Friday, 24 June 2011  Tips for Authors Giving Talks: Choosing
The Reading  1. Choose a piece that is self contained and
doesn't need lengthy explanations to make sense.  2. If you do
need an explanation for the reading to make sense, then write it
out on a separate piece of paper because the last thing that
will be on your mind is exactly who is who and why they're
there. You're bound to miss out the vital bit of explanation.
3. Choose a piece with as little dialogue as possible. This may
sound counter-intuitive, because some of your liveliest writing
will be dialogue based. But it's fiendishly difficult for an
audience to listen to something that was designed for reading,
and keep track of who is who. Even if you are as good as Martin
Jarvis at doing different voices I'd avoid too much dialogue.
4. Go for something up beat. I once heard an author read out
something horribly depressing which didn't reflect the tone of
his novel. I asked why he'd chosen it, and he said it was a self
contained scene. This is