ALOUD

As you all know by now, I am in several critique groups. It used to be three but I have worked myself into that preverbial corner again and have no time to write as much as I should. I dropped out of the snail-mail one, although I did ask (and she said yes!) one of the members if we might continue--on a non-schedule/deadline type of critiquing.

I have been working on a romantic suspense for ages. It has been one of those on-again, off-again affairs--I started with a bang, then got stuck, started up again with enthusiasm and now, with the holiday mad rush, have slowed down to a crawl again. Besides omething isn't right with this books's progress.

Several writers have reminded me to practice what I preach--read the work aloud. I have proven it to myself in past pieces of my work but I must admit I haven't tried it when writing a book. Having said that, I am beginning to pull out of the stall by reading my chapters aloud. It's true--I hear a lot of mistakes as I stumble over them.

Some of the critiquers of the beginning chapers of this book have told me my point of view is all out of whack. I have never had that problem with books before but most of them were written in first person. I'm attempting to correct that now but, even with reading aloud, I find myself going back to defending some of my work.

This is a romance which is a formula write. There are two people, distrustful of each other, who will become lovers, caught up in a mystery. They both have speaking parts and internal thoughts in the chapters I have created. I've tried putting each chapter in a different voice--and find, even listening to myself read, this really slows down the story.

I go back and read aloud my latest first-person point of view novel and find it flows much better. The ones who have critiqued this have no problem with the voice of Mary Margaret Butler. When I read it aloud to the walls of my office (that, by the way, remain so silent they could agree or not for all I know), I find myself returning to my East Texas roots, accent and all. Maybe that is what is lacking in my new romanctic suspense--the voices don't sound "real" when read aloud.

I am stubborn. I want this story told in third person to work. I will keep writing and reading aloud until I get this right. I know this is an excellent way to do that--reading aloud in order to catch the wrong tenses, omissions, run-on sentences, syntax, and a multitude of other sins, among them the believability of my story-telling people.

If you're having trouble with your writing, read it aloud. If your writing group finds your writing lacking, make the acceptable suggested changes and read it aloud again.

Once I was in a group that exchanged their work to read aloud, and I hated it. No one could put the emphasis on the right words of my work--or anyone elses. How can another reader know what is the right voice to use in reading? Did I learn to like the process? No, but I certainly learned a lot. If you listen to someone else read your work and listen closely, you will hear all the problems--and it might not be pretty.

But all mistakes can be corrected. All of our work can benefit from reading it aloud. Let's all try to do this.