It's a Good Book, but...

[howeird]

...Steering the Craft by Ursula K. LeGuinn turned out to be coals to Newcastle for me. caprine mentioned it, I think in reference to a writer's group or class, and it indeed is a textbook for beginning creative writers. The format is simple and clear - she starts with a blurb describing an idea about writing, and ends with examples and exercises. It's all good.

But not for me - and I don't mean this in a bad or critical way.

The way LeGuinn presents the material, I get the impression that when she reads, she doesn't actually hear the words in her head. Over and over ad nauseum she encourages the students to read their work out loud, to hear what it sounds like. This is excellent advice, but I don't need it. I hear the words as I type them. I hear myself saying them, or I hear the character say them, and out loud they sound just the same as they do in my head. This may be why I'm such a good cold reader and ace all the auditions where they hand me a script I've never seen before and say "read this".

So I'm wondering about the rest of you. This calls for a poll.

[Poll #1142275]

Comments

[pyrzqxgl.livejournal.com]

The first and third definitely would vary according to the book and the requirements and characteristics of my surroundings. When I'm reading a book to another person, though, things are a bit more consistent. :-)

[howeird]

Hmmm. Actually, I am an auditory style forgetter. I can't remember most of what I've read, unless there were pictures. :-)

[nolly.livejournal.com]

The answer to the third definitely depends on the book; the more engrossing I find it, the less I notice the real world.

For the first, I might get character voice sometimes, but it's not common; saying it's "spoken in my voice" isn't entirely accurate either, because the voice in my head isn't exactly like the one that comes out of my mouth, though it's certainly still mine.

I'm a better cold reader than some, and not as good warm or cold as others I've heard -- there's a podcaster who is so good I enjoy his readings of material I don't actually like, and who has brought new appreciation to material I thought I was burned out on.

I think I'm actually primarily a kinesthetic learner, then visual, then auditory -- things I've done (written, etc.) stick better than things I've only seen which stick better than things I've only heard.

[strongaxe.livejournal.com]

The very first language I learned was Polish, which I learned by hearing rather than reading. To this day, I find it very hard to read Polish without silently "reading it out loud" in my head, translating the written word in sounds that I can then recognize.

I've also found similar problems reading some other languages where I have a disconnect between the written language and the spoken language - I have to translate from one to the other in my head as I'm reading (which tends to slow my reading speed by a lot.)

[howeird]

I don't see it as a problem, I think it is an advantage to hear the words. I do this no matter what language I'm reading, I sound out the words in my head - whether I actually understand the words depends on how well I know the language.

I used to sing in an international chorus, and learned songs in about 15 languages which I didn't understand, but I still heard the words in my head when I read them.

[strongaxe.livejournal.com]

While hearing the words can be good, it necessarily reduces reading speed to that of talking speed. With English (and some other languages), I can read much more quickly than that if I don't have to take the extra step of vocalizing everything.