From authors who are asked to read their own work at signings, to audiobook narrators, to podcasters, there are a lot of us out there who want — or need — to get better at readings.
At the titular panel, at Balticon 53, Tee Morris, Jean L Cooper, and Mike Luona shared their best tips.
6 Steps Toward Creating Character Voices
Keep the character’s background in mind
Use a key phrase to get into the character’s voice, to help with consistency
Use your ‘normal voice’, (or something close to it), for the narrator and/or main character
For opposite gendered characters, you can pitch up or down a touch, but don’t fake it
For some female characters, a breathier tone works, even if you don’t change the pitch
Listen to how other actors present their different characters
For a fantasy accent — try combining 2 real world accents badly
Avoid stereotypes!
For accents, if you can’t skip it — try acting classes or online videos but do these with a light touch
5 Tips For All Readings
Practice cold-reading
Pick up a book at random and just reading a few pages!
Hit the narration just as hard as the dialogue
Paint a mental picture with your voice
Know when to pause
When a phrase becomes a stumbling block, slow wayyy down.
If in practice — go over it very slowly, mouth it carefully, repeat it a few times, get that muscle memory in thereIf live — pause, mouth it to yourself, then try again
Don’t be afraid to be dramatic – the audience builds off the energy you bring to the table. Feeling a little over the top is probably just right for most of us.
And one bonus tip, specifically for audio books:
If you can, read the book to yourself once ahead of time, marking all proper nouns, unfamiliar words/terms, and confirm pronunciation before beginning.
Any tips the panelists ran out of time to mention? Anything I got wrong?
What do you do to practice? Any toastmasters out there?
As January firmly establishes itself, this might seem a bit late for a resolutions post, but I always planned to take January off from writing and relax some, so you haven’t missed anything.
For me, this is going to be a year of reading, revision, and reflection.
Blogging/Vlogging
I’ve got such a lovely streak going here, I’d hate to break it. So, I’ll continue putting out a new blog/vlog every Thursday on writing tips or writerly musings.
When I have them lined up, I’ll be sharing Author Spotlights or Query Corners on Tuesdays.
Plus, I’m contemplating maybe a picture post on the weekends. I’m debating if Saturday or Sunday is better. Suggestions?
Reading
They say one can’t be a writer without reading. And, finding out what’s new and good in your genre is research, right? Although, that doesn’t mean I won’t do plenty of ‘for fun’ reading.
My goal is to read 26 books this year, one every other week on average. (Although, I tend to read in binges.) I’m looking at taking breaks from writing to focus on downtime and reading in January, March, May, and July. And I hope that planning intentional breaks will help fight the feeling of being on a never-ending treadmill, where I fail if I let myself take a break.
So far? I’ve read a couple romances and all 4 books in Charlie Holmberg’s The Paper Magician series. I think I’m off to a good start.
Revising
I’m sitting on a backlog of 4 manuscripts in various states — mostly collecting dust. It’s time to fix that.
I got some great feedback from a critique partner back in November for Manuscript #1 (a secondary world young adult fantasy), but it was kind of a bitter pill to swallow. I have been brainstorming and messaging with the critiquer on ways to fix it. But I took December and January off, partially sulking, partially trying to figure out how to solve the issues mentioned. I’m going to let the ideas percolate a bit more and plan to hold off until February before implementing my fixes.
Then, in April, I’m going to pull out MS #2 — the sequel to MS #1.
In June, I’m going to pull out either MS #3 (my gender-bent Robin Hood) or MS #4 (my middle-grade contemporary fantasy, where the more you connect with what you read, the more your world shifts to be like it… physically!)
Querying
Once MS #1 has been revised, again, I’m marching into the query trenches once more.
Starting in March, I intend to send out 3 queries a week for 4 months, unless I get an R&R. If it goes no where, I’ll contemplate edits in August.
Beta Readers
I’ll be reaching out to beta readers as I wrap up my revisions on MS #2 (May) and MS #3 or #4(July). Readers for MS #2 will, by necessity, be people who have beta read or critiqued MS #1, but for the others, I’m open to a small pool of new readers.
I like to keep my beta reader pool to no more than 8 readers, typically from different backgrounds. I usually give them separate copies, so that their feedback won’t influence each other.
