The Dreaded Read-Aloud Phase

[Peg Herring]

...is over. I read the whole darned thing, which took days and days, a lot of water, and a lot of stopping to fix what my ears heard that my eyes didn't. (Funny how eyes don't hear a thing!)

It's one of the most valuable things a writer can do, and it's also boring. But how clearly those repetitive phrases pop out. How easily you spot a point where there's not an adequate segue. How plainly you see that a character would not use that vocabulary, that tone, that phrasing at that moment.

Downside: today is go-through-and-fix-all-those-spots day!

[Benjamin Sobieck]

It's 100% worth it, and I commend you for making it all the way through. Reading aloud picks up things the eye can't hear.

[Peg Herring]

Yep, all good points. What was a mess a week ago is starting to seem like a story. I get a little intense at this point and have to do it until it's done.

[Jack Getze]

Look at it this way, Peg -- it's great practice for when you're reading outloud in a bookstore. I'm always surprised how bad some authors are (usually way too fast) reading their own stuff.

[Dana King]

I do the read- alouds a chapter or so at a time, as part of a draft. Makes it a lot less tedious.

Another benefit I've found is to assume any sentence I stumbled over when reading aloud was awkwardly written and needs to be redone.