Reading Out Loud

 

Over the years, I’ve heard many authors claim that writers should read every manuscript out loud. Unfortunately, I didn’t see the need to follow that advice.

Not until recently.

As I mentioned in my last post, I’m a fanatical supporter of the Oxford comma. Other than that, however, my style is to use commas only where a speaker would naturally pause or when necessary to avoid confusion. That natural pause is easier to hear when the words are read out loud.

What really convinced me, however, was reading my material at the Highland Writers Group’s critique meetings (currently held via Zoom). As I read to the group, I notice passages that don’t sound quite right and nuances I didn’t pick up on when reading the manuscript in my head.

I can’t just rely on reading a manuscript to my critique group, however. Although that helps, they don’t hear the final draft. And I am only reading part of my current manuscript. So I still need to read it out loud before doing the final polish and sending it to my copy editor.

Cliché as it may be, sometimes even old dogs can learn new tricks.

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The image at the head of the page is one of the original illustrations from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. According to the credits in the book, it was “designed by Frank T. Merrill, drawn, engraved, and printed under the supervision of George T. Andrew.” The drawing is in the public domain because of its age.