Good morning! Today’s question is for my writer friends. What is one technique you use in your process that is maybe not commonly used by other writers? 1/4 - ThreadSky

roamitywrites.bsky.social • 555 days ago

Good morning!

Today’s question is for my writer friends. What is one technique you use in your process that is maybe not commonly used by other writers?

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roamitywrites.bsky.social•555 days ago

When I am revising and editing my work, I run my writing through a text-to-speech app. It helps me hear any problems there might be, not just typos but unnatural sounding language and repetitive words and phrases.

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roamitywrites.bsky.social•555 days ago

I usually listen to my story on my phone and if I hear something that sounds off, I’ll screenshot where it happened so I can investigate it more later but then just keep listening. Then I’ll do the edits and load up the revised text into my text-to-speech app to listen to again.

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roamitywrites.bsky.social•555 days ago

With my 500 word flash fiction stories, I repeat this process an average of 4 or 5 times before I’m happy enough to share the story.

So what about you? What unusual but effective techniques do you use?

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macashton.bsky.social•555 days ago

When I'm going through my second draft, I read everything aloud. It's something I started doing to help with ADHD studying in highschool, but I think it gives me a good sense of how a piece flows. Also really helpful for dialogue.

roamitywrites.bsky.social•555 days ago

That’s definitely a good idea. I have ADHD, too, and the text-to-speech certainly helps me focus better on revision. I could probably read aloud for when I don’t have access to my text-to-speech. ❤️

jefleeson.bsky.social•555 days ago

Assuming I've come up with a reasonably original central conflict, I often lay out the plot backwards from there.

roamitywrites.bsky.social•555 days ago

I’ve heard of that but never done it myself! That’s cool! ❤️

tiffanysciacca.bsky.social•555 days ago

Once I get to a certain point in a piece. Stuck oro overwhelmed, I record myself reading it and continue editing that way until it sounds right.

When writing short, short pieces. I use large, sometimes smaller index cards as guides. Front/back/stop writing.

mark-rh.bsky.social•555 days ago

Oh, at first I couldn’t think of anything, but I do a reverse outline on cue cards and put it on a wall. I use colours for each character so I can see how the scenes lay out and how each leads to the next. It also helps with individual character arcs. Not a great photo but you get the idea.

roamitywrites.bsky.social•555 days ago

Ooh, that’s neat. I have a habit of hyper focusing so I’ve never done a story arc that bounces between different POV characters. I should probably stretch myself some more.

mark-rh.bsky.social•555 days ago

The last novel I wrote was from a single POV but otherwise I always write multiple and possibly too many characters. But I like being able to be in multiple places, explore different perspectives, and ultimately pit characters against each other for conflict.

roamitywrites.bsky.social•555 days ago

That's probably a better way to write than the way I've been doing it! The only strength of mine is that I go deep into one character long enough for them to get a complete story arc, but what if the reader doesn't like one of the characters? Forty pages of misery, I guess.

mark-rh.bsky.social•555 days ago

I've been just mumbling my whole manuscript aloud. Using text-to-speech is a good idea.

roamitywrites.bsky.social•555 days ago

Yeah, I definitely find a lot of awkward language use and repetitious words. And typos, even. It’s most efficient if I read along but I can even just listen to my story while doing chores and just capture when things don’t sound right. ❤️

mark-rh.bsky.social•555 days ago

It's essential to my process and I think I have to pay attention to it but I think listening to it in not my own voice could be helpful too.

heathercaspi.bsky.social•555 days ago

I need to "think" everything through in writing, so I can see all of my ideas, questions, and problems in text. Even when I think I'm stuck, everything becomes clear when I write down why. I always think I'll ask for advice, but have my own answer by the time I write it down.

roamitywrites.bsky.social•555 days ago

I think I know what you mean... sometimes just writing things down brings clarity, even if it's not exactly what I end up writing.

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