On Readings

The other week Emerging Writers Network posted an excellent list of ways to improve the live reading experience. I was hoping to piggyback on that idea and add a few thoughts of my own. Here are those aforementioned thoughts:

1) Don’t chew tobacco during the reading. It’s incredibly distracting.

2) Periodically shout out Whose cell phone is that?, even if no cell phone is ringing. Volatility helps sell books.

3) Consider using sock puppets for scenes with heavy dialogue.

4) Don’t show pictures from your recent vacation. Nobody wants to see that.

5) If you decide to bring a beach ball for the audience to play around with, make sure to blow it up before you arrive at the reading. You’d be surprised how long it can take to blow up a beach ball.

6) Place a butter knife on the podium as a “Chekhov’s gun” sort of thing. Let people wonder how the butter knife will be used later.

7) Answer every question with a question of your own. It’s a great way to let the audience know you studied philosophy in college.

8) Wear a fun hat.

9) If the event includes more than one reader, maybe split up the readings with a t-shirt cannon or mascot of some kind.

10) A headworn microphone will allow you to move around with greater freedom.