It Takes Two: The One on One Method

Some ideas are just too good to keep to yourself.  The One on One Method is just such an idea.

Elsewhere I have suggested that one of the best ways to “road test” your writing is to read it back twice before allowing others to see it. 

I’ve suggested that the first read be a silent, or “visual” read, one designed to spot obvious errors.  Most of us do this by habit.

The second read is “aloud”.  Reading out loud employs different areas of your brain, uses different “mental muscles” so to speak, and turns up errors and other problems easily missed by a visual scan.

Using these two reads to catch grammatical, formatting, and punctuation errors, as well as noticing mistakes that a spell checker will not find, “your” for “you’re”, “to” for “too”, and the like, for example, are invaluable.

But there is a third method for tuning your work, it is easy, effective, and requires the help of a single, willing, friend.  I call it the One on One Method.

Here is how to do it.

Ideally, two writers with similar goals (touching up their work) arrange for a phone call.  (My group uses SKYPE).  I suggest doing this over the phone instead of  in person as there is one less distraction if you cannot see the facial expressions of your partner.

Each writer takes a turn reading aloud the work of the other (not his or her own).  The author then hears the work in someone else’s voice (one), the reader can make immediate suggestions about pace, flow, logic, plot, characterization, and the like (two).  The writer, hearing how another interprets his or her work gets a feeling for how the work impacts a reader (three), and is able to note needed corrections “on the fly” (four).

My writing support group and I use this technique for regularly, and everyone involved has found the process powerful and enlightening.

The method is simple, strong, and effective, and one I believe any of us can benefit from.

If you try this, and it works for you, please let me know.