Tip: Read Your Novel Out Loud

This post may contain affiliate links to products I use and love. If you buy something through one of those links, there is no additional cost to you, but I may receive a small commission, which helps pay for my continued work. Read my affiliate disclosures here.

Writing can be such a quiet activity. Other than the click of the keys or the scratch of the pen on paper, we’re often silent, allowing our thoughts to flow out onto the page. But I have a pro-tip for you today, one that I use quite often myself: read your novel out loud.

Reading out loud forces you to slow down.

If you’ve been reading your writing silently for months, if not years, then it might be time to view it differently. If we’re reading in our heads, it’s too easy to skip, skim, or change wording without realizing it. Our brains automatically fill things in, and so you might not catch the missing “the” after thirty read-throughs. If, on the thirty-first read-through, you read it aloud, you’re far more likely to slow down and read every single word. The act of slowing down means we see things so differently from all those fast-paced read-throughs that you’ve done before.

Reading out loud helps you find unnatural dialogue.

It might seem obvious, but the most natural way to double-check your dialogue is to speak it out loud. Our ears better assess whether dialogue sounds natural, like an actual person is saying it, than our brains do. If it feels awkward reading it aloud, chances are that your character wouldn’t have said that way—unless awkward is what you’re going for.

Reading out loud clearly shows you awkward wording.

In a similar vein, reading your work aloud is very helpful when it comes to finding awkward or stilted writing. If you find yourself stumbling over your words or having to go back and reread a sentence, you might need to make some adjustments. If you find that you struggle to follow along with a particular sentence, perhaps you need to break it down into smaller sentences, ones that are easier for your reader to digest.

Reading out loud puts you in the reader’s seat.

While you’re writing and editing, you’re likely hanging out in the writer’s seat, not the reader’s seat. While this is absolutely crucial at the beginning of your project, by the time you’re on your second or third draft, you should be considering the reader’s perspective, perhaps more than the author’s perspective. So in order to switch gears and put on your reader’s hat, try reading aloud. Put yourself in your reader’s seat and examine your story just as they would.

Reading out loud keepS your attention, even when your focus is elsewhere.

This is a huge reason I started reading aloud in the first place. As someone who reads for a living (my dream job), I can tell you that I’m just not into it every single day. Perhaps the story just isn’t grabbing me, or I didn’t get enough sleep the night before, or the dogs are driving me nuts, but some days, I just can’t focus. And when I still have to get my work done, reading aloud really helps me stay focused on the story in front of me. And for writers, this can be just the same. If you know you want to write or edit but it’s feeling too difficult to keep your mind on the story, try reading it aloud instead. You just might find it easier to get your work done.

BONUS! Reading out loud helps you see where commas should be added—or removed.

I won’t lie: this is my favorite reason to read your work aloud. I love a good comma. Commas are a bit controversial in the writing and editing worlds, as the rules are a bit hazy. There are plenty of situations when you absolutely have to have a comma, but plenty where it could go either way. And don’t even get me started on different rules for different types of books, different style guides, and different mediums of writing altogether. My philosophy with commas—in fiction, at least—is based on how it sounds to the reader, and reading the work aloud is super helpful in determining what the reader would hear. Commas belong in the same space that a reader would breathe because it helps them naturally find those pauses. Commas offer a gentle whitespace of sorts to control the cadence and rhythm of your story. So if you’re not sure whether to add a comma or not, read it aloud and see where you naturally pause. Put one there.

Anyone Can be a Writer, and Other Editing Philosophies

This post may contain affiliate links to products I use and love. If you buy something through one of those links, there is no additional cost to you, but I may receive a small commission, which helps pay for my continued work. Read my affiliate disclosures here.

I’ve been doing this for a while now—this being reading and editing and haunting the publishing industry, unable to leave it alone—and when you’re around something for quite some time, you’re bound to develop some opinions. And oooh, do I have some opinions for you.

