Reading out Loud

[Marky Lazer]

I'm just wondering how many aspiring writers are actually reading what they wrote out loud. I always read it out loud, so you can hear where sentences get too complicated or don't flow. Also, you need hard sounds in your story to make it appealing (in my opinion). I never used to do it, until someone told me to do so, and the stories that I read out loud definately turned out a million times better than stories I refused to read out loud. One step further is reading out loud for "an audience" (even when it's just one ot two persons), this has helped me out any further.

So, my number one suggestion for aspiring writers would be, read your stuff out loud.

[Teresa Edgerton]

There's a danger in reading things out loud, however: someone who has a real flare for dramatic reading can make even the most banal writing sound pretty good. You need to be careful not to confuse your own histrionic talents with literary merit.

[Marky Lazer]

I mean, you write your story, and when you're satisfied with it, then you read it out loud. Then you can hear where things go bad.

[Teresa Edgerton]

I know what you meant, Marky. But I've seen writers grow even more enamoured of fairly clunky writing after reading it out loud. And I'm not saying that it isn't useful to subject your writing to the read-aloud test, just that it isn't infallible and one needs to be careful to evaluate the actual work, not the performance.

[Brown Rat]

Sometimes, I read it out loud. But what works better for me is to leave the story for a month or so, then read it slowly, as if for the first time.

If I don't have the patience to wait a month, I get up in the middle of the night and try to read it. If it makes sense and sounds good at an hour when my brain isn't working well, then I know it won't confuse or sound clunky or verbose to readers. If it confuses or sounds bad to me at that hour, I'll can either try to edit the bad part then or I can a note of the confusion so that I can edit that part in the morning.

[dustinzgirl]

I do, but usually I am reading it to my kids or my dogs, and I have to edit out things that my kids should not hear. LOL. My dogs are pretty good listeners, but since I use puppy talk, it always sounds silly. But to myself, no, because then everyone in the house wil think I am crazy. Well, more crazy than they already think I am.



But, if you have a good audience, and you just read it, I don't know what the danger is. Of course, I am not dramatic when I read. Im kind of boring, actually.

[flynx]

Good point Teresa, I was an amateur theatrist many, many years ago and so am a little 'better' at reading out loud than most people. When I read out loud I purposefully try to make it sound as good as possible. If it doesn't sound right it's because I'm not saying it right.

Then again, when we read, we don't read what is actually written, we merely 'take it in', so reading aloud will actually 'spoil' what you've written.

Then again, again, it can be a help for some writers and I wouldn't tell anyone not to try it.

Flynx

[Oxman]

I read the main body of my work in my head and only read speech out loud. This helps me to see if conversations sound clumsy, or flow well. By speaking these parts aloud in the manner I visualise them, I can get a sense of whether it sounds like "real" interaction between people, or is too stilted and needs a rewrite. Often, I've wrote something that seems to look fine on paper/screen, but when spoken it makes me want to headbutt my keyboard in despair. Good advice by Teresa and Flynx though. "Overacting" these parts of my work can make them sound better than they really are.

I think Harrison Ford spotted George Lucas had this problem all those years ago when he filmed the original Star Wars movies...

"You can type this ****, George, but you sure can't say it."

[j. d. worthington]

My take is that it helps to read it, but not "dramatize" it. Simply read it in a conversational or even under-the-breath tone of voice, see how it flows. This really will aid in catching when you have clunky descriptive phrases that are either overloaded, have too much or too little inversion, leave a confused pattern, are overextended, etc. And good prose of any kind has its own rhythms and cadences -- all storytelling comes from oral narration, and still bears traces of that origin; the best writers can be read aloud because in this, prose has an affinity to poetry (not in "pretty" phrases and the like -- take a look at some of Dusty's poems: simple, ungarnished, but very powerful and with a distinct rhythm and flow; and what she's doing simply couldn't be done in most prose, as it would take enormous amounts of description to get across what she's doing there -- but simply because good writing tries to flense unnecessary words and retain that almost liquid quality that pulls the reader in).

