Re: Voice and environment (was RE: Reading and Editing

[Valerie Priester <hammerl -at- buffalo -dot- edu>]

--On Monday, October 15, 2001, 1:14 PM -0400 KMcLauchlan -at- chrysalis-its -dot- com
wrote:

> Frank Krasovic wondered:
> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Frank Krasovic [mailto:krasovic -at- intellinet-tech -dot- com]
>> 
>> When reading text (it doesn't matter if the text is a novel, newspaper
>> article, user's manual, what-have-ya) I "hear" a narrator 
>> reading the words.
>> When I read a Tom Clancy novel, each of the characters have a 
>> different
>> voice and the third-person arrogation is a more-or-less 
>> monotone newscaster
>> voice.  This has been going on since I stared reading, around 
>> age 4ish.  I
>> guess I always knew this was going on, but I just "realized" it after
>> talking to another who shares the experience.
>> Do any of ya'll have that going on?
> 
> Yes. Exactly that. It's much clearer when the characterization 
> is good, so I don't dither about what the voice might sound like.
> The voices just sound like the characters and I think no more 
> of it until I realize that my wife has been trying to get my 
> attention.  Hers was just one of the crowd of voices... :-)

Yes, the voices are there. Pictures, too, for well-written fiction.


> Some years ago, I made a stab at learning to speed-read, 
> so that I could get through technical stuff more quickly.
> I found two things:
> 
> 1) no matter how much I practiced, it was always unnatural 
>    for me -- "against the grain" somehow and,
> 
> 2) it didn't deliver the promised gain in speed of comprehension.

I tend to not absorb as much when I try to do it. 
> 
> If I needed to really know a topic, then I had to go back over 
> it, slowly, often re-reading sections until they jelled. In fact, 
> I've noticed that if I invest a dense section of technical or 
> expository prose with somebody else's interested and enthusiastic 
> voice, I help my own grasp of the material.

Exactly!
> 
> Does this suggest that I should be using different voices when 
> I *write* technical material?  Hmm.
> 
> I wonder if there's any correlation between those of us who 
> "hear the voices" and those who don't, versus those who thrive 
> in a reading environment with stereo, TV and several live 
> conversations roaring around our heads, while others prefer 
> quiet surroundings.  (For that matter, is it possible to 
> enjoy fiction without having the pictures and voices in 
> your head as you read?)
> 
I tend to tune other things out, including those in the room with me, if I
am really focused. Growing up, this always annoyed my sister to no end. 

> This leads me to wonder if you folk write differently for 
> audiences who are likely to be reading your guides and 
> manuals in distracting environments, versus relatively quiet 
> surroundings... ??

Not only have I never even considered this until now, I think you've just
ruined my sleep for a week. My audience is probably reading the
documentation while blaring a CD at top volume, with the TV on at the same
time, and maybe two or more friends in the same room. Probably by the light
of a lava lamp and the monitor. If they can't tune things out, do they have
any hope of reading it? Argh, the frustrations of writing for college
students! 


Valerie Priester
hammerl -at- buffalo -dot- edu

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