Published authors are often asked what their number one piece of writing advice is. Well, I’m not published yet, but I’m already beginning to form my answer to the question.
My top piece of writing advice is:
Have your computer read your manuscript aloud. This is an option offered in both Pages and Word.
Though I can’t remember where I first heard the advice to read my work aloud, it’s one of the most valuable tips I know. I tend to feel self-conscious when I read my stories aloud to myself, so I made the switch to having my computer perform the task. While the robot-like voice may grate on my nerves at times, having my computer read to me is a great way to catch typos and awkward wording.
This is also a nice way to smooth out dialogue. Sometimes I’ll be listening to my manuscript and a few lines of dialogue will appear. While I listen, I’ll find it’s hard to keep track of who said what. I then add or adjust my dialogue tags to add clarity.
Sometimes I find descriptions that sound great in my head but just stand out strangely when read aloud. Therefore, I switch out some words for less strange ones or rewrite/cut the description all together.
Another thing I do is read along with my computer. Sometimes there will be words that sound similar , but have different meanings. For example, my computer read the word “decent” allowed when I had meant “descent”. I almost missed the difference, but scrolled back to double check and found the typo.
What about you? What’s your top piece of writing or editing advice? Or, what is one piece of editing or writing advice you want to try?
Ashlee Schaller enjoys reading about reckless, headstrong heroes, prefers tea over coffee, and loves dollhouse miniatures. When not writing, she can often be found curled up with a book.
You can find out more about Ashley and what she writers here:
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6 Comments
This is great advice. Thank you. I’m so excited you are published on A3. I will begin listening to my manuscript and articles. God bless your writing journey.
Thank you so much! I’m glad you found it helpful!
I always read my work aloud. However, if I have a sore throat, this sounds like a great alternative. Thank you, Ashlee.
That’s great!
I didn’t realize Word could read it to me! I use google docs and the text to speech feature on my apple devices or send full length MS to my old kindle and have it read to me. It took a while to get used to the voice but it made life easier in the long run.
Yay!