My kind husband has been reading my latest manuscript out loud to the family every night. Though I sometimes want to pull my hair out in frustration over the obnoxious teenage comments and the silliness during dramatic scenes, overall it is a useful tool for editing. Here are a few reasons why:
1. Having the manuscript read out loud by someone else helps me to notice the errors. Sometimes, no matter how many times I read the pages, my eyes will slip over little mistakes.
2. You hear any awkward dialogue. What I read and what I hear are completely different. I especially notice when I haven’t thrown in a contraction that would be used when speaking.
3. My MC is a teenage boy. This is where the obnoxious teenage comments actually help. Since I’m the only girl in the family, it is obvious when I have written something out of character for a boy. In my first book I had a teenage boy giggle. I will never make that mistake again. The ridicule was unbearable.
I recommend if you can, having somebody read out loud at least the dialogue parts of your manuscript. It can be both an entertaining and a learning experience.
My best friend and her husband, a director, read the first draft of my manuscript aloud over breakfast. I was so mortified that I made them stop. (and I wasn't even present to hear most of it!) Looking back, I wish they had continued.
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing how different a manuscript can sound when someone else reads it. It can be very embarrassing but I think you are right, I'm not going to stop. I like to sit with my laptop while they read. Anything that sounds awkward gets highlighted to be fixed later.
ReplyDelete