A 5 minute chat with a retired editor made me rethink my whole writing process

I was at a coffee shop last Tuesday and this older guy sitting next to me saw me editing a short story on my laptop. He asked what I was working on, then told me he used to edit for a small press for 35 years. He said 'most writers worry about the big plot stuff first, but readers actually leave when the sentences feel clunky.' That hit me because I spend hours on character arcs but never read my stuff out loud to catch awkward phrasing. Has anyone else changed their editing routine after a random conversation like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

haydenj902h ago

Oh man, reading out loud is honestly the fastest way to catch clunky sentences. I started doing it after a similar talk with a writing group leader and it saved me so many cringey lines.

jesse2901h ago

I guess I kinda get what you're saying, but isn't it a little overblown? Like yeah reading out loud helps, but if your sentences are that clunky you probably just need to rewrite them anyway. I've never had a line so awkward that reading it out loud saved me from cringe. Maybe I just write simpler stuff idk. It feels like one of those tricks people hype up way too much when really it's just common sense. No offense but I think your writing group leader might have been making it sound more important than it actually is lol.