It’s in developing these opinions that I’ve established some philosophies in my business. These philosophies dictate how I edit, what I teach my clients, and how I encourage writers.

Anyone can be a writer.

When I see writers struggling, it’s common to hear things like, “I’m just not meant to be a writer,” or “I can’t do this.” Neither of those things is true. You see, anyone can be a writer, and everyone can do this, but you just have to do it. And so perhaps what separates the writers from the non-writers is that the non-writers just don’t want it enough to prioritize it right now. And that’s totally okay.

But if you do want to be a writer, that’s where the magic happens. When you really, really want to be a writer, you find the time to write in the stolen moments, and in the moments where you’re not writing, you’re thinking about it and planning and dreaming and jotting down lines in your Notes app so you don’t forget them later. You’re setting boundaries with family members and reading books about characterization so you get better and better. You can’t help it. Being a writer is in your soul.

And so anyone can be a writer, you just have to want it bad enough.

You must know who your target audience is, and no, it’s not “everyone.”

If I had a nickel for every time a new author told me their book was for everyone, I’d have retired from editing years ago.

No one thing appeals to everyone. Not sunshine and rainbows, not the scent of fresh lavender in the summer, not freshly baked cookies on an autumn afternoon, not even chocolate.

So if you tell me that your ideal reader is “everyone,” it’s as good as saying your ideal reader is absolutely no one.

There’s power in knowing what type of reader would enjoy your story. There may be several types of readers that would enjoy your story, and knowing that gives you even more power. Yes, there will always outliers, but when you’re publishing your book, you need to know who your average reader will be. Knowing that will inform your cover art, your back cover blurb, the length of your book, your genre, your marketing, and so much more.

The first draft is for the writer, and the subsequent drafts are for the reader.

It seems to me that most novels begin with passion from the writer—that spark of an idea, that zing of creativity. It can be intoxicating and alluring, and gets the writer excited. And so the writer writes, crafting a novel that, to them, is perfect.

But that’s not the end.

Because at the end of the day, the end user of that book is not the writer—it’s the reader. And so, after the first draft, that reader needs to be considered. Things may make sense to the writer, but not to the reader, and this second draft is meant to find these things and fix them. It’s as if you’re fixing up your book, swaddling it in a nice scarf, and sending it off to kindergarten by itself for the first time. You must prepare it to be on its own and in the world, without you to care for it.

To successfully break the rules, you must first know the rules.

In writing, I believe that most rules are in place to help the reader more easily read. For this reason, consistency is important, formatting has standards, and rules must be followed. But sometimes, when you know the rules, know why the rules are in place, and why they’re important, you can break them. This, in essence, becomes a stylistic choice instead of a negligent one. If, instead, you don’t know why writers format things in a certain way, you may format your novel however you see fit, with unicorn stickers and multicolored backgrounds and thirty-seven different fonts. This will, undoubtedly, anger some of your readers, triggering refunds and bad reviews and pitchforks. It’s definitely worth knowing the rules first.

You will only get out of your book what you put into it.

This is where I implore you to take it seriously. Spend some time learning to write by following blogs. Find a community to commiserate with, whether in person or on Facebook. Invest in a good editor (hey, that’s me!) and a cover designer. Look before you leap, and make intentional decisions. Treat your book like something important to you, because it is.

Now, for the unsexy part: after your book has been published, and after you’ve celebrated this enormous feat, you cannot just stop working on your book. Now is the time to promote it in the same spaces that your ideal audience hangs out. Put that title and cover in front of the right eyeballs over and over. Talk about your book, quote your book, share behind the scenes looks at your book. If you do this, you’ll be selling not only your book, but also yourself, and that’s how you get readers who keep coming back with each subsequent novel.

Take the time to develop your own writing philosophies, and if what I mentioned above resonates with you, if you really want it and are ready to invest in yourself and the novel that you’ve poured yourself into, reach out for a quote!