Story not working? Read it out loud.

A little less than a year ago, I was working on a very important story for a very important magazine. The piece had involved some travel, and by the time the deadline arrived, my photographer and I were already behind schedule, had been through one major rewrite, and knew that this was possibly our last chance of getting it right.

I fretted over each word, got defensive over any suggestions offered and was totally convinced that there was no way I was ever going to be able to pull it off. In typical writer style, I envisioned the editor spewing hatred in my direction, “I can’t believe I trusted you with such an assignment. I will make sure that you never work again!”

And then I panicked. “It sucks,” I whined. “It totally and completely sucks.” My photographer (who also happens to be my boyfriend, which explains the immense patience he demonstrated), made a hurried but wise decision. He told me to relax, lie down, close my eyes and just listen. He then read the story out loud to me, word by word, sentence by sentence, slowly, clearly, unrushed.

Hearing my story through his voice, I could see where it stumbled. I could hear the structure, the highs and the lows. The long sentences. The words, the rhythms. I could see how some passages were stronger than I’d intended. I saw where things fell flat. But most of all, as he read, I could hear what I’d written with distance and clarity. And it was good. Great, even. I stopped panicking.

A few minutes later, I was able to smooth out the rough edges and send off the story with confidence.

The editor’s response confirmed it. “It moved me to tears,” she said.

Now when I’m stuck on a story, and even when I’m not, I’ve found that reading it out loud is a great way to see where it stumbles. I do prefer that someone else read it because they don’t already know which parts to emphasize, but if there’s no one around, taping my own voice in a recorder and then playing it back helps.

What do you do when you’re stuck on a story that doesn’t work?