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Get thee to a writer's group! Find yourself a group that meets in person (or by video or phone, if you must). Where you take turns reading your work out loud to each other. If that doesn't come ...
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#4: Attribution notice removed
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/41066 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/41066 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
**Get thee to a writer's group!** Find yourself a group that meets in person (or by video or phone, if you must). Where you take turns reading your work out loud to each other. If that doesn't come together, find friends or family willing to be your audience. Still can't swing it? read the work out loud to yourself. The very act of reading out loud will expose anything stilted or off. This goes a long way, even if no one else hears it. The act of reading _to_ someone and getting feedback will tell you if your efforts to pull the reader/audience in are working. It's not perfect. Sometimes things work well in print but not out loud. And sometimes things sound great out loud but just don't come together in print. This is a technique that's essential for dialogue, but also works for a wide variety of genres, both fiction and nonfiction.