In my multimedia journalism class, our professor talked about “writing for the ear.†If you’re unfamiliar with the term, writing for the ear is when you write something that is meant to be spoken or performed rather than read silently. My Shakespeare professor taught me something similar. She said that Shakespeare’s plays were never meant to be read, but performed. That’s why they are so dry and difficult to read. NPR programs, podcasts, plays, all of these manuscripts are written with the idea that the words will be spoken out loud. So how does this apply to us as writers?
Picture books
The obvious example is picture books. Picture books must be written for the ear. Otherwise, both adult and child will be bored by the text and want to just look at the pictures. Picture books must be written for the ear, because this is how children learn to read. When my niece was younger, she had Are you my Mother? Memorized. She couldn’t read yet, but she knew exactly what was on each page. Why? Because not only are PD Eastman’s illustrations adorable, but the book is written for the ear. Even if they do not rhyme (which is the current market trend) they should at least have rhythm. I was never a big poetry guy. Mainly because I am not a fan of vague or cryptic phrasing. But as I age, I realize I was never a poetry fan because I read it in my head. I never enjoyed how it sounded because I didn’t read it out loud.
Audio books
Another thing to consider when writing, is that we live in a multimedia world. A lot of books are published with audio versions. Back before film, TV, or radio, the book was the piece of entertainment. Now, children want stories that are not only fun to read, but fun to listen to. This means we should keep our descriptions short, and our sensory details vivid. It also applies to our dialogue. Far too often, dialogue in a book doesn’t sound right. Take for example this line from Henry Huggins. “Golly, they’re so little just about all you can see are their eyes and their tails.†A fellow almost runs out of breath before the end of that sentence! And that’s in a classic.
Parents Read to their Children
As the youngest in my family, I grew up in the car seat. My options for reading were either get car sick or listen to audio books. I chose audio books. My mother would always have an audio book playing in the car. Usually, it was a book for my older brothers, but I would catch stuff. My mother would also read to us. Since we were homeschooled, she would read one book for the three of us. This was usually one of Ralph Moody’s memoirs, or a Louis L’Amour book (with the swear words skipped over). While these were above my grade level, I would still absorb them. When one of my brothers was in college, we listened to audio books of classics. The Three Musketeers, David Copperfield, Animal Farm, Heart of Darkness. Exposing me to these classics in audio form allowed me to experience stories I was unable to read on my own.
It Prepares us for Author Events
While a book can be a one-on-one experience between author and reader, we also have to think about selling our books. If your book is too difficult to read out loud, if your character names are too hard to pronounce that you find yourself tripping over them, it’s time to rethink. Author events are a great way for the author to read an excerpt of the book to a crowd. If we write for the ear, then the crowd will get quiet, lean in, and hang on our every word. Writing for the ear allows us to give our character’s unique voices. While you don’t want to go full Twain and write in dialect, you can still use word choice and personality to make your characters sound different. But if your book doesn’t sound good read out loud, then people may not buy your book at author events.
Storytelling is Older than Books
In John R. Erickson’s book Story Craft: Reflections on Faith, Culture & Writing From the Author of Hank the Cowdog, he talks about oral storytelling. Specifically, from his mother. “When I was five, Mother kept me at home instead of sending me to kindergarten. That year, we homeschooled, though neither of us had ever heard that term before. During the day, I followed her around the house and yard as she did her chores: cooking, washing dishes, canning vegetables, hanging out laundry on the clothes line, making beds, and tending to the garden.
While she worked, she told me stories about the cowboys, ranchers, and strong pioneer women in our family. She was a wonderful storyteller with a gentle, earthy sense of humor, and those stories and characters ignited my imagination.â€
This reminds us that storytelling is older than books. Aristotle is an author who didn’t even believe in writing things down. He thought that was lazy and we should memorize things instead. The only reason we have his thoughts, is because some of his students wrote them down. God’s word is older than when Moses sat down to write it. God’s word was in the beginning.
Conclusion
We must never forget that storytelling is older than writing, and that good writing not only reads good, but it sounds good as well. So, when you are editing your manuscript, read it out loud. Have Microsoft Word read it back to you. If the story doesn’t sound good, perhaps it is time to change things up a bit. Maybe it’s time to write for the ear.
Author Bio
Just like his two older brothers, Kyle Morgan was homeschooled from Kindergarten through High School. When he is not busy writing the next classic children’s book, Kyle loves spending time with his family, all things baseball, and watching black and white movies. He is a monthly contributor to Write2Ignite where he blogs about writing for children. His work has appeared in The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, The Caldwell Perspective and StarLight Magazine. You can check out his Facebook page or follow him on Instagram.
