Practice Out Loud

Bad dates, lone wolves and Toll House cookies

Sometimes I work a story on the page so much that I forget what it’s even about.

It’s a little like when you say a word too many times, and it loses all meaning. I did this recently. Now you can’t convince me that “lamp” is a real word. LAMP. Lamp. Lamp? Nope, that’s a nonsense word.

If you’ve ever stared at the screen too long and lost the thread of your story, or worried that it would sound stilted or strange, try something really simple: tell, don’t read, a version of your story. Out loud to someone. Before it’s done.

Here’s why, and how.

Read people: tell a better story.

Telling a story in conversation is great, because we read cues. If our listener seems confused, we explain more, and if they seem bored, we can skip ahead. They also ask actual questions to clarify, which audiences won’t do.

Or, if they’re like my niece when she was in first grade, they will yell: “EDIT!” when we get too involved in the details.

Talking it out can also show you what you think about a story. It’s like that E.M. Forster quotation: “How can I know what I think till I see what I say?”

So tell your story idea to friends, colleagues, airplane seatmates! In my 30’s, I occasionally used bad internet dates to practice a story. I’d be half a beer in, the chemistry clearly wasn’t there, but we had to run out the clock. It was a great chance to try a story draft, on a captive audience with zero stakes.

Find a trusted listener to help you.

Maybe storytelling in casual conversation doesn’t feel comfortable, or you want to get more strategic. You can ask a trusted listener to actively help you find what a story needs.

This week I worked on a new story, about my grandfather the baker and my habit of baking Toll House cookies for my storytelling classes. But working on it by myself, the whole thing felt blah.

Later, on a park bench with a storyteller friend, I asked if I could try out my story idea. He listened and then promptly told me what he heard as the heart of my story. He’d picked up on something about generations and inheritance, that I hadn’t realized I was saying. It felt exactly right, and his listening snapped my story’s meaning into place.

Note: if your listener offers something you DON’T agree with, you don’t have to take it! My friend’s interpretation felt real to me. But if it hadn’t, I’d politely nod and go keep noodling.

Introverts can do this, too.

You may be thinking: But I’m a loner. Lone wolves don’t find trusted listeners. They work solo, on a Google doc with permissions set to “private.”

If you don’t have a person to practice with, or you just don’t want to share yet, practicing out loud can absolutely still work for you. I often work on my own, and I’ve found a great way to get the benefits of social drafting, without the “social” part: voice memos.

When I work by myself, I walk around my neighborhood, talking into my voice memo app. Then I’ll come home and get it auto-transcribed (I use a site called Rev).

For some reason, hitting record makes my brain think I’m talking to someone. Maybe I believe the recordings will be found posthumously and studied for cultural clues, or maybe I’m talking to my future self who might listen back. Either way, talking out loud untangles the ideas in my head.

So try it! It might work for you, too.

So…what about you?

Do you try your stories out loud from the jump? Does your niece (or partner or barista) inform you when you’re rambling?

Reflect on your own, share with a friend — and I would love to hear about it! You can reply to this email to talk to me directly, or leave a comment on Substack.

See you in a couple weeks!