If my Alpha reader’s schedule permits, I’ll send my manuscripts to her for quick feedback, but otherwise, these may just go straight to my beta readers.
In August and September, I’ve blocked time to incorporate the feedback — at least for MS #2. And perhaps, some updates for MS #1 (either as query feedback suggests, or to better set up MS #2’s plotting).
Conventions
I intend to hit Balticon again (May) and WorldCon (August) in Dublin (!!). I submitted to be a panelist at Balticon… but after they’d already started sending out panel invites, so I may have been too late there. We’ll see. (Keep your fingers crossed!)
Writing
Hmmm, there’s very little actual writing on this project plan, but sometimes, that’s how the cookie crumbles. Besides, I’ve been assured that editing and revising and brainstorming ARE part of the writing process.
Plus? I don’t have a big idea pushing on me right now.
That said, I intend to do OctPoWriMo again — writing a poem a day for all of October. And then NaNoWriMo.
If I don’t have an idea by then, I’ll do a rebel NaNo and revise whichever manuscript hasn’t been touched.
And that’s my plan for the year. If you got a little lost, here’s the plan in chart form.
I’ll be focusing on reading every other month until the last quarter, revising most of my backlog, querying, a couple conventions, and a bit of writing.
As you might know, I do some voice acting for the Folk Tale Audio Drama Anansi Storytime where I’ve been everything from a narrator, to (many) Goddesses, to a turtle. Plus, as a writer, looking for an agent, I’m dreaming of that day when people show up to listen to me read my own work (as terrifying as that is).
So, when I see panels on ‘reading your own work’ at conventions, I like to show up and see what else I can pick up. (See here)
Usually, they’re workshops. This year, at Balticon, the session was more of a panel, with a round or so of audience participation at the end. But I learned a LOT of things specific to reading your own work that I didn’t already know.
Here are my top 5 tips for reading from your own manuscript at an author reading.
Photo by Pete Johnson on Pexels.com
1. Pick a scene with action, dialogue, and stop on a cliff-hanger
I’d always imagined that you needed to start your reading at the beginning of the book, otherwise you’d surely confuse the readers!
In truth – no matter how your novel actually starts though, when you’re reading for an audience, you want something active that isn’t too full of introspective!
Although, you still want the scene to focus on the main (or one of the main) protagonists.
So often, writers (and audiences) believe that since you wrote it, you should know your novel forwards and backward.
But, even if you aren’t a writer, can you remember a joke you made 3 months ago? With the exact wording? Probably not.
I promise it isn’t the marker of a ‘fake’ writer or someone who’s ‘not meant to do this’. Most authors practice.
After several read-throughs, you’ll get to know how many pages will typically take you to the 1-minute mark, the 5-minute mark, or the 20-minute mark, whichever length of reading you’re preparing for.
Make sure to give yourself a little extra script if you need to be sure to fill the time. Nerves and a live audience make most people speed up, no matter how much they’ve practiced.
Feel free to give an intro and talk about the book and yourself and the story — not telling the backstory — but selling yourself and the novel! You don’t have to just read your story during a reading.
A lot of authors print that scene out in the big font, so they don’t lose their place and mark it all up.
Put in pauses, when you raise your pitch, and when you lower your volume.
Highlight the different characters’ dialogue in different colors!
Whatever you need to make the reading more exciting to listen to.
4. Be EXPRESSIVE!
Use multiple voices! (Those ones you just highlighted in different colors)
Use over-exaggerated faces! (If you commit, so will your audience.)
E-nun-ci-ate! Make sure that you don’t turn your story into a mumble.
All of my Bic editing pens. I meant to color code but haven’t really been doing that. Just using different colors for different things.
5. Don’t be afraid to EDIT THE SCENE
Wait. What?
I was stunned and yet it seemed so obvious when they mentioned this tip. I’d always imagined half the audience having the scenes memorized and ready to ding you if you misspoke a single sentence. But that’s not who you’re reading to!
This audience wants you to succeed. They showed up ready to be entertained and to have the experience of the words being spoken by the writer. To have something fresh and new!
