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Why You Should Use a Text-to-Speech App to Read You Your Stories
Sometimes hearing your writing out loud is better than reading it
As writers, we’re taught the importance of reading our work aloud before hitting publish. We need to hear our words to make sure they sound conversational, have the right cadence, and will invite people in.
But I always wished I could hear my writing read by someone other than myself. Once my work is in the near-publishing stage, I think I’m just too close to it, and so it’s hard for me to distinguish between what I’m hearing in my ear and in my head. For a while, I would read my writing in a voice different than my own — usually, I’d pretend I was a British newscaster reporting the news. This actually helped a lot, but when I did this, I worked from home alone. Now that I’m in a full house due to these times, my strategy is just embarrassing.
Fortunately, thanks to a writers’ group I’m a part of, I learned of a more socially acceptable alternative: You can use a text-to-speech app or browser extension to read you your stories. I’ve been using the Read Aloud Chrome extension to read me parts of the book I’m writing, and I’ve been impressed. It sounds a bit more robotic than Alexa, but it lets me hear the flow of my sentences, which is exactly what I need. There are plenty of other text-to-speech tools out there, too — TTSREADER, Natural Reader, and Balabolka are a few free, basic options.
When you hit “play,” simply be a listener. I like to print out my writing and make notes with a pen when I hear things that trip me up. You might prefer to make changes right there in the text. This is just a nice way to hear what your words sound like as an outsider. If you feel captivated and engaged, your readers will, too.
