Our innate impulse to communicate has taken the shape of diverse stories and songs in cultures all around the world for thousands of years.
This verbal transmission has played a truly significant role in human history and continues to weave magic and meaning into our lives today.
The therapeutic power of literature was understood by the Ancient Egyptians who described it as “the medicine chest of the soul”, and current organisations* are successfully combining this with the practice of reading aloud.
For contemporary writers of all kinds, pausing to reflect on the value of oral tradition and how the spoken word enhances the reading experience introduces a whole new dimension to creative writing.
Imagine how your message or story would be delivered using the spoken word or song. What difference might that make to the way that you craft your words on the page?
Once you have written your first draft, the next step is to review your work. And if you haven’t already done so, you will discover that reading your words out loud is remarkably different from reading silently to yourself.
As a writer, reading aloud brings a fresh perspective to the way that you are expressing your message or story in terms of both content and form.
Reading your work out loud, will enable you to:
- gain a much clearer picture of whether your writing truly captures the essence of what you want to share with your readers
- pick up on the energy of the words themselves in terms of how they sound and how well they fit your content
- feel the whole rhythm of the piece you have written in a way that is impossible to achieve from silent reading.
Of course private and silent reading is a relatively recent development. It is not all that long ago that reading aloud was a way of creating a community experience within a family or group.
You may also feel drawn to sharing your work in this way. Readers do seem to have an insatiable appetite for hearing authors read their own work so this may well form part of your platform building activities as an author.
Live events and audio recordings of you reading your work (which you can offer as free downloads from your blog or website) will help your readers to feel a sense of connection with you.
So today I invite you to read your work out loud and experience the benefits of doing so. I’d also love to hear about your experiences so do post your comments below.
* For example, The Reader Organisation – see http://thereader.org.uk/
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© Julia McCutchen 2010. All Rights Reserved.
If you want to use this article in your ezine or on your website I’d be happy for you to do so as long as you use the complete article, including the copyright line, and include the following paragraph in its entirety:
Julia McCutchen is the founder & creative director of the International Association of Conscious & Creative Writers (IACCW) where writers discover their authentic voice – on the page and in the world. A former managing director & publisher (Element, Random House), Julia is a successful and intuitive writer’s coach, mentor and professional publishing consultant. She has over 20 years’ experience of publishing and a track record that includes UK no 1 and international bestsellers. Julia is the author of The Writer’s Journey: From Inspiration to Publication and the creator of the How to Write the Ultimate Book Proposal Online Masterclass Course. For a FREE Special Repo rt, Discover Your Authentic Voice – on the page and in the world, visit www.iaccw.com, and for a range of FREE articles, audios and videos for writers visit www.juliamccutchen.com.
Tags: author, creative writing, platform, reader, reading, rhythm, writer, Writing
I really like the idea of reading aloud. I also looked up The Reader Organisation and found it most interesting. I had a bad cold this summer, which made me feel very fuzzy and I virtually gave up writing. Now I have just come back from holiday and find I have to reactivate myself all over again to get back into the writing mode, and find myself full of self doubt. I will have to use all your tips to get me going! I guess this is all part of the process. Daphne
Hi Daphne
Good to hear that you like this way of adding a new layer to your writing process. Remember the cycle of nature … we all have times when we need to take a break from creative expression and recharge the inner creative well before we dive back into our writing again. So yes, it is indeed all part of the process, and hopefully you have a good range of tips and ideas here in these articles to inspire you to get going again.
Julia
Dear Julia, Thank you for your answer and reminding me that we all need to have fallow periods. I have now come back to my writing with renewed vigour. This is partly due to the fact that I have received very good feedback from my friend. I went back to my work and started revising it; somehow I seemed to be in a new space, to have tapped into a deeper layer of myself. The ideas I have assimilated from your course have become part of me, so that I know instinctively what to do, listening to my body, my feelings: it all seems to be flowing. I also had a reading of my natal birth chart, and it has given me a great boost and renewed confidence, as it was spot on. I received some very positive comments, particularly as regards my writing ! So many thanks once again for all your encouragement. Daphne
PS. This may not be the right place to do it, but do I need to renew my subscription for another year?
Your post extremely cool. I glad to be here. I enjoyed reading your articles and if allowed i would like to bookmark your posts.
Thank you so much … and yes, of course, bookmark whichever posts resonate with you the most
Good stuff. I dont remember reading such a good article. You should write more
Thank you! More writing on the way …