Becoming a Good Lead Player--Best Approach?

My approach to soloing has always been kind of assbackwards...I know very minimal amounts theory, so I pretty much have to do what sounds "right" to me, which may not be what someone else considers sounding "right!"

Chops just come with practice. Building chops is the easy part (good ol' boring scale practice...fun, fun, fun!). Knowing what you are doing when you are flying around at 300mph is the hard part. I suppose that comes in time too though.