.

And the audiobook angle – hadn’t even put myself in the shoes of a narrator who knows nothing about me or the story. That’s a brutal but necessary test. I like the idea of words being able to “self-direct” the performance just by how they’re built. Have you ever found a moment in your own work where just swapping one or two verbs totally shifted how the whole sentence lands when read aloud?

@Fretum: I feel that hard – social media’s endless highlight reel is the perfect recipe for unrealistic expectations. Like, the “before” never makes it into the post, only the “look at me now” version. And yeah, it’s the same in writing – nobody posts the 17 discarded drafts or the week you wrote nothing because the plot just… stopped moving.

What you said about having a bank of already-written material to adapt – that’s kind of genius. It turns “blank page” panic into “okay, what fits here?” instead of starting from zero. Do you ever feel like that speed and structure from your professional writing leaks into your free writing – like you catch yourself setting imaginary guidelines even when you don’t need to?

Also, that bit about reading a lot for your job – does that make you more critical of your own sentences, or does it loosen you up because you’ve seen so many different styles work in their own way?