Read Aloud Tip

Thanks for the info on that Einstein, I'll give it a try.

@storysinger You're quite welcome..

I did not know that @einstein36, thanks for the tip! I'd rather hear someone else read my story aloud because I am more likely to hear it properly than if I read it myself - my brain might subconsciously autocorrect and insert what I think should be there.

Posted by: @einstein36

↑

For those with Microsoft Word, you can go to the Review menu selection and select Read Aloud, and your story will be read aloud by a female or male voice, depending on the settings one chooses.

I just started using this feature and it has helped.  Thank you for suggesting it.

But If I've got the document open and I'm not actually reading it myself - what do I do with my finger? (Responses not reqd.)

Just keep in mind that Word doesn't need to breathe. A big part of reading out loud is catching long and unwieldy or awkward sentences.

Saying that, with the way the hayfever is drying my throat out this year I might just try it anyway. :d:  

@joel-c-scoberg You're quite welcome....
I have used it and it actually caught some sentences, words that didn't fit in the story...:)

@toddjones You're quite welcome....

it definitely does help....

Posted by: @einstein36

↑

Hi there,

I know it has been mentioned about reading your story aloud to catch stuff that one might have missed, and I thought I would pass this helpful tip along to fellow writers.

For those with Microsoft Word, you can go to the Review menu selection and select Read Aloud, and your story will be read aloud by a female or male voice, depending on the settings one chooses.

I am sure this feature might be available in other word processors, but I thought I would pass this along to help your story..:)

This is a great tip and is actually the very last step in my review process before submitting. I sit with my document open on two different devices. One is my iPad Pro, which reads the story to me, because the voices on my iPad sound more natural than the voices in Word on my laptop. (As opposed to the voices in my head, which always yell a lot and sound like records being played backwards; maybe I need help, I dunno.) I also have the story open on my laptop, which is where I make all my changes while the story is being read to me.

I have never listened to my story being read to me and NOT caught at least a few typos or other straggling grammar errors. Maybe an editor like Kary or Jodi would overlook those tiny errors. Probably they would. But I'm a perfectionist, and those tiny errors feel like invisible splinters poking me in the eyeballs, and I take pleasure in sanding them down with a square of fine-grit paper just to be sure. Safety first, kids.

@morgan-broadhead Not only typos or grammar errors, but I have also caught out-of-place or strange sentences that should not be written in a particular way. 

It helps, especially if you do the read-aloud quite a few times...

I agree it's great to read your writing aloud. I prefer that to computer voices, although some of this new fangled voice technology can read to you with the voices of famous people. Speechify can read any text in the voice of Snoop Dogg or Gwyneth Paltrow. You can also choose from a range of accents.

@alexh very cool...that's good to know

It was indeed a great tip. I tried. Thanks for sharing Einestein  

@johnalex20 You're quite welcome..

I started reading last week to my mom, who is sick and can't talk right now.  I've found multiple sentence stumbling edits to fix. Crazy how obvious they are when you read them outloud.  This is now on my final draft review list to do moving forward on all stories.

Posted by: @pdblake

↑

Just keep in mind that Word doesn't need to breathe. A big part of reading out loud is catching long and unwieldy or awkward sentences.

I've found this out. Computer reading is good, but when I read it myself outloud I find obvious issues with sentence structure.