doing readings

I have been exceptionally lazy over this holiday season. When I’m not wrapping gifts, cleaning, cooking, ironing or unwrapping gifts and eating, I have been reading trashy books. Glorious!

I really must get back to writing Daughter of War and looking over the massive pruning I did for Spirit Lake Diary.

In the meantime, a fellow writer asked me the following question via email:

“Help! I have been asked to do some Canada Council readings and I need some advice.”

Here’s my answer:

A Canada Council reading is no different than any other. It just gets paid differently. Gear your reading to your audience. Ask the group who requested you what they’d like you to do.

The deadliest thing is assuming that a reading means standing up there and reading from your book. I have witnessed many of these disasters. I feel so sorry for the audience and equally sorry for the author.

When I first began doing readings in 1999, I wanted to avoid this major error so I asked Barbara Haworth Attard if I could sit in on one of her readings to see how a pro does it.

Barb is naturally shy like me but you’d never know it by her engaging performances. She has a wonderful way of interacting with her audience and keeping the presentation personal, polished, informative and oh so interesting.

Since 1999, I’ve done lots of readings. Last year I did 80 and it looks like I’ll be doing something like 150 by the time this current school year is over. Here are some quick tips:

– Limit the actual “reading” portion to a page or two at a time.

– Talk about the story behind the story — ie — how you came to write this story and what it means to you and what sort of research you did and how writing it changed who you are.

– Ask the audience questions and make eye contact as much as you can. This will ensure that you’re not boring them. You can modify your presentation if you see people nodding off.

– I always ask someone in charge to stand at the back of the room and hold up ten fingers when I’m ten minutes away from being finished and five fingers when I’ve got five minutes left. I find that I lose track of the time when I’m speaking and this really helps me focus.

And here is something I feel very strongly about but perhaps others don’t agree:

The most boring thing a person can do is get up there and talk about their “accomplishments”. Yadda yadda. Gag me with a spoon. Who _isn’t_ “award-winning and bestselling” for pete’s sake? Instead, talk about your challenges, your failures and how perseverence makes a difference. Writing a book is like opening up a vein and pouring blood on the page. It isn’t easy to write a book and it sure isn’t easy to get one published. That journey is one that interests many people.

Author: Marsha

I write historical fiction, mostly from the perspective of young people who are thrust in the midst of war.

14 thoughts on “doing readings”

  2. I’ve been to a reading of yours, and it was very interesting and engaging. The crowd was never restless, and paid very rapt attention.

    Excellent tips, m’dear!

    Julie K

    1. Aw, shucks, thanks Julie!

      It wasn’t always so. When my first book came out in 1996, I _did_ just stand up and read it. Thank goodness I learned with time.

      Happy New Year, m’dear!!

      1. And a very happy new year to you and yours!

        Time is an excellent learning tool, there’s no doubt about it! But it also takes a smart person to learn and grow as an artist, and that’s something you also do well!

        By the way, Eric’s going to be taking a children and YZ lit course as part of his library tech course. I think he’s really looking forward to it!

        Julie

          1. Iactually, I haven’t been looking at it that much, and so never apssed on the link – but I’m doing so right now !! Man, forgetting to do that would have been terrible!

            Thanks for the important reminder!!

            Julie

  3. These are good tips. They sound like they’re aimed primarily at school readings. Am I right?

    What would you say are the differences between a school reading and a reading given at a launch party, say?

    1. Hi James!

      These suggestions are also relevant for a launch party. The difference is that at a launch, the author’s formal part is much shorter because you want to have time to mingle and chat and autograph books. For a launch, I would suggest reading no more than a single page and in addition to that, talk for about 15 minutes about the story behind the story. That can be how you came up with your story, or it can be your research, or it can be how you got published. People _do_ want to hear you read, but less is more. And what they really want are those interesting tidbits that they wouldn’t get just from reading the novel.

      Have you see the final cover art for your first novel, The Unwritten Girl yet? You must be VERY excited!!!

      1. Hmm… This is going to be a challenge. I’m not sure what the story is behind the story. The best I can do off the top of my head is describe how it got its original title “Rosemary and Time” (which we later changed). 🙂

        I am, however, thinking of dropping in on one of Kenneth Oppel’s scheduled readings in February to see how he does it. Any others you suggest?

        Haven’t seen the final cover art, yet. I’m not sure if it is final, since they haven’t negotiated all of the rights yet — as they told me when they said that printing the cover on a limited-release catalogue is different from printing it on a wide-open website. But I have a good idea of which candidate cover they’ve selected.

        Copyediting still scheduled for January 6. Books return from the printer March 31.

        1. Hi James,

          Ken is a fabulous writer but he’s not necessarily the best example of a stellar presenter. Eric Walters would be a good one to drop in on. Or Sylvia McNicoll. Or Karleen Bradford.

          Re final cover art — often it’s not final til you get the copy in your hand! That happened with me for Nobody’s Child. Dundurn does amazing covers, though, so I’m sure you’ll be happy with the end result.

          Let me know how you make out with the copy editing.

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