Thursday, January 24, 2008

If You Want to Write...

The latest in our weekly blog series about this reasoned habit of making... Sorry, totally stole that from Aristotle. About writing, friends.

Read Aloud, Read Aloud

I am constantly told by everyone that one must always read aloud one's work before one completes it. This sounds like a great idea. I've done it about once. I don't have the patience to read stuff aloud, though perhaps I'd publish more fiction if I did...

The point is, there are so many different techniques to writing that it truly is your call. The only thing you can do is try them all out and figure what works. I'm not a moral relativist, but when it comes to art techniques, I am. Pretend that ten people are all given the same amount of clay in a pottery making place. The textures of the clay are all different. The people's ideas are all different. Therefore, you will most certainly end up with ten unique pieces of pottery at the end of the session.

There is good art and bad art. Good writing and bad writing. But heck, nobody really knows the absolute bestest way to get to either one. In the meantime, try lots of things. Maybe even reading aloud.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

As a frequently published literary and avant-garde writer, and former college creative writing instructor, I strongly recommend to all aspiring prose or poetry writers to read their work aloud, and often. Reading aloud uses different neural pathways than reading to yourself, thus you actually hear your work as if listening to someone else. Errors and awkward writing leaps out at you, and you're able to write and rewrite with a keener sense of the musicality of language, a requirement in great writing.

Gabrielle said...

I think everyone I meet would agree with you, Debra, including myself! It's much easier to catch mistakes that way-- so the persistence always pays off. It simply takes a bit of time to do so.