Reading Aloud (While Drinking)

MWA-NY has a reading series at KGB bar in NYC (please ask if you’d like to read!) and we’re planning more in other areas as well. There’s also Noir at the Bar, which is not run by MWA but at which many MWA members read all over the country. And there are other opportunities for reading your work aloud at conferences, at salons, in a host of places. All of which I recommend. Especially, if I may say so, if the places you can read are places where people congregate to drink.

It’s no coincidence that MWA-NY’s reading series is at KGB bar, while the romance community’s reading series, Lady Jane’s Salon, is at Madame X (also a bar) and that Noir at the Bar is, quite obviously, held at various bars. You want to encourage a communal feeling, reduce the stress on the participants, and give people a reason to come out of their house and listen to something they might not have otherwise been keen to hear.

But as a reader, you have a responsibility and that responsibility is first and foremost to entertain. Remember, the people hanging out in the bar are not your critique group. Don’t expect coherent feedback from them. You are the dancing monkey.

So, what do you need to do to maximize your value as an entertainer to the people in the audience, to ensure that when they wake up the next morning, hung over and hazy, they still remember how much they enjoyed your reading?

1. Don’t use the time allotted to you.
WHAT? But my work…I need to give them as much of it as possible!
No, you don’t. What you need to give them is the best possible experience, not the longest one. If you’re allotted ten minutes, plan to use eight. Allotted eight, plan to use six. Allotted five, plan for four. First of all, reading aloud almost always takes longer than you think it will if you do it right and second, the worst crime is boring your audience. Keep it short and you don’t risk losing their attention. I’ve heard readings where people could have ended at two or three places with “punch,” but because they wanted to squeeze out every minute, my attention wandered as the moment passed.

2. Speaking of that, start from the end.
A great first line is wonderful at a reading, but unless the rest of your selection lives up to it, people will have forgotten it by the end. A great last line is the takeaway. So when you’re picking a selection, make sure you’ll be ending with a punch to the gut.

3. Cut out the unnecessary bits.
Much of what we write is necessary in terms of the full story, but not necessary for the selection. Let’s say part of your dialogue refers to an earlier conversation. It’s not necessary to the scene you’re reading, only to the larger story. Cut it out for the reading; create a new transition sentence if needed. You don’t want to use up your time explaining it and you don’t want to confuse your audience since they won’t know what’s being referenced. Just skip it. Trim down your selection.

4. Practice, practice, practice.
Read your piece aloud several times, not just for length but for timing. The pauses are important, the rise and fall of the language. It will escape you while you’re in front of an audience, so sometimes it helps to put in notes to yourself, like adding an exclamation point or a [pause] into the text. Split your paragraph up into pieces if you have significant breaks. I have a character whose name is spelled “Eibhlín,” pronounced Eye-vleen, like “Eileen” with a “v” in the middle. When I have to read her story, I always write it phonetically on the paper I am reading from.

And that’s it. Get out and get your words heard! And take your business cards, so you can hand them out when you step away from the podium in triumph and everyone wants them.

—Laura K. Curtis

Laura K. Curtis gave up a life writing dry academic papers for writing decidedly less dry short crime stories and novel-length romantic suspense and contemporary romance. A member of RWA, MWA, ITW, and Sisters in Crime, she has trouble settling into one genre. In 2015 alone, she has two romantic suspense novels—Echoes and Mind Games—from Penguin, a self-published contemporary in her “Goody’s Goodies” series about women who sell adult toys, and a short Gothic piece in Protectors 2: Heroes, an anthology to benefit PROTECT.org.