Reading aloud, slowly, can help you to catch those rough spots where you need to sand and polish, as it were, and can vastly improve on one's use of language to avoid overrepetition of certain phrases/words and the like. Don't rely on it exclusively, and as said, don't try to "dramatize" it, simply read it quietly to yourself, and you'll be amazed at how much you can find to improve, until these improvements become second nature, and then you seldom have to bother with reading aloud (unless you're reading over something and come across a particular phrase that seems clumsy; then reading it aloud can help you decide on what changes to make).

[littlemissattitude]

I can see Teresa's point about dramatic reading. However, when I was an English tutor I found that, especially for beginning writers, reading aloud is a great tool. I don't know how many times I had students who couldn't see a thing wrong with their writing until I had them read aloud exactly what was on the page. They'd start reading aloud, get maybe three or four paragraphs in, and they'd look at me and say, "Oh." Just "Oh." They suddenly got what I had been telling them. But I'd also say that by the time someone is working on a novel, they probably need to be past the point where reading aloud would really be of benefit.

Or, at least, reading the whole thing aloud. I can see how reading dialogue would be very valuable, exactly because of the Lucas effect (thank you, Oxman). Obviously, dialogue in novels cannot be completely realistic. If you don't believe me, go out and tape (with the participants' permission, of course) a conversation and then sit down and transcribe it word for word. I can almost guarantee you that you won't want the dialogue in your novel to imitate those speech patterns exactly, or not constantly. It's amazing how much we (at least us English-speakers) talk in shorthand. But you also want to write dialogue that looks something like natural speech and not a series of monologues. And you don't want all your characters using all ten-dollar words, because people usually don't talk like that most of the time. Reading aloud will catch it if the writer finds him or herself falling into those traps.

[Marky Lazer]

I often use bad speech in dialogues, really. I think it makes characters real. We tend to call it 'burnt tongue'.

The way I write, which I have to agree is a bit different than my fellow aspiring authors, it is meant to be told, I think. Like what JDW said, it comes from oral narration, and, in the end, is still meant to be oral narration only written down on paper.

[Culhwch]

I agree with Little Miss, I think there comes a point where you get past having to read it aloud to see whether or not it flows. Still, I think it is a useful tool for beginning writers, and one I often drop into my critiques here...

[j. d. worthington]

I don't know that you ever get to where you're entirely past it -- as I said, I think you do reach a point where it's largely unnecessary, but can still be useful every great once in a while with a klutzy passage -- but I do think that, while it should be one of the major things in a beginner's arsenal, as one gains experience it gets to where the rhythms sound in the head without even consciously being aware of it, and so this becomes a minor, if still occasionally important, tool.

[chrispenycate]

Since I've been "critiquing" I've noticed that many people here have a problem with punctuation (Oh, you've noticed me noticing? ) Reading aloud, and noticing where the pause fall naturally, is a gret help in this. Similarly, the using of word rhythms to reinforce (or contradict) action, or atmosphere, is greatly enhanced; though imagining the sounds can replace it if, like me, you tend to work in trains, planes and restaurants.

Writing is a continutation of audible speech (except certain technical or mathematical works which are conceptually different) and most readers feel the patterns and accents even without the auditory information.

I've worked with several really good actors, who can make mediocre (or, let's face it, unpardonably bad) text sound reasonable (frequently traslated by a committee) but any of them can tell straight away when something is right.

[Mark Robson]

Originally Posted by littlemissattitude

I can see Teresa's point about dramatic reading. However, when I was an English tutor I found that, especially for beginning writers, reading aloud is a great tool. I don't know how many times I had students who couldn't see a thing wrong with their writing until I had them read aloud exactly what was on the page. They'd start reading aloud, get maybe three or four paragraphs in, and they'd look at me and say, "Oh." Just "Oh." They suddenly got what I had been telling them. But I'd also say that by the time someone is working on a novel, they probably need to be past the point where reading aloud would really be of benefit.

I tend to use a slight variation when encouraging young writers, Littlemiss. I get one of their fellow writers to read out what they have written. Often when reading aloud your own work, you read what you think you have written. The eyes just seem to dance over the errors without seeing them. If someone independent reads it, then they will read exactly what's there. It's another reason why it is impossible to properly edit/proof read your own writing. It is always better to get a fresh pair of eyes on it if at all possible.

When she has the time, I get my wife to read my work aloud to me. This doesn't happen that often these days, sadly, but I do find it useful to hear what I've written as read by someone else - particularly someone as picky as my good lady!