You’ve read it over a hundred times, or you haven’t proofed it once – in either case here’s a favorite proof reading, editing and perspective taking tip. It’s simple, doable and quick – read your book, article, text, email, speech, story or blog aloud in an accent or take on a character. The reading aloud combined with the accent or character persona adds just enough to help the written word leap off the page so we can see it anew. Here are some examples:
Pull out your favorite accent – in my case for some reason in recent times it has been French. I just read it aloud as if I was born and raised in France, no doubt my accent is not very good. It doesn’t matter. By the way it helps if you get into it – give them a point of view.
Choose a feeling. Read aloud as if you are very happy or angry. Or perhaps you are extremely satisfied and mellow or terrifically enthusiastic. There are many feelings to try on and/or do alone or in combination with a character or role (see below).
Read “aloud” silently. If you are in an office or public place and feel awkward reading or taking on an accent, feeling or persona aloud, you can do it silently so only you can hear your inner voice.
Take on a character. The characters that work best for me are ones that have a grand persona – I can imagine how they might walk, phrases they might use – this all helps me get into character. For example, I read this blog post a time or two as the Wicked Witch of the West. In my imagination I was riding a broom, had delightfully green skin, a pointy nose, red and white stripe socks, long orange nails, and a nasty little laugh that got my attention.
And recently, I wanted to gain a little perspective on the book I am writing and read it as if I were Arnold Schwarzenegger. By the way I picked this celebrity because the persona is so unlike me and my readers that I knew I would see the book differently. What about the real Arnold Schwarzenegger’s take on my book? I have no idea, this is about imaginary play and being productive.
Make up your own character and persona or give an object a character – add an accent, a feeling, a setting, etc. For example, what about the ring in the Lord of the Rings? Does it have a gender? Is it pleased to be constantly hidden away? What does it think of Gandolf, Gollum, Frodo, or Bilbo? Is its personality cranky, sweet, or whining? Or what about the speaker table in that venue you’ll be giving your keynote to – what kind of a crazy personality might it have?
Here are some celebrities, superheros, fictional and non-fictional characters to get you started:
- Mad-Hatter (Alice in Wonderland)
- Jack (Jack in the Beanstalk)
- The Beast (Beauty and the Beast)
- Johnny Appleseed
- Robin Hood
- Witch – there are so many to choose from or make up your own
- Hunter
- Wise woman
- Sensitive princess (The Princess and the Pea)
- Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, …
- Mary Poppins
- Arwen or Aragorn (Lord of the Rings)
- Beyonce
- A queen or king, court jester, lady in waiting, knight, lord …
- Inventor
- King Kong
- Aristocrat, businessperson, rock star, …
- Bully or pacifist
- Gorilla, dog, cat, dragon fly, or a creature of your choosing
- President, politician, ambassador, mayor …
- Police woman, soldier …
- French baker …
- Newscaster, journalist …
- Clown, comic, engineer, farmer, professor or teacher …
- Nerd, geek …
- Mother, father, teenager, child, kindergartener, toddler, baby
- Saga Norén in the Danish/Swedish series The Bridge
- Luke Cage (Marvel Comics, New Avengers)
- Sherlock Holmes or Watson
- Scrooge
- Christina Yang (Grey’s Anatomy)
- Romeo, Juliet …
- Alex Honnold, rock climber – I am really looking forward to this movie – you can see a trailer here: https://www.climbing.com/
- Frankenstein, Dracula …
- The Boogieman (The scary kind, the dancing kind or …)
- Homer or Marge Simpson
- Taylor Swift
- SpongeBob
- Mr. Rogers
- Superman
- Wonder Women
- Jerry Seinfeld
- Monster, Goblin, Troll, Hobyah …
- Julia Child, Martha Stewart
- Gordan Ramsey
- Captain Kirk, Spock, Captain Janeway, Seven, Data …
- Queen Elizabeth, Queen Victoria, …
- Sportsperson of your choosing
Enjoy the stories and have a playful day!
– Mary
I celebrate typos typos here!