If you’ve ever been to a concert, which is more exciting? A set playlist where everything is by the books and they wait exactly 90 seconds of applause before coming out for the ‘surprise encore’. Or a band with a huge song list, picking and choosing which song they feel like tonight, with a more organic feel?
The audience is there for your take on it: the sound of foreshadowing in your voice, the excitement of the scene, the wrinkled nose in a character’s disgust at kiwi (what can I say, some characters have no taste!).
So make it easy for them to love your reading.
Cut the dialogue tags — especially if you’re using voices.
Do you have asides and mentions of side plots that aren’t relevant for this scene? CUT THEM!
Do you head-jump a lot and don’t have a full reading’s worth from one character’s point-of-view? Clip them together!
Make the scene as stand-alone as you can — except for that cliffhanger ending and leave ’em with your number buy links.
These notes were taken from the #Balticon52 panel “Reading Your Own Work”. The panelists were Dave Robison, Starla Huchton, Valerie J. Mikles, Steven Howell Wilson, and moderated by Erin Kazmark.
If there’s a topic you’d love for me to talk about, feel free to comment below or email me at morgan.s.hazelwood@gmail.com
Blessed with teachers who supported and encouraged me.
Blessed both my own personal what-to-read-next advisor and access to all the books I could want.
In honor of teacher appreciation week:
Here’s to Ms. Quesinberry, my long-term substitute teacher in 2nd grade–who was there when I got moved to the accelerated reading group and helped foster my love of reading.
Here’s to Ms. Firesheets, my elementary school librarian, who introduced me to so many books, taught me how to use a card catalog (the year before we went electronic), and made the library into a second home.
Here’s to Ms. Haney, my 4th-grade teacher, who, one day after she took away 2 books, and Ipulled out a 3rd during class, had me empty both my desk and my locker and return some to the library. There were 7.
Here’s to Ms. Hardt, my 6th, 7th, 9th, and 10th-grade social studies and English teacher who encouraged my writing, supported my genre preferences, and taught me that edits are suggestions that I should mold into my own image.
Here’s to Ms. Hoppe, who scared a group of 8th graders–on their first day, during their first period, in the big, scary high school–with an amazing Gollum impression, and allowed us as both 8th and 12th graders to act out our Shakespeare. (Despite our initial discomfort, doing the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet with Michael wasn’t too embarrassing. )
And here’s to my mother. A retired high-school librarian and former children’s librarian who can read stories with the best ofthem, keeps her shelves full, and always knows what to suggest for me to read next.
P.S. Sorry I went through the Foundation series in two weeks. Thanks to Game of Thrones, I now know the pain you suffered between books.
Happy Teacher appreciation week to ALL the teachers out there.
And Happy Mother’s Day.
Your support and encouragement are remembered and appreciated.
I really wanted to read my novel before starting on copy edits.
I just wanted to be able to make notes where my attention started to wane, so I’d know what might need heavy editing.
Slower Pace
When I read for fun, I typically read about a hundred pages an hour. I slow down with dense descriptions and war maneuvering, but for the most part, I read quickly. I blame being very plot driven, having an imagination that’s more conceptual than visual, and playing far too much with my grandmother’s “Learn to Speed Read” kit from the ’60s.
When I’m copy-editing my work, I can get through about ten pages an hour.
I thought that it couldn’t possibly take me more than six hours to read my own novel, but I was wrong. I’m not reading as slowly as copy editing, but twenty-five pages an hour is a quarter of my recreational reading pace.
Copious Notes
I’m not the sort of person who typically takes notes while reading recreationally. I’ve done a fair amount of copy-editing and critiquing of peer’s writing, though.
I absolutely cannot read my own work without making notes! Without saying “this part needs rewording” or “that part is awkward.”
Critical of My Own Work
I don’t know if I’m reading it differently or if I’m just being overly critical, but I’m seeing so many more issues with my writing trying to read it as a whole than I did when I was editing it a page at a time.
Clearly, the difference is I’m looking at it like a reader or a critique partner, rather than a writer trying to be done with this draft.
Finishing Reading
I’ve got 50 pages read, 253 to go, wish me luck! I’m hoping being this judgmental is exactly what my novel needs.
Can you read your own work? Do you find that the best way to find the flaws?
