Even though both writing for the ear and writing for the eye can be written on a paper or for the digital platform, both are written differently as each calls for different requirements and unspoken rules so both can give the audience or reader the best experience and get all the information presented clearly. In her article titled “Writing for (not by) the Ear”, Donnell King explains the steps she would take for how to write for the ear and why it should be different from the eyes. It’s very tough to gauge how something is going to be read from how it is written, especially if the person who wrote it isn’t the one who is going to read it. But more importantly it is also about how the audience perceives it. Short sentences should be used to not only help with the flow of the piece but also so they can better retain the information. Longer sentences can be look back on when reading but hearing them can be harder to recall. Using the present tense will also help with the narrative and flow so the audience doesn’t have to put the events in order by themselves and lose track of what happened when. Quoting directly is good but for listening with the ear paraphrasing can help simply what was said better for the listener. Trying to tell a story and painting a picture is one thing to do with words, but for someone who is hearing it the writer has to take into account ways to make the words sound visual and structure it to make it as clear as can be.
In Jill Swenson’s “Writing for the Ear Instead of the Eye,” she breaks down how writing shorter for the ear can help the listeners to better understand the context of what they’re hearing. Using contractions and short words can help people to better listen and not be thrown off by bigger words which require more context or time to decipher. A lot of work is put into what the audience is reading, but Jill takes it a step further and also recommends what should be done for the person reading the piece out loud. Simple punctuation marks can help with the flow and allowing for needed pauses and not using complicated words can help to avoid stumbles and mispronouncing words. If the reader becomes confused by what is written then the audience will too.
