When a character does something that coincides with what they are saying, should it be written with the action first:

The President holds his arms outstreached.

          PRESIDENT
     I caught a fish this big!


or would it be:

          PRESIDENT
     I caught a fish this big!

The President holds his arms outstreached.

Thanks all!  I just can't tell which one reads better.

Dave

No rule there that I know of.  Trust your guts on what reads best.

To make things even more complicated, try a parenthetical.

          PRESIDENT
     (arms outstretched)
I caught a fish this big!

I would avoid that entirely.  In the example, it's obvious to the reader what the actor is doing -- you don't need to tell us, so don't.

OK, bad example.  Try:

The President takes a hit from his bong.

          PRESIDENT
     I've never caught a fish that big.

You could try it passively:

The hands were held out by the President.

           PRESIDENT
   The fish that I caught was this big!






Maybe not.

I prefer to write the action before the dialog.  I think it just flows better.


Phil

Quoted from Corney I would avoid that entirely.

I didn't say it was a good example.  I was just tossing it out there as an additional example for similar scenarios.

Quoted from dkfrizzell OK, bad example.

I'll say.  Everybody knows the president would speak before his bong hit.

Sheesh....

I think there needs to be some sort of description. After all, the president might be showing inched fingers because he's got lousy luck at fishing and to him, it was a really big deal to catch a puny fish.

Just because we assume that

I caught a fish this big!

Means big.

It isn't so. So, I'd go with some kind of descriptor. But a Michael said, it might not be necessary. Go with your best judgment. It's not a silly question. I pain over this kind of thing myself. It does matter.

Sandra