Everyone in our country has a voice. It's something that says not just where you come from,

but who you are. Welcome to NPR's Black Stories Black Truths, a collection of podcasts and

a celebration of the hosts and journalism who've always spoken truth to power.

Our voices are as varied, nuanced, and dynamic as the Black experience, and stories should never

be about us without us. Find NPR Black Stories Black Truths on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you

get your podcasts. Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio.

Good morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

Today's tip is to write for the ear. If you assume that whatever you write will be

read out loud and you structure your writing to make that possible. Your writing will be more

compelling and clear. This week I'm sharing several of my favorite writing tips. Whether you write

for a living or not, you may have to write reports or emails or articles for industry publications.

Certain tactics can make all writing better. When I write these podcasts scripts, I am obviously

writing them to be read out loud. That is the whole point of a podcast script. But even writing that

isn't designed to be recorded, benefits from approaching it as if it would be. That's because

of how people actually process written language. Many years ago, an editor told me almost in passing

that when people read things silently, they are actually saying them in their heads.

As a result, writing that sounds better to the ear reads better, even if you never actually hear it.

When I write these scripts, I practice reading them out loud. When I do, I immediately see things

that need to be edited. Sometimes sentences are too long. They need to be broken up,

so I can get through them without gasping for breath. Sometimes sentences are all the same length.

Too many long sentences or, for that matter, too many short sentences in a row sound boring.

Finally, certain words and sentence structures sound stronger than others.

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