It’s an easy way to find problems.
Skimming ahead in the small group study guide, I spotted the sentence. My editor’s sense told me something was wrong.
Sure enough, when the guy to my right tried to read that passage aloud, he had to pause, back up, and read it again.
A few minutes later, the next person also stumbled over a sentence.
The problem wasn’t the people. They were both well educated, comfortable with reading aloud, and part of the publication’s target audience.
The failure lay with the writer, the editor, or both. There’s no excuse for going to print with wording that gives readers trouble. Especially because it’s so easy to check.
A day or so after you’ve written something, revisit the printout. Then read it to yourself, either silently or aloud. If you stumble or need to pause, something’s wrong.
If you’re in a critique group, bring some pages to your next meeting. But don’t read your own work. Let someone else read it cold. That way, each writer can stay fully attuned and note whenever a passage just doesn’t sound right.
