Writers--Read Your Drafts Aloud

Once again, I am going to urge you to read your work aloud as part of your proofreading/editing process. You will hear errors that your eyes might slide right over as you read silently.

Only yesterday, one of the women in my writing group critiqued a new essay I'd subbed. She pointed out the number of 'was' and 'had' words I had used. I tell you all the time to get rid of as many passives as you can. Then I did what I preach not to. In my defense, this was a first draft. so I'll claim that as my excuse. 

If you use Word to write your stories, essays and such, look at the top bar, go to the far right side. You will see Find with what looks like a magnifying glass next to it. Cllick on the Find, and a box will pop up on the left side of your document. Type in any word that you want to check in the box given. That word will then be highlighted throughout your document. It can be quite a shock to see the number of times you used a particular word. Try it with the passive verbs like 'was, were, is, are' to see if you're overloaded. Also, if your document is about a particular thing, perhaps 'government,' check to see the number of times you used that word. Then try to use different words for some of them. I didn't take time to read this one out loud, and if I had, I'd have had the problem corrected before subbing to my group.

If you read your work aloud, you'll discover some sentences that are way too long. Ones where you had to stop and take a breath before finishing. Have several of those, and you're in trouble. Overly long sentences are easy to fix. They can almost always be easily separated into two, or even three, sentences. You won't lose the meaning, just the extreme length.

Read with your voice, and you could discover words that your readers might stumble over, even though they are reading silently. 

You might also find spots that don't make much sense to you. It's far better that you discover them in the editing process so you can revise or rework those areas. 

One writer said she thought she'd feel silly reading her own work out loud in an empty room. Why? You're there alone, and the practice is to help you create a better piece of writing. I wouldn't advise standing in the kitchen while dinner prep is going on and reading your story over the conversation of others. Do it on your own. Close the door to the room you're in if necessary.

It is especially important to read poetry you've written out loud. You'll quickly see places where the rhythm is a bit off, or a word doesn't fit. Or a rhyme doesn't work very well. 

So, silly or not, try this the next time you finish the first draft and again when you have done all the revisions you felt were needed. 

Be Specific When You Write

Be specific when you write. Don't tell your reader There was a box on the table. That's so general that the reader has no idea if the author meant a wooden box, a metal box, or a cardboard box. The reader doesn't get any sense of the size of the box, nor what it looked like.

If you write A small box rested on the table. Its deep purple color and the silver ribbon wrapped around it made me stop. 

In the example above, the writer specified the size, the color, that it was wrapped in ribbon like a gift. Isn't that far better than merely stating that there was a box on the table? 

What if I said A woman waited at the counter. You have no idea what that woman looks like. But if I said, A nun waited at the counter. you have an immediate mental image. I could go farther and say A rotund nun waited at the counter. Now, that mental image is more clear. 

If I wrote People stared at the animal on the corner, you'd have no idea if it was big or small, tame or wild, what kind of animal. Nothing except it was an 'animal.' A clearer mental image would be brought if I wrote People stared at the spotted Dalmatian on the corner.

Being more specific in your writing is a small thing, but it can bring your writing to life and help your readers see what you have already seen in your own mind. Be careful not to overdo and add a barrage of adjectives to help the reader see even better. Too many adjectives tend to cover up the noun itself. Adjectives are extremely helpful in small doses.