Con Frantic

It's Thursday, which means tomorrow I head to StellarCon in Highpoint NC and at 4:30pm I have my first ever reading.

I am nervous.

I'm at 28 hours until the reading and I still don't have a clue what passage I'm going to read. I don't even know how long a passage I should pick. I wish I had attended more readings in the past, but I haven't, so I'm flying rather blind. I just had a long talk with fellow author Rachel Aaron, and she pointed out that if you can't do voices, dialogue tends to run together so avoid dialogue heavy scenes. I'd never considered that.

The block for my reading is 30 minutes, but I doubt anyone would like to hear me drone on that long. It would probably be best to split things up and pick a 10 minute passage, talk a bit and get a feel for what the attendees (if there are any and I'm not reading to an empty room!) are interested in, and then read a shorter second passage based on them. What do you think?

Has anyone out there done a reading before? How about attended readings? Any suggestions or tips? Anyone who has read my books want to suggest a passage they think would be interesting for me to read? Will I see any of you tomorrow?

Happy Thursday everyone. I don't know what my internet situation will be at the con, so I probably won't post about the reading and the con until next week, but I will be < a href="http://twitter.com/kalayna" target="new">tweeting from StellarCon if you're interested.

Have great weekend!

Comments

David Kopaska-Merkel said…
end your reading at an exciting juncture in the narrative. Don't just read; introduce your reading with something about yourself or about the book. Like when you wrote it or anything that might be interesting.

Most important of all. Speak up!

You will do fine.
March 3, 2011 at 12:30 PM
Di Francis said…
I tend to pick a scene that has humor or action. Or both. I tend to pick several short things to break it up a little. And introduce what I'm reading a little bit.

Remember to look at your audience. Read with inflection and feeling and not too fast. (after reading to my kids, reading in public is a lot easier). I also do facial expressions a little bit.

Drink water. Have water with you. No soda. Burps are bad.

I also tend to print out what I'm going to read so it's in a bigger font than the book. And sometimes I will edit out stuff I don't want to say or won't read well.

Remember, there's no worse crime than reading like Ben Stein.

YOu'll do great.
March 3, 2011 at 12:39 PM
purpleprose 78 said…
Don't speak to quickly. Remember to pause when appropriate.
March 3, 2011 at 2:06 PM
The Queen B said…
Like others have suggested, introduce what your reading with maybe some interesting research or writing anecdote or bit about the characters involved. Speak up and don't read like romper room :P
People really do seem to enjoy readings, though, so don't be nervous. Water is your friend and don't be afraid to stop what your reading to discuss or laugh a bit.
Hope that helps and have fun! :D
March 3, 2011 at 6:15 PM
Kalayna Price said…
Thanks everyone! *takes a deep breath* Okay, I think I can do this. ^_^
March 4, 2011 at 10:23 AM
Vickie said…
How did it go? Which passage did you choose?
March 4, 2011 at 11:06 PM
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