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Broadsheet
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26 May 2004
Practice, Practice, Practice! The Truth About Doing Enthralling Readings
Nancy Jane Moore loves to get up and read in public, which is one reason why she keeps organizing Broad Universe readings. Her fiction can currently be found in three anthologies: Imaginings; Imagination Fully Dilated: Science Fiction; and Mota 3: Courage. If you're curious about her opinion on other subjects, see her list of "Read and Appreciated in 2003" at www.fantasticmetropolis.com.
Reading from your work in public can promote your novels or stories. Through rapid-fire readings, Broad Universe provides its members with the chance to be heard in a group setting. Most conventions offer opportunities to read, and smaller ones are often open to newer writers as well as established ones. Bookstores also like to hold readings and signings. If you're going to make the best use of these opportunities, though, you need to become a good reader. Some writers do themselves more harm than good by putting on a poor performance. Fortunately, good reading skills can be learned. To be successful, a reading must meet two tests:
Heard and Understood It is obvious that a reader must speak loud enough so that everyone in the room can hear and clearly enough so that they can understand. But simply saying that doesn't tell you how to do it. Proper breathing is the key to volume. You should breathe from your diaphragm (which is about two inches below your navel). Those who have sung, played wind instruments, or studied yoga, meditation, or some martial arts will probably be familiar with breathing in this manner. You can feel the location of your diaphragm, and begin to get an understanding of this form of breathing, by sitting or standing up straight, and taking a very deep breath. If you try to fill your whole chest with air, you should be able to feel your stomach expand. When you speak from this level of breath support, your rib cage acts as a resonating chamber, giving you more volume. Speaking from deep in your chest also protects your throat, which can become raw if too much of the work is concentrated there. To be understood when you read, you need to speak slowly and clearly. A good rule of thumb for speed is to read about 125 words per minute. If you read much faster, you get beyond your audience's ability to process what they're hearing. You must also say each word clearly. For example, many of us glide past consonants at the end of words; doing this makes those words harder to understand. There are 44 sounds in standard English, and to be clearly understood you should say each of them correctly. One of the best ways to learn to speak slowly and distinctly enough to be understood is to practice reading your material into a tape recorder and then playing it back. If you listen carefully, you will hear the words you don't say well. You also need to make eye contact with your audience from time to time. After all, they're present to see you as well as hear you. The key to doing all this well is that punchline from the old joke about how to get to Carnegie Hall: Practice! Pick out a certain number of words, and time yourself to see how fast you're speaking. Tape your reading and listen to hear whether you're speaking clearly. And then do it again. And again. Get your cat, dog, spouse, friends, co-workers, fellow passengers on the bus (okay, maybe not them) to listen to you do it and make comments. The more you practice, the easier it will get. Engaging the Audience How you read is very important, but what you read is equally crucial. A very talented reader can probably engage an audience by reading the phone book, but after all, we're reading so that people will go out and buy our fiction, not just to show off in public. One of the key factors in selecting what to read is how much time you have. In Broad Universe's rapid-fire readings, people typically have somewhere between five and 10 minutes in which to read. At a pace of 125 words per minute, that's 625 words in five minutes and 1,250 in 10. Unless you primarily write short-shorts, you aren't likely to have time to read a whole story during a rapid-fire reading. If you have a half hour, or even an hour, you might be able to read a whole story, or a whole chapter, depending on your writing style. However, frequently you will need to select a portion of a work. It's best if the selection is self explanatory—starting from the beginning helps—or if you can summarize what's going on in a couple of sentences so that the audience can follow the story. Personally, I like to stop at a point that will entice people to read the rest of the story. Just as I try to put the right closing line on my stories, I want to stop a reading with a good line that will be memorable. For example, at the Broad Universe rapid-fire reading at World Fantasy, I read from my story "Nohow Permanent" (in Imagination Fully Dilated: Science Fiction), and ended with this: "I shrugged and said, 'Sorry to disappoint,' because I really wasn't interested, and I am female. Mostly." There are two more sentences before the story has a scene change—also a good place to stop—but they aren't as enticing as "I am female. Mostly." Whatever piece you select should hold together on its own, even if it leaves a lot of the story untold. Don't stop just because you've hit the requisite number of words; stop after giving your audience a complete image of your work. Consider your audience as well—after all, you want them to buy your books! For some audiences, especially at conventions, erotica or highly technical science may be big turn-ons. But in other locations, controversial topics may drive your audience away and technical ones could bore them silly. There are authors who build a career by offending their audiences, but you probably don't want to choose that path by accident. Resources There are numerous resources you can use to improve your reading skills. In addition to various types of public speaking classes, books, articles, and websites can be helpful. Here are a few suggestions. Classes and related resources
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