Do you read your work aloud?

Oh, yeah, I do. A lot. It does catch errors that I normally would miss in silent reading. Only problem is, if someone is around and they hear me saying, "Don't touch that knife! No! Aaaaa...! They come running.

Sure. Easier to hear what flows and what doesn't.

I haven't tried it in public, though. Might be a dare for the new year.

I've heard it helps to read it outloud...and I can see why. But I have a deep-seated fear of reading outloud, so I tend not to do it. (I used to stutter and being teased when I was younger has scarred me for life, I think) I'm sure I would catch a lot more errors if I would though.

And, yes, that fear is present even when I'm reading alone. But I still read to my son because he doesn't care if I do stutter, which I do very, very rarely now.

...or computer speech!

Yes, I do at times.

I also recently discovered that my computer's word processing program has a "speech" feature. So I can hear my words read in a computer-generated female voice that sounds vaguely Eastern European. Strange but helpful!

Susan

PS I use a mac with microsoft word.

I just learned how much this works a few days ago when I read some of my ms aloud. Wow.

Susan B said:

I also recently discovered that my computer's word processing program has a "speech" feature. So I can hear my words read in a computer-generated female voice that sounds vaguely Eastern European. Strange but helpful!

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My computer is six years old and Word is ancient so I don't have it, but I've heard of that speech feature. Good idea.

I've never read my work aloud. I think my aloud is some kind of built in thing.

Yep. I spent three Sundays reading through my manuscript in January. I caught a lot of errors, but also I found where my word choices didn't work, where dialog was clunky, etc. This was much more helpful as I always feel that my writing is flat and hearing it aloud showed me not only where my writing failed but also where it worked.

Absolutely! I read everything aloud and act out scenes.

roach said:

Yep. I spent three Sundays reading through my manuscript in January. I caught a lot of errors, but also I found where my word choices didn't work, where dialog was clunky, etc.

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I had to think about this.. I realized that I do for my articles and shorter works, but never have for my longer ones... I agree with roach though... so I will be making a point to do some aloud readings of those novels ASAP

I haven't done this much, but last night as I was reading a book the cadence of a particular passage was so compelling that I stopped and read it aloud to myself, just to hear the way the words formed. I could see why the writer had used exactly the words and punctuation that she did. So I think I will try more reading aloud - especially for dialogue, which is something I struggle with.

I read snippets to my writing group, and I plan to read my novel aloud to myself once I get to the revision stage. Something about speaking the words helps me find places to make the words flow better. If I'm tripping over my tongue reading them aloud, I figure the reader will be stumbling, too.

Am I the only one who doesn't read his work aloud?

I can't stand the sound of my own voice. So, no, I don't read it aloud.

I read out loud to check my work, I read out loud to other people, I read other people's work out loud to other people. I think storytelling is one of the greatest things in the world, especially verbal storytelling.

It's a valuable tool, because when I'm writing, I find that I'm writing unconsciously gearing toward how I would want to read it out loud. It makes the text a lot sharper and smoother.

I do poetry and prose and I've never read aloud. Maybe the voices are occurring in my head. Maybe it's just different strokes for different folks.

He said what?

As a Broadcasting Student (who was invited to leave the school for hogging the mic) It is truly amazing how different the written word is from the spoken word. I attend readings at a local book store that has various 'invited guest' to read from there works. I believe reading out loud cetainly helps with the 'flow.' Besides, if you become famous, you'll need to attend readings of your own work, right?

Whether I am writing an article for a newspaper or magazine, fiction, poetry, or a grocery list...I always read it aloud. I think it's one of the most important steps of self editing. You catch more when you put it into the air. I wouldn't consider submitting anything prior to reading it aloud...no matter how long it is. I always tell others to do the same too. And, if they've never done it before, they thank me for the suggestion.

It's the last editing step I take. I read the entire book out loud, looking for less than natural dialog, word repetition, unnecessary scenes/paragraph/adverbs.

I edit on paper, on the computer, read the whole book over a couple of days to check flow, read aloud, read silently. There's not much I don't do when I edit.

I do read it out loud. I also speak it outloud as I'm writing, particularly with dialogue. It really helps when I'm struggling to find a word.

I read everything aloud. But most especially, I read my children's stuff aloud. It's designed to be read TO children as well as BY children. It must pass the read aloud test. I first read it to my dogs. (This is why you should all have dogs.) Then after it's more polished, I read it to humans.

Seriously. You should all have dogs.

Soccer Mom said:

I read everything aloud. But most especially, I read my children's stuff aloud. It's designed to be read TO children as well as BY children. It must pass the read aloud test. I first read it to my dogs. (This is why you should all have dogs.) Then after it's more polished, I read it to humans.

Seriously. You should all have dogs.

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I read to the cats. They never like anything I write. It's so depressing.

Exactly my point. The dogs will build your ego. The cats will crush it.

Maybe I'll read to the rats, or the gerbils. They're happy about all things.

My wife would love the dog to read to (or just, a dog). But you could bring the sweetest soppiest dog int he world into our house, and it would instantly turn into a murderous killer who would maul me.