Who reads their WIP aloud? Be honest

[HareBrain]

I confess, I've never done so until now, except for small bits of it. I've heard the advice many times, I've acknowledged that it's probably good advice -- for others -- but my lazy brain has always advanced the opinion that my work didn't need it.

Lately I've been undertaking what will hopefully be the last major edit (self-prompted anyway), and after editing each chapter, trying to take out as many words as possible without losing anything of value, I've been reading it aloud. It is incredibly tedious, but by gosh it's valuable, especially with dialogue. I've discovered I often write dialogue with my mental voice rather than my speaking voice, and some of the lines cannot be spoken without the mouth going into some pretty unnatural contortions. Gratifyingly, an improved, more natural version often comes to mind almost immediately -- and it almost always contains fewer words!

So, there you go. I'll be very embarrassed if I find out that everyone else here has always done it as a matter of course.

 

[Juliana]

Not everything, but I do read out bits if its looking a little rough. It helps with picking up word repetition, too.

 

[The Judge]

Me. All the time.

 

[Hex]

Little bits, when I'm editing or when a child asks me to. I don't tend to, though, because I don't read books out loud -- I don't sound out names and I don't care if I can pronounce the dialogue. So for me, it's mainly about internal voice.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Me, especially the dialogue bits. And scenes that just don't work, darn it...

 

[Peter Graham]

Never. But, then again, as writing is a hobby activity I rarely do it without a pint or a glass of red by my side. Mrs Graham would Express Strong Views if I sprayed a mouthful of Chateau Hypermarche all over the kitchen whilst attempting to enunciate Turnip's redneck twang.

Regards,

Peter

 

[ASleepyGiraffe]

I read everything out loud as well. As others have pointed out for dialogue it's invaluable. Actually it's also good for pacing and punctuation, I.e. where to take pauses etc...

 

[Bowler1]

Never. But, then again, as writing is a hobby activity I rarely do it without a pint or a glass of red by my side. Mrs Graham would Express Strong Views if I sprayed a mouthful of Chateau Hypermarche all over the kitchen whilst attempting to enunciate Turnip's redneck twang.

Same here for Mrs Bowler - and if I gobbed a mouthful of red wine over the carpet she'd look just like this =

 

[Abernovo]

I often speak out loud as I'm typing, especially if it's a part where I'm not sure about the best way of putting it down on paper, and for dialogue. I do the same in editing. Never with red wine, though.

 

[ctg]

I only read it aloud when and if I find a spot that I cannot get over. So I'll interrupt Mrs Ctg from doing whatever and ask if she has time. Often she sighs deeply and very rarely she says she's busy, but then when I do read it aloud, it doesn't change my view on the prose. However hers reply is almost always something along line, "Let's fix the grammar first," but lately she had learned to be a bit more vague on that thing.

 

[Tecdavid]

I "mouth" my work, sometimes. Move my lips in the way the words would, if spoken. I whisper it sometimes, too, but I never read it out loud. For some reason, I think I'd just feel... well, embarrassed, if I did.

How about whispering and mouthing, then? Are they just as useful, or would it really be better to speak it?

 

[prizzley]

Not as much as I should. I always find more howlers when I do. New Year's Resolution - read aloud more!

 

[Colbey Frost]

I use a program to read it too me when my many migraines kick me in the face. This way I can still try and get stuff done and make blind notes on paper. If I didn't do this, I would have edited next to nothing.

 

[prizzley]

I use a program to read it too me when my many migraines kick me in the face.

What program do you use?

 

[Grinnel]

I don't want to talk about it.

 

[Perpetual Man]

I didn't initially, but I read a little to Mrs Perp. a few years ago and was horrified at the number of mistakes that came to light, even though I had read the manuscript and edited it time and time again.

As such I started doing it as a matter of course, I just seem to catch more that way.

 

[SciFrac]

Everything I write. Pacing and cadence reveal themselves imediately, especially in the bad parts.

 

[Colbey Frost]

What program do you use?

It's in word, but I downloaded better voices for it. Most places charge loads for these voices, or programs you can download for free have teh same basic ones then you have to pay to upgrade.

 

[Warren_Paul]

I read dialogue out loud, because it's the character speaking, to ensure it sounds real to me. The narrative I keep to my head, because it's the character thinking, so why would reading out loud help make it sound more real?

 

[nubins]

I know I should, but I haven't. Yet.