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Advice for reading to an audience
On Sunday (5th), I will be reading the first chapter of mine and Loz's, L.M. Towton novel, 'The Soul Caller' at the Barking Folk Festival (in Partnership with the Barbican) at 2:15pm.
As I'm generally an anxious person and standing in front of an audience (who's size I have no idea what it will be) is almost the idea of a nightmare for me, could anyone who has done any readings please give me some advice?
As I'm generally an anxious person and standing in front of an audience (who's size I have no idea what it will be) is almost the idea of a nightmare for me, could anyone who has done any readings please give me some advice?
Comments
Read it a lot, so that you have bits you know well enough to read out looking at the audience - nothing worse than an author who reads into the book instead of making contact.
Hold the book well below your face, almost flat, so your voice flows into the room and not the book - this is what we are taught to do at singing and it makes a huge difference.
Once you are doing it you do it - somehow worries drop away, you are performing and you can 'feel' the attention, so that gives you the confidence that you are doing ok.
People love humanity - if you make a mistake, they love you for it. don't sorry about stumbling, just read that bit again.
There was a bit on Facebook about yoga breathing and doing it to sleep - if you can find the instructions for that, it is very calming and centre-ing.
Read sLOWLY. Readings do not take much time, so read MUCH slower than seems necessary to your ear. They have to hear each word, and have a little time to process what they have just heard as well as anticipate what might be about to happen, don't lose them by going too quickly so they wonder what you said or even ask someone next to them instead of what you are saying next.
Practise.
http://www.toastmasters.org/
Picking out an individual to read to is a good idea. If it's a largish group then select several people - one centre back, one halfway down each side and one near the front.
Seriously, just don't gaze into the distance too obviously. You can skim the audience without catching an eye. Speakers who fix their gaze where there's no audience let their nerves show.
ose interested, listening faces.
Have to admit I am always wobbly for a few sentences, but then I sort of get interested in what I am saying.
It's also advisable to be a bit aware of your audience.
With children this is even more important, of course.
If you can 'hear' them listening, that is good. (You can, it's weird.)
But if there is a bit of shuffling, you sense a loosening of the atmosphere, then speed up your delivery, maybe cut a bit out (description?), change pace, or something like that.
Read the bit you are going to read with that in mind - highlight passages that can be left out.
Have something else to put in at the end to fill time if you have done this and you are supposed to fill a time slot - for instance, an anecdote of how you researched a point in the text, a funny story you have about writing etc.
Leave time for questions.
I went along to the reading of a couple of the other Pen to Print shortlisters/finalists and I think it's going to be a bit tough. There is a big music stage run by the Barbican Centre in the town square. The Story Tent is in the Arboretum just off of the square (with various other tents around) but it got very noisy from the music, especially when the drum troup started.
We'll see how it goes
In my experience, all these occasions require Practice, practice practice and on the day it will just flow with confidence.
Incidently I did reach the national speech final one year, not bad for a kid with quite a speech defect in young days.
As for the reading..
I think it went well. A couple of friends (fellow writers) & the co-ordinator of Pen to Print, said it did and that they couldn't tell that I was anxious, and they said my voice didn't drop at all. I was competing with a sound system banging out Bjork and 'My Sharona' at one point though.
There were probably about twelve people in all - but as it was an open tent, there were more walking by and listing to bits - a teenage boy and one bloke didn't seem interested at first but by the end the bloke (husband to my friend/fellow writer, Clare) was leaning over the chair in front of him listening intently and the teenager asked if there was any more. I assumed this was good.