"Best" writing advice

[Spell Chick]

From my inbox:
For years, I've been passing along to writers and wannabees the best writing advice I've ever heard. It was at a writers' workshop more than 30 years ago, where the leader said: "Read your copy aloud; better still, have someone else read it to you while your eyes are closed." I do it regularly and it's amazing what the ear will catch that the eye may have missed.


I do read my copy out loud when I'm editing because it makes me read slower and catch many of my mistakes. Have any of you tried this?

Wouldn't it be really hard to correct it? Someone else would be there with the computer or printout and you would be hearing all the mistakes and have to remember them for later?

Do you have an "best" writing advice to share?

[Spell Chick]

ACKKKK

Best forum advice ... check where you are posting.

Could some mod move this to all the write questions or maybe the coffee shop. Wherever it might work best? It really doesn't belong here.


**** Thanks Alice for moving it for me.

[twisted wheel]

that's great advice. i attended a writing workshop in october and we read each other's writing with good results.

[Raven's Quill]

I love reading my work aloud. Mainly because I love the sound of my own voice. Ha. Ha. Ha.

But seriously. Not only do I catch typos and what not, but sentence flow, length, word choice. I've never tried having someone else read it aloud to me because a) I don't think I could find someone with that kind of time to devote solely to me (although why people wouldn't want to volunteer...) and b) you're completely right, how would you make the editing changes until you interrupted them. Or took notes?

Great advice!!

[Alice, a Country Gal]

This is excellent advise - actually, the same advise was given me by a working editor several years ago and I've been using it ever since. 

[AriM]

Great advice.  I read my 'stuff' aloud to my husband and if I stumble over a passage of (jeez) my own work, there's a problem there.  I also watch his face and if his brow furrows I know he's having a problem with it.  Of course, he will tell me what he didn't understand or couldn't sort out but, if I've been watching, I know exactly where the problem occurred.

[WordBird]

The "best" writing advice I've ever received is: write.

Saying aloud: Write, Period

[cswillson]

I've started sending my stuff to my Kindle and having Mr. Monotone read it to me. It's much easier to catch errors when I'm not emphasizing the words as I intended.

[Skip Slocum]

Someone told me to just say it on paper. Don't try to be Hemingway and don't try to use exotic, obscure words. "Just say it."

Skip

[herron]

Dialogue is best when it's natural and believable. Reading your work aloud helps.

But not always. Last summer I helped a friend by editing his 66,000 word manuscript (should have charged him). Even when he read it aloud he couldn't see where the changes needed to be, because he was putting in the pauses he knew should be there - but weren't indicated in any of his punctuation!

Part of my advice to him was read what you wrote, not what's in your head.

[Cricket]

I've started sending my stuff to my Kindle and having Mr. Monotone read it to me. It's much easier to catch errors when I'm not emphasizing the words as I intended.

Oh, I love this idea!

[JewelsofJapan]

ACKKKK

Best forum advice ... check where you are posting.

Could some mod move this to all the write questions or maybe the coffee shop. Wherever it might work best? It really doesn't belong here.


**** Thanks Alice for moving it for me.

I suffer from dyslexia and must really think of my narrative flow, which can become costly when editing. In the mean while I use White-Smoke religiosity, waiting for that perfect spell-check and editor for professional narrative writing to spring to life?