Reading out loud...

ChaosTitan · Jun 3, 2007

I've been told that I have an informal, chatty style. I've always taken that as a compliment, because I'm not a huge fan of novels that use big words for the sake of sounding smart.

However, I've only ever read aloud to myself (or the cats, but they are usually sleeping). If I'm having trouble with a particular passage or chapter, I'll read it out loud to see if it helps suss out the problem. It's a tried and true editing method.

Tracey · Jun 3, 2007

I've heard that reading your work out loud is a good way to edit and to see how things flow. I personally have never done this, but I would be with chaostitan--I would only read aloud to myself. I'm terrible at reading out loud. I tend to stumble over words.

TB4me2000 · Jun 3, 2007

If you're writing fiction, I think having a chatty style is fabulous! It makes your work so much more entertaining to read!

And I love reading my work out loud, either to myself or to other people. I get really ridiculously nervous though and start stumbling, stuttering, talking to fast...good practice, I suppose, but so nerve racking!

Ziljon · Jun 3, 2007

I record my chapters to CD in my studio (I'm a composer) and then listen back to them on my drive home. Since I listen to books on tape constantly, I know I've got something good if the work keeps me interested. Then I can try it out on my six year old daughter when I drive her to school.

I actually sometimes imagine George Guidell (my favorite book reader) speaking the lines of my novel. That's always a great help.

polleekin · Jun 3, 2007

Reading aloud helps me catch more than just clunky wording and flow-- though it helps with that, too-- it makes me slow down enough to catch sneaky little spelling errors or typos. Sometimes my brain will fill in the proper letter/word, but this happens much less often when I'm making sure every word on the page is read.

And I love having someone around to read stuff to. That's also really helpful for me.

job · Jun 3, 2007

I read passages out loud in the final polishing draft.
Probably end up reading about all the manuscript through.

Never thought of reading it to somebody else though ...
maybe the dog would sit still for it.

SpookyWriter · Jun 3, 2007

I don't have a spouse, but I do read out loud quite a bit of my work for very much the same reasons. I can catch choppy sentences much better when I read the work out to myself.

Claudia Gray · Jun 3, 2007

I don't usually read all of it aloud, but one thing I do is read the conversations out loud -- with no description, dialogue tags or anything else in the scene that isn't the words. I find that it helps the dialogue sound a lot more authentic.

Devil Ledbetter · Jun 3, 2007

I read all of my scenes aloud to my husband as I finish them. That's the easiest way for me to spot clumsy wording or dialogue that's off.

Southern_girl29 · Jun 3, 2007

I do read my dialogue out loud. It helps me to catch anything that doesn't sound real. If I'm having trouble wording something or don't like the way something is worded after I've written it, I'll read it aloud or say what I'm trying to write. It helps me every time.

Harper K · Jun 3, 2007

Barbarique said:
It's my habit in the evenings to read out loud to my spouse what I've written that day. I find it very useful because doing so enables me to feel if the words "flow" or if the narrative seems choppy and strained.

Yep, same here, although usually my chapters get an edit or two before my husband hears them. Sometimes I will dive in for an out-loud reading on a first draft if I'm really unsure about something.

Last night I read him a really long chapter that I knew needed to be cut. As soon as I began reading it, I could tell how inessential the beginning of it was. I heard the exact spot where the chapter needed to begin (3 pages into it, of course). After I finished reading, I asked Husband where he felt the chapter's beginning was, and he picked the same spot. Hurrah! Deletions made.

I agree that you can determine your flow a lot better from an out-loud reading than a silent one. My problem is that my sentences are often way too long, and when I read out loud I can pick out the inessential clauses or the places where one sentence can be chopped into two or three.

Maprilynne · Jun 3, 2007

I always read the whole book through *at least* once. I think 2-3 times gives me the best results.

But I just read to myself.

Sassee · Jun 3, 2007

I hate reading aloud... to myself or to an audience, doesn't matter. Public speaking does ugly things to me. But if I get to the point where my WIP is finished I think I might try having someone else read it aloud. Probably my husband, since he talks a lot anyway!

Danger Jane · Jun 3, 2007

I like to read scenes out loud especially if they have a lot of dialogue. Sometimes to myself, sometimes to Joaquin Phoenix. I mean my best friend.

Scrawler · Jun 3, 2007

I don't read out loud. I tried, but found myself emphasizing words, or changing my tone of voice to make up for what's not written. I'm not writing a play, so I figure it's not meant to be read out loud.

miles · Jun 3, 2007

There was an "out loud challenge" here not too long ago. I'm sure the thread can be resurrected by anyone interested:

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51879

Death Wizard · Jun 3, 2007

My habit is that I read my entire fifth revision out loud to myself.

jclarkdawe · Jun 3, 2007

One thing I'm looking forward to with my new computer is having it read it to me. Reading aloud has always been a good way for me to reduce down my errors.

Jim Clark-Dawe

miles · Jun 3, 2007

jclarkdawe said:
One thing I'm looking forward to with my new computer is having it read it to me. Reading aloud has always been a good way for me to reduce down my errors.

Jim Clark-Dawe

Text Aloud with NeoSpeech is quite excellent for that.

julief · Jun 3, 2007

I always read my stuff aloud. Sometimes just to myself, sometimes to others (whoever i catch on the phone). It's good for checking flow, spellings, missed words, etc.

Also, having a 'chatty' style is good and entertaining for any writing that's not academic/scientific.

justpat · Jun 3, 2007

Barb, even better would be for your spouse to read it out loud to you. You'll catch all kinds of things that way. I always try to find someone to read my work back to me. I can't, I read it myself and record it. When I play it back I find lots of places that I can fix, but nothing works as well as listening to someone else read it.

FloVoyager · Jun 3, 2007

I'll read a sentence, paragraph or section aloud for flow, or sometimes to settle on a punctuation point, but not the whole thing, and only to myself.

Reading out loud...

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