At the 2013 Golden Globes, Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained) thanked a group of friends to whom he reads his scenes aloud. “You don’t tell me what I’m doing wrong…” he said. “Reading it to you helps me to hear it through your ears.” So important! But kind of hard to find friends who have the time to sit and listen to you read an entire novel aloud, eh? Well, whenever I teach a writing class, I always encourage students to read their own work aloud and imagine that the room is filled with an audience. If you are able to put yourself into the mindset of your audience while you’re reading, you will be hearing your work as if for the first time and you’ll discover lots of mistakes–and insights– for revision.