Writing Tip #7: Read It Out Loud
My buddy, Colleen Wainwright, shared several awesome tips yesterday on how to make you and your writing sound more natural and down-to-earth. Here’s one suggestion that really jumped out at me:
Some people can avoid slipping into their Plastic-Man Voice by using dictation. One terrific way to sound more like yourself in your writing is to have someone interview you.
She’s right.
I like to read what I’ve written out loud. It makes it MUCH harder for anything too lofty or unnatural or unintended to get by.
Scriptwriters do this all the time. The Table Read is a major step in the script editing process, when the entire cast gets together and each actor reads their part.
Here’s what that looks like:
Hearing what you’ve written out loud is guaranteed to show you what needs to be fixed in order to make you sound like you want to sound. Try it.
