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| "Goodnight Tractor" by Michelle Robinson and Nick East (Puffin Books) |
Writing to read aloud
Sharing books with children means reading aloud. You or your child -
you and your child together - it’s a vital part of learning to read, and the
more you do it as a kid, the more confident you’ll be as a grown up. If you
want your writing to be heard and shared one day, start listening to it
yourself, right now.
Excuse me while I give you a bit of backstory: When I was a kid I
read a LOT. I was good at it, so my teacher very rarely asked me to read aloud.
(He knew I could do it, so why bother wasting time on me when other kids needed
attention?) As a result, I began to find reading aloud pretty terrifying. At
university and in my first job, I would shake so much when I had to read in
front of people that I could actually hear myself bleating like a nervous
sheep. I had plenty of good stuff to say, but I lacked the confidence to voice
it.
The best thing I ever did was to get my second job: writing radio
ads. Not only did it mean I was constantly writing and developing my craft
skills, it also forced me to face my Reading Aloud Demons. I had to present my
work to both colleagues and complete strangers on a daily basis. If you want a
client to buy what you’ve written, you’ve got to make a bloody good job of
selling it. Within days I was sitting in an open plan office presenting scripts
down the phone in loud, silly voices for all to hear. I once did a full volume
Tarzan impression in a bathroom showroom. Seriously. I blushed while I did it,
but I’d come to LOVE reading aloud. Handy, really, as it was a vital part of
being good at my job.
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| Shout like Tarzan! |
It still is, and I’m so glad of my time in radio. I now
instinctively write to read aloud. I think about how long it takes to read one
of my books from cover to cover - will people get bored? I dread that, so I
make them as snappy as possible. How do words sound when placed next to one
another - does anything make you tongue tied when spoken aloud? If so, it’s got
to go. Does a sentence end too bluntly? Does a particular phrase come out
clumsily unless you read it in one very specific way? Can I put two words
together that are such a joy to say out loud they feel like a sweet in the
mouth? (‘Bananas are rather tasty toasted’ - I’m still proud of that one, even
though an extra word got slipped in during the editing process).
If you’re a writer, this probably isn’t the first time you’ve been
advised to read your work aloud. I suspect you may be nodding along and
thinking ‘Yes, good idea. I want my stories to be read aloud, so I ought to try
it myself’. But will you actually go and do it? You must. As obvious as it may
sound, it’s impossible to read aloud in your head. Do it at full speaking
volume and at a natural pace. Don’t whisper or waffle your way through it. Why
not record it, if you can bear listening to your own voice played back.
Don’t cheat. Like all aspects of critiquing your own work, it won’t
get you anywhere - whereas if you can yell like Tarzan, well, let’s just say it
hasn’t done me any harm.
Michelle Robinson is the best-selling author of the "Goodnight" series of books, including "Goodnight Digger", "Goodnight Tractor" and the upcoming "Goodnight Princess" with illustrations by Nick East - published by Puffin Books. Described as one of the "rising stars of picture books", Michelle penned 5 books in 2012 with another 5 to come this year. Phew!