A couple years ago I was interviewing a famous person who was about to be part of a local literary festival. This person was not a writer and our interview ended up focusing on this person's insight into the literary community as a person more involved with other mediums.
Gotta love that outsider insight.
One comment that stuck out was with regard to literary readings, which this person thought were largely boring, largely because MOST writers, in his opinion, were not very good at reading their own work.
By this, we can imagine, he was referring not to the ability to read or write as a basic skill, but the ability to PERFORM one's work for an audience.
Believe it or not, I had never heard this criticism of writers before. I had understood us to have a reputation for anti-socialness, bookishness, but I'd never considered us bad in front of a crowd, or behind a podium.
Essentally, it was my understanding, if a reading wasn't enjoyable, it was because of the material, not the person speaking. Although, technically, the person speaking would be responsible for the material.
You get what I mean.
So apparently it's an on-going debate, this writer as reader (good idea?) thing. As evidenced in this recent article on The Rumpus.
I guess the issue is that writers, unlike people involved in theatre, don't receive any training when it comes to the art of public reading. And this, generally, may or may not be affecting is in a negative way.
I will say that, as writers and readers, we do, periodically, get advice, but this advice is usually from other writers.
One piece of advice I got early on was from an editor who told me that the best approach to readings was NOT to make small talk. "No one wants to hear what you have to say about the weather," she said.
The editor in question said everyone would be better off if I said AS LITTLE outside of what I was reading as possible.
I've pretty much ENTIRELY DISREGARDED this piece of advice. I think a reading works best when it's a conversation, and to me a conversation involves more than just my face buried behind a bunch of pages. So I like to be a bit chatty. Plus, I'm fricking chatty anyway, and I like my readings to be a bit of a reflection of myself as a person as well as a writer. That's why I also try as often as possible to wear awesome clothes to readings. What I think are awesome clothes at least.
I don't know if writers, as a whole, should be too worried about their performances. I think it's important that a writer be able to be upright, calm enough to speak clearly, and pleasant enough to appear to be enjoying themselves. You know? Basic dinner date stuff. Aside from that, really, what do people expect?
I'd like to think people who attend readings do so because they are fans of the work. Because readings are a chance to meet the person behind the words, not a chance to be dazzled by that person's reading ability. You go to a play to be transported by the words, the movement, the set, the atmosphere, etc. If you go to a reading looking for the same thing we're going to have to start investing in fancier music stands.
Food for thought.
In other news, TCAF is fast approaching. I will most definitely be attending, but as a humble spectator. For more information on TCAF panels etcetera, follow this link.
xo
mariko