Reading manuscripts out loud

I not only read out loud, but often physically act out described actions. Every now and then I find that something I've described is physically ridiculous or impossible.

I act out certain movements or scenes too, if I'm trying to get the feel of them to pick that one detail for description. I feel like an absolute loon doing it -- like I'm five years old again -- but meh, what's the worst that could happen? It'll show up on youtube, caught on camera by a pervy neighbor, and I'll have to crawl under a rock and die.

I only do it when I'm truly flustered with a passage and I'm trying to figure out what's making me so testy. Even then, it's not really out loud but under my breath, through clenched teeth.

Much as I hate to agree with JAR...

Jamesaritchie said:

Used to do it, and stopped because I hate it. I found I can trust my inner ear as much as my outer.

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This. Except for the 'used to' part. I never have. Don't see the point and it hasn't done my writing any harm so far.

scarletpeaches said:

Much as I hate to agree with JAR...This. Except for the 'used to' part. I never have. Don't see the point and it hasn't done my writing any harm so far.

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First, you speak Scottish, and probably can't understand yourself aloud.

Second, for what you write, you really need to get into acting it out physically.






RRRRRRRRRRRRRANGERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've moderated a writer's group for the last six years and one of the rules is that the writer read his or her work aloud. Although some members have been reluctant to do so, everyone of them admits to the benefits of it.

muravyets said:

I act out certain movements or scenes too, .... but meh, what's the worst that could happen? It'll show up on youtube, caught on camera by a pervy neighbor, and I'll have to crawl under a rock and die.

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You know my neighbor, Mr.Manly-Man?!

Seriously, reading my work out loud helps me catch where the words don't flow or the dialogue is stilted.

never full works, but I recommend it in QLH a lot; some folks are averse to commas and some are completely smitten with them, and I think reading aloud gives you a much better sense of where pauses and punctuation belong than just zipping through text on a screen.

quicklime said:

never full works, but I recommend it in QLH a lot; some folks are averse to commas and some are completely smitten with them, and I think reading aloud gives you a much better sense of where pauses and punctuation belong than just zipping through text on a screen.

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Pauses and punctuations should follow the rules, and on the grammar and punctuation level, the most messed up manuscripts I see in slush are those where writers use punctuation based on how something sounds. It just does not work.

Commas are the real killer. Try using commas based on sound, based on when you pause when reading and you're screwed. Commas must be used by following the rules of grammar, not because it sounds like a commas should go there.

I'm not sure anything can pull an editor out of a story faster than poor comma usage. Leaving commas out when needed, or worse, inserting commas where they aren't called for, makes getting into the story extremely tough.

Another Editor said:

At the publisher where I work, it is standard procedure to read a manuscript out loud after its initial edit. This is a group exercise, always done with multiple editors present. The number of useful changes that are identified while this is done is quite remarkable and time-intensive though it might be, it is worth it for all of the insight that is gained when we hear the text, rather than just read it.

I have also found that this works when I proof things that I have written. After writing the first draft, revising it, and proofing it, I read it out loud, alone. Lots of things in there make me wince, and they get changed.

I think other writers could benefit from doing this. Has anybody here ever tried it? Would anybody here like to try it and relate their experience with it?

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I think reading your manuscript aloud is a valuable tool. I read my aloud.

Jamesaritchie said:

Pauses and punctuations should follow the rules, and on the grammar and punctuation level, the most messed up manuscripts I see in slush are those where writers use punctuation based on how something sounds. It just does not work.

Commas are the real killer. Try using commas based on sound, based on when you pause when reading and you're screwed. Commas must be used by following the rules of grammar, not because it sounds like a commas should go there.

I'm not sure anything can pull an editor out of a story faster than poor comma usage. Leaving commas out when needed, or worse, inserting commas where they aren't called for, makes getting into the story extremely tough.

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Well, I am pretty much old school. I believe a comma goes where a comma goes, and so forth with other punctuation. I am not one who likes to mess with proper punctuation, and I don't believe it should be based on sound. I realize I might be the minority here.

However, I find reading aloud helps me to hear when I have missed a word that I somehow did not pick up on hard edit, or to hear the rhythm of a sentence that might need tweaking. I don't generally read the entire story aloud, or even from begining to end, but paragraphs or even chapters I might not be sure about.

Jamesaritchie said:

Pauses and punctuations should follow the rules, and on the grammar and punctuation level, the most messed up manuscripts I see in slush are those where writers use punctuation based on how something sounds. It just does not work.

Commas are the real killer. Try using commas based on sound, based on when you pause when reading and you're screwed. Commas must be used by following the rules of grammar, not because it sounds like a commas should go there.

I'm not sure anything can pull an editor out of a story faster than poor comma usage. Leaving commas out when needed, or worse, inserting commas where they aren't called for, makes getting into the story extremely tough.

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I'm not sure I believe this about reading aloud).

I agree poor comma usage is an issue, and I don't often read myself, because i LIKE where I put my commas, and nobody has said "ummm, err, wtf are you doing with those?"

That said, I also see a number of works where there are no commas and should be, and vice versa there are some just seemingly hung at random, which i also agree is one of the most distracting things in a written work, a little like randomly hitting the breaks on a nice Sunday drive. I usually find for the ones at random especially, if you read the line out loud and pause, the break feels incredibly unnatural, and after telling people to read out loud their revisions also look much better. that said, it is entirely possible they just decided they better read up on comma usage on the side.....

Quick

I do for all three of my revisions. (That's my magic number, apparently.) When I read it out loud, I catch most of my errors when normally I wouldn't. I think that it's a good thing to do.

I read everything to my brother. Sometimes I also use a read aloud program to listen.

I find sometimes that when I read in my head my brain inserts words that should be there and aren't. This doesn't happen when I read aloud.

Alitriona said:

I find sometimes that when I read in my head my brain inserts words that should be there and aren't. This doesn't happen when I read aloud.

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This happens to me, too.


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I always read everything out loud, which I have advocated on various threads on AW. I now advocate it on this thread.

It is especially beneficial for finding 'flaws' in dialogue. if you can find a 'reading buddy' to read some of the dialogue with you, all's the better.

If it don't sound right, then it probably ain't right.

I always use the "text to speech" option of the kindle to proof - as it reads "all the words" not the ones I insert because my brain is reading what I "thought" I read rather than what is on the paper. A great tool!

I've read parts out loud to hear how it sounds, but never a whole novel. I might have to try it more often.

muravyets said:

I act out certain movements or scenes too, if I'm trying to get the feel of them to pick that one detail for description. I feel like an absolute loon doing it -- like I'm five years old again -- but meh, what's the worst that could happen? It'll show up on youtube, caught on camera by a pervy neighbor, and I'll have to crawl under a rock and die.

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I act stuff out too. I lock myself in my bedroom and read out loud (don't want the 8 and 10 year old to over hear the sex scenes) and act out stuff to make sure the action described goes with the dialogue.

Okay I don't act out the sex scenes ... Had to come back and edit that.

I read each of my blog entries aloud before posting, so it's funny it never occurred to me I should do the same with my manuscripts! I'm going to have to do this from now on, since I always catch something--and usually several somethings!--when reading aloud.

I've never read anything I've written aloud before, but I'm trying it right now (literally, took a break from it to post this) and finding it is highlighting some places where I left out a word that my brain fills in if I read 'in my head'.

Thanks for the idea,

Focus

I've started reading out loud on my current revision. Yeah, I find different stumbling points that way. Most frequent finds: Left out words and unattached parts of sentences that didn't get completely deleted.