On Reading Aloud & Honing Craft

Do you ever read out loud? In a NY Times opinion piece Some Thoughts on the Lost Art of Reading Aloud* a teacher hearkens back to the early 19th century, the era of Jane Austen, when “literate families and friends read aloud to each other as a matter of habit.” It was a socially engaging practice, notes the writer, which contrasts sharply with “solitary 21st century individuals hearkening to earbuds and car radios.”

“Reading aloud recaptures the physicality of words,” the writer notes. “To read with your lungs and diaphragm, with your tongue and lips, is very different than reading with your eyes alone. The language becomes a part of the body . . . The words are not mere words. They are the breath and mind, perhaps even the soul, of the person who is reading.”

If you are a writer, do you read your own work aloud? In my writer’s group we take turns reading aloud our works-in-progress which we bring to the group for comments. A long chapter may be read silently in part, but a good portion is always read out loud while the group listens. “What do you remember, what stays with you?”** we ask when the reading is done. Following that supportive round of response, we go on to offer specific creative suggestions where they might be needed. The reading-and-listening focus helps everyone hone in on what’s working and what needs work.

Reading aloud is a good practice for a writer away from the group, too. When I wrote The Story of Baha’u’llah I read aloud every paragraph and page – and listened. For the rhythm and flow of words, for the life of a scene, the pace of a chapter, for the underlying energy.

Reading aloud lets a writer hear flat places that need work, scenes that call for more dramatic build, sentences to be shortened or rearranged, klunky phrases that twist the tongue, boring words that cry out to be traded for more evocative language, and words that simply don’t need to be there. Reading aloud is an inherent part of the editing/revision process for many writers.

One gratifying result, I discovered, is that many of my readers actually do read The Story of Baha’u’llah aloud to one another – husbands and wives, parents and children, reading groups, Baha’is at holy days or in classes for youth or children. A group of youth volunteers, serving at a Baha’i school, met on a regular basis to study and read the book aloud as they met, week to week. One reader took the time to record himself as he read the entire book aloud, so that he could share it with his dear friend who was gravely ill.

I am moved beyond words when I hear these stories, and can only say that I am grateful to be a small part of what I hope is a true pleasure for these readers, one and all.

*Thanks to blogger Liz who brought this article to my attention.
** From Amhert Writers & Artists (AWA) method by Pat Schneider

On Reading Aloud & Honing Craft

Does it make you want to write?

“To be a disciplined writer you need a compassionate and welcoming attitude toward your own work, and you need the support of others who value and call forth your writing . . . who want it, believe in it, and encourage it.” - Pat Schneider in Writing Alone & With Others

The craft of writing is about creating connection with a person beyond the reach of body language and voice inflection – the reader. How do you know when you have? That is where a good writer’s group can be not only handy, but an essential part of the process. Writers groups can function in different ways, but the point is to share writing in progress and receive informed feedback from other writers. Sounds simple – or maybe not.

What makes a writer’s group good, or more to the point, good for you? Recently in my small writer’s group, introduced earlier, conversation turned to our individual experience in different writer’s groups. We compared notes on which ones worked for us and how, which ones didn’t and why. Interestingly, we all agreed this writing group is where we are most comfortable sharing everything.

What makes a writer’s group the real support a writer needs? Here are Eight Characteristics of a Good Writers’ Group:

* Respect for you and for your work
* Kindness, consideration for you as a person
* Careful listening and courtesy in discussion.

* Specific, constructive comments that help you see what / how to revise
* Suggestions for improvement balanced with acknowledgement of what is strong in the writing
* Writers at roughly similar levels of writing, even if writing in different genres
* Writers committed to learning craft through reading, workshops, conferences
* Work and personal sharing remains confidential within the group

I would add a Ninth Point: * Suggested first response to reading of written work: What do you remember, what stays with you, what moves you? answered by those listening. This practice comes from the unique method of the Amherst Writers & Artists method (AWA) created by Pat Schneider. I find it extremely effective, generating both authentic feedback and an environment of trust, even in temporary workshop groups. It draws forth comments as sophisticated as the writers who use it. Try it and see.

