Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to write for the ear. If you assume
Speaker 1: that whatever you write will be read out loud, and
Speaker 1: you structure your writing to make that possible, your writing
Speaker 1: will be more compelling and clear. This week, I'm sharing
Speaker 1: several of my favorite writing tips. Whether you write for
Speaker 1: a living or not, you may have to write reports
Speaker 1: or emails or articles for industry publications. Certain tactics can
Speaker 1: make all writing better. When I write these podcast scripts,
Speaker 1: I am obviously writing them to be read out loud.
Speaker 1: That is the whole point of a podcast script. But
Speaker 1: even writing that isn't designed to be recorded benefits from
Speaker 1: approaching it as if it would be. That's because of
Speaker 1: how people actually process written language. Many years ago, an
Speaker 1: editor told me almost in passing, that when people read
Speaker 1: things silently, they are actually saying them in their heads.
Speaker 1: As a result, writing that sounds better to the ear
Speaker 1: reads better even if you never actually hear it. When
Speaker 1: I write these scripts, I practice reading them out loud.
Speaker 1: When I do, I immediately see things that need to
Speaker 1: be edited. Sometimes sentences are too long, they need to
Speaker 1: be broken up so I can get through them without
Speaker 1: gasping for breath. Sometimes sentences are all the same length,
Speaker 1: too many long sentences, or for that matter, too many
Speaker 1: short sentences in a row boring. Finally, certain words and
Speaker 1: sentence structures sound stronger than others. It turns out that
Speaker 1: ending a sentence on a solid one syllable word generally
Speaker 1: feels more satisfying than ending it on a long one.
Speaker 1: So rather than writing being clear and compelling, you want
Speaker 1: it to be compelling and clear. Some of this becomes
Speaker 1: habit over time. If you want an example of what
Speaker 1: good spoken language sounds like, try listening to a really
Speaker 1: good preacher. These people often have it down because they're
Speaker 1: talking to crowds many times a week. But even in
Speaker 1: the absence of that, if you simply commit to reading
Speaker 1: your own writing out loud before you publish it or
Speaker 1: hit send, you will likely spot problems. You will see
Speaker 1: that some words sound better than others, you will see
Speaker 1: where you are gasping for breath, and you'll break things
Speaker 1: up that will help readers be able to make it
Speaker 1: through your writing too. Now, I know that most of
Speaker 1: us don't do this with casual writings such as emails.
Speaker 1: But imagine if we did reading email would feel more pleasurable,
Speaker 1: and thus we'd be able to get our points across
Speaker 1: and maybe we'd send fewer emails. That wouldn't be a
Speaker 1: bad thing at all. In the meantime, this is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.
Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E the number four then
Speaker 1: Breakfast pod. You can also shoot me an email at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com. That before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,
Speaker 1: should I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.