6 ms·

The tip: read your writing out loud.

by foxbarrington 5y ago

amerine 5y ago
Thank you.
OttPeterR 5y ago
Saved me a click
throw1234651234 5y ago
But did you learn it at Oxford? Are you an ex-FAANG tech lead that learned a SECRET that RICH PEOPLE DONT WANT YOU TO KNOW!? Are you posting this from a rented mansion next to a rented super car? Are you making millions while sleeping at home and we could too, if we just use this one trick? In other words - thanks for saving a click as others said.
BugsJustFindMe 5y ago
Thanks. It felt like I was trying to find how long to cook something and at what temperature and instead the author is only interested in telling me about their grandmother's sweaters and childhood summers in Vermont.
- hh3k0 5y ago
  You nailed it. That's precisely how I felt.
- fancy_pantser 5y ago
  I made this Chrome extension to help skip to the recipe on those long-winded sites. Someone on here years ago encouraged me to build it! https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/recipe-filter/ahlcdjbkdaegmljnnncfnhiioiadakae https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/recipe-filter/ahlc...
late2part 5y ago
Another tip I learned early on: "Don't bury the lede."
- ta988 5y ago
  lede?
dghughes 5y ago
I was taught that writing and speaking are very different you tend to speak much differently than you'd write. Maybe that was bad advice.
- pfortuny 5y ago
  Indeed: it seems (according to TA Eliot) that Henry James dictated his latest novels to a typist (or something similar) and that accounts for the density and lack of freshness (also of his revises edition of his works, which he did in his old age).
  - Wistar 5y ago
    Mark Twain dictated some 2,000 pages for his autobiography. "Twain first tried dictating into Thomas Edison's new recording machine but didn't like it -- he was a man who strutted stages all over the world, delivering extemporaneous spiels. Twain needed a live audience to speak to, not a bloodless machine. He eventually found that audience in stenographer Josephine Hobby and author Albert Bigelow Paine, his first biographer. Paine says Twain often dictated from his bed, clad in a handsome silk dressing gown of rich Persian pattern, propped against great snowy pillows. He also got up, paced the floor and waved his arms as he poured out nearly 2,000 pages of typescript over three years." https://www.npr.org/2010/12/01/131703237/on-publishing-mark-twain-s-autobiography https://www.npr.org/2010/12/01/131703237/on-publishing-mark-...
- grayclhn 5y ago
  You do, but the goal here isn't to write the way you speak, it's to force a different engagement with your own writing than you would get otherwise. This page from the UNC writing center gives a better explanation: https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/reading-aloud/ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/reading-aloud/ I try to follow this advice for important emails, and it helps a lot.
- cf 5y ago
  I'd say writing that's like your speech without filler words and backtracking to rephrase what you just said can make for remarkably great prose.
NaOH 5y ago
I’ve also closed my eyes and used a computer’s text-to-speech capability. I find this helpful when my writing is fresh and I’m apt to be reading as much from memory as with my eyes.
- ta988 5y ago
  Yes I'm doing that all the time. There is no good TTS on Linux so I often have to use online tools. I need to try some of the cloud providers TTS systems, their demo sound great.
bennysomething 5y ago
Yep, thanks, tried scanning it to find the but of advice. Failed:)
DamnInteresting 5y ago
I can corroborate; I've been writing long-form for years, and somewhere along the way I began releasing my works as podcast episodes. There have been many occasions where I didn't recognize problems until I was recording the narration.
teekert 5y ago
Hero!
gojomo 5y ago
I half expected it to be, "Add credibility signifiers like 'I learned this at Oxford' to your headlines."
stared 5y ago
It might be useful for writing essays. It is essential for writing YouTube comments - https://xkcd.com/481/ https://xkcd.com/481/.
jordanmorgan10 5y ago
I read this comment out loud

The tip: read your writing out loud.

amerine 5y ago

Thank you.

OttPeterR 5y ago

Saved me a click

throw1234651234 5y ago

But did you learn it at Oxford? Are you an ex-FAANG tech lead that learned a SECRET that RICH PEOPLE DONT WANT YOU TO KNOW!? Are you posting this from a rented mansion next to a rented super car? Are you making millions while sleeping at home and we could too, if we just use this one trick? In other words - thanks for saving a click as others said.

BugsJustFindMe 5y ago

Thanks. It felt like I was trying to find how long to cook something and at what temperature and instead the author is only interested in telling me about their grandmother's sweaters and childhood summers in Vermont.

hh3k0 5y ago
You nailed it. That's precisely how I felt.
fancy_pantser 5y ago
I made this Chrome extension to help skip to the recipe on those long-winded sites. Someone on here years ago encouraged me to build it! https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/recipe-filter/ahlcdjbkdaegmljnnncfnhiioiadakae https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/recipe-filter/ahlc...

late2part 5y ago

Another tip I learned early on: "Don't bury the lede."

ta988 5y ago
lede?

dghughes 5y ago

I was taught that writing and speaking are very different you tend to speak much differently than you'd write. Maybe that was bad advice.

pfortuny 5y ago
Indeed: it seems (according to TA Eliot) that Henry James dictated his latest novels to a typist (or something similar) and that accounts for the density and lack of freshness (also of his revises edition of his works, which he did in his old age).
- Wistar 5y ago
  Mark Twain dictated some 2,000 pages for his autobiography. "Twain first tried dictating into Thomas Edison's new recording machine but didn't like it -- he was a man who strutted stages all over the world, delivering extemporaneous spiels. Twain needed a live audience to speak to, not a bloodless machine. He eventually found that audience in stenographer Josephine Hobby and author Albert Bigelow Paine, his first biographer. Paine says Twain often dictated from his bed, clad in a handsome silk dressing gown of rich Persian pattern, propped against great snowy pillows. He also got up, paced the floor and waved his arms as he poured out nearly 2,000 pages of typescript over three years." https://www.npr.org/2010/12/01/131703237/on-publishing-mark-twain-s-autobiography https://www.npr.org/2010/12/01/131703237/on-publishing-mark-...
grayclhn 5y ago
You do, but the goal here isn't to write the way you speak, it's to force a different engagement with your own writing than you would get otherwise. This page from the UNC writing center gives a better explanation: https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/reading-aloud/ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/reading-aloud/ I try to follow this advice for important emails, and it helps a lot.
cf 5y ago
I'd say writing that's like your speech without filler words and backtracking to rephrase what you just said can make for remarkably great prose.

NaOH 5y ago

I’ve also closed my eyes and used a computer’s text-to-speech capability. I find this helpful when my writing is fresh and I’m apt to be reading as much from memory as with my eyes.

ta988 5y ago
Yes I'm doing that all the time. There is no good TTS on Linux so I often have to use online tools. I need to try some of the cloud providers TTS systems, their demo sound great.

bennysomething 5y ago

Yep, thanks, tried scanning it to find the but of advice. Failed:)

DamnInteresting 5y ago

I can corroborate; I've been writing long-form for years, and somewhere along the way I began releasing my works as podcast episodes. There have been many occasions where I didn't recognize problems until I was recording the narration.

teekert 5y ago

Hero!

gojomo 5y ago

I half expected it to be, "Add credibility signifiers like 'I learned this at Oxford' to your headlines."

stared 5y ago

It might be useful for writing essays. It is essential for writing YouTube comments - https://xkcd.com/481/ https://xkcd.com/481/.

jordanmorgan10 5y ago

I read this comment out loud