I've started doing this lately and wondered if anyone else has tried the same: as I get a draft into readable shape, but not yet ready to show to others, I used to print it. You know, old habits and all that. Print the thing, get out pens (I hate highlighters) and mark it up, then return to the computer for revisions.
I still do that, but lately I've also been saving as .mobi or as .rtf and reading the piece on my Kindle or even on my phone. Anything to provide a different form factor. It has brought up some unexpected points, of which I'll mention just one hear, hoping to have others chime in.
Paragraph length.
We are often advised "don't write long paragraphs, modern readers can't take long paragraphs." Leaving aside whether or not this is actually true, what constitutes "long" here? Aahhh. Long means "covers the whole danged page" more or less, right? But on my phone, *all* paragraphs are long paragraphs. So what does that say about what a reader will or won't tolerate and, by turn, what we ought or ought not aim toward?
No real answers here, but reading my work in different formats has certainly provided some interesting perspectives.
I still do that, but lately I've also been saving as .mobi or as .rtf and reading the piece on my Kindle or even on my phone. Anything to provide a different form factor. It has brought up some unexpected points, of which I'll mention just one hear, hoping to have others chime in.
Paragraph length.
We are often advised "don't write long paragraphs, modern readers can't take long paragraphs." Leaving aside whether or not this is actually true, what constitutes "long" here? Aahhh. Long means "covers the whole danged page" more or less, right? But on my phone, *all* paragraphs are long paragraphs. So what does that say about what a reader will or won't tolerate and, by turn, what we ought or ought not aim toward?
No real answers here, but reading my work in different formats has certainly provided some interesting perspectives.