Visionary Writing Techniques #004
by John Onorato
As you all know, I’m a professional writer. World-class, even!
Today I’m going to let you in on another little secret that improved my writing from the first time I used it.
I’m completely serious. There’s no hyperbole in there at all. We’ll get into hyperbole later, but for now, just know that hyperbole is the greatest and most amazing invention since sliced bananas.
(and that’s what hyperbole is: Massive exaggerations that aren’t meant to be taken literally.)
So here’s that little trade secret. Yeah, most pro writers know about it, and most amateurs don’t.
That secret is this:
Once you’ve gotten to a place where you think “I’m done, now I can drop this in the Visionary group and get back to my regularly-scheduled life,” go back over your work.
Re-read your work.
And not only that, but read it aloud.
That’s right. Speak it. Give life to your words, through your voice!
Reading your work aloud is the best way I have discovered to find out how my writing really sounds. Which is another way of saying “How good my writing is.”
There are lots of benefits to be had by reading your work out loud.
First off, reading aloud is a great proofreading technique. It helps you catch errors in spelling and punctuation; it also helps you choose different (and hopefully better) words than what you used in your first draft. It also makes certain things painfully obvious, like missing punctuation and awkward word placement. It also becomes obvious when you’ve repeated words a few too many times.
Reading aloud helps with grammar. When someone reads aloud, you pause where you would naturally. And when you pause, you need punctuation — usually a comma or period. You might also notice when you haven’t taken a breath in a while. This is frequently indicative of a run-on sentence that needs to be broken up.
Reading your work out loud reveals holes in your thought process. It shows us places we haven’t been clear enough, and helps us remember information we might have left out. It shows us where we might have missed some important points. When reading aloud, it’s much easier to detect flaws in your logic. You will quickly know when you need to tidy up your argument, or where you need to research more, or when you might need to not mention a point you can’t really support.
Reading out loud enables us to make better word choices. Words convey meaning, and we have lots of words with similar meanings because words also convey nuance. This is that distinction of connotation/denotation I was talking about earlier. Hearing your words out loud helps convey nuance in a way seeing it on a screen might not.
Finally, reading aloud reveals peculiar rhythm and pacing. In a symphony orchestra, musicians work together to create something greater than any of them could do alone. When you’re writing a story or article, words work together in the same fashion. Each of them has its own small task, and when taken together they form a cohesive unit that is larger than the sum of its parts.
Want to hear how well your orchestra is performing? Read it out loud. One short, choppy sentence, or several in a row, serves well when you want to underline an important point. But use too many of these in a row, and you’ll sound robotic. Conversely, long, complex sentences are sometimes required — yet they are also best used sparingly, like exclamation points or F-bombs.
You’ll never know unless you re-read your work. You won’t be aware of these things if you don’t read your words out loud.
Ever played with a tape recorder? Then you know your recorded voice will sound different to your ears. It’s not the same voice you hear in your head, through your bones. In a similar fashion, your words will sound different when you read them. Words sound differently to our ears than they do in our minds, when we read them on the page.
Sure, your writing might be great already, all by itself. Just as your “real” voice is the voice others hear, though, your writing is only as good as others think it is.
