Following on from yesterday’s post about hearing erotic stories read aloud
reminded me that I’m reading at an event shortly. I have a love-hate relationship with this process,
finding the experience both nerve-wracking and liberating at the same
time. It is so different to giving a
private reading and when you are confronted with an audience in a public space,
you never quite know how they will respond. Of
course, you can’t please all the people, as the saying goes, and it’s always
tricky to decide what to read. It has to
be new, as you may have some of the same people in the audience as at a
previous reading. The story or extract shouldn’t
be too long, because you don’t want your audience to lose interest and become
bored.
Stories with humour seem to work best, I’ve found, and with realistic
characters and dialogue. Some readers
have commented that they can often identify with the people in my stories, and
recognise characters and situations, which is a lovely compliment. Most of what I write is inspired by actual
events and personal experiences.
I’d love to hear from other writers who give readings – have you had any
enlightening, amusing (or not so funny) experiences of reading in public?
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