The importance of muttering while writing is underrated. People in cafes must think I’m insane but I’m usually too deep down in the story to know. I’m in a lockdown in a school or I’m being chased through the bush by a madman or I’m escaping from an immigration detention centre. And as the words flow I’m reading them to myself. I wonder if other writers mutter?
I’m the first audience for the story and I want to hear it, feel it, to know if the pacing and intonation is right. I think I’m checking if it feels true. I’m bringing this story into the real world for the first time and do I believe it or not? Somehow, the spoken word is a better test of truthiness than the word that is only thought. In fact I’m in a cafe right now, writing this, muttering about muttering. I think they’re about to throw me out. Muttering while writing. Can’t recommend it enough.
There are other writing tips and videos on my Create page.
