Reading aloud

I find that reading my work aloud makes it weird enough that I can’t scan or gloss over anything. Reading to an audience is best, because you start really judging the thing when you have to project it into a room full of people. Quentin Tarantino says he likes to read his scripts to his friends, not for their feedback, but their presence. “I don’t want input, I don’t want you to tell me if I’m doing anything wrong, heavens forbid,” he says, “But I write a scene, and I think I’ve heard it as much as I can, but then when I read it to you … I hear it through your ears, and it lets me know I’m on the right track.”

I use this trick with proofreading texts. Sometimes I have to look at the same thing that’s been sent back and forth about five times, often with a minor change introduced that is easily missed. Reading aloud is one of the only ways to keep my eyes fresh.