Author Marge Piercy writes: What’s most important . . . is being committed to helping each other do what that writer wants to do, not what you want to do or what you think that writer should want to do. - Piercy & Wood in So You Want to Write

Much more can be said about writing groups, but every writer needs to answer two questions:
*Does it bring you to new levels of insight into the writing craft?
*Does it make you want to write?

Do you have an experience or question about writer's groups? Share your comment here.

Does it make you want to write?

The Bus: Banish Internal Critics

Here we are – a roomful of diverse writers and more to come as the week goes on. Before I unfold our workshop let me share a useful exercise. For writers who came to the workshop and those who could not, for creative souls everywhere, I want to share an exercise from AWA founder Pat Schneider and writer Jim Eagan.

Most of us have a whole line-up of critics looking over our shoulder when we begin to do creative work – voices we may not even know are there – sixth-grade teacher? English professor? Father? Mother? Brother or sister? Other writers? We don’t need an ipod for the words of critics to play in our heads. What to do about it?

Here is an exercise some call The Bus. Pat calls it Getting Rid of Internal Critics. You can find the exercise laid out in my earlier post titled “Who will tell that part of the earth’s story, if you do not?” The words are Pat Schneider’s, who calls the exercise “a powerful tool for discovering and laying to rest those internal voices that still block us when we try to write. . . . It’s never too late,” she emphasizes, “to get rid of internal critics.”

Whether you are an experienced writer or an “expert-in-training,” this can be a good tool to put in your creative tool-box. You can find more writer wisdom, resources, exercises, and writing prompts in Pat Schnieder’s book Writing Alone and With Others – a great resource.

The Bus: Banish Internal Critics

"Who will tell that part of the earth's story, if you do not?"

“No one has seen the night sky from exactly your trajectory. No one has loved exactly the people and places you have loved. Who will tell that part of the earth’s story, if you do not?” -- Pat Schneider

This morning I head off to Eliot, Maine, for Creativity, Craft, & Connection -- a writer workshop week-end that promises to be filled with good energy and lots of writing. More about that when I return. In the workshop spirit let me share an exercise that speaks to the heart of what writers hone as we engage in developing our craft – speaking in our own voice. For most of us learning to trust in our own voice also requires squelching the critical voices we internalize from others. The people in our lives who belong to those voices may not have bad intentions, but those tapes playing inside a writer’s head do not serve to nourish a very necessary thing – trust in your own voice.

So here it is – an exercise , called The Bus by some. It comes from Writing Alone and With Others by Pat Schneider, who calls it Getting Rid of Internal Critics and credits Jim Eagan, a writer in her Amherst workshop for its origin. I share it in abbreviated form, using mostly Pat’s own words.

Give yourself time to center your attention and relax, Pat advises. Then imagine yourself on a wide stretch of prairie or desert. You see a bus coming slowly toward you on a winding road. As you stand beside the road, the bus finally stops just beside you. The door opens and people get off the bus.

“Each person is someone who has an opinion about your writing. (Mother? Father? Sister? Brother? Six-grade teacher? Professor of English? Editor who recently rejected your manuscript? Best friend who has a huge ego and got published last month?) The ‘loudmouths’ push off the bus first. Let them off, one by one, and let each one say what is on his or her mind. Write it down. If you want, note how the person is dressed; write that down. After all the loudmouths get off, there will be some quiet folk at the back of the bus. Let them off too. What they have to say may be entirely different. After you have written the speeches of the people on the bus, you may want to do a dialogue with one or more of them.”

“This exercise is a powerful tool,” Pat writes, “for discovering and laying to rest those internal voices that still block us when we try to write. . . IT’S NEVER TOO LATE TO GET RID OF INTERNAL CRITICS.” See Pat’s book for details and other helpful writing prompts.

"Who will tell that part of the earth's story, if you do not?"