I love stories. It’s not just my job, it’s my life and my
passion. Stories are the reason I got into libraries, and the reason I write. For
me it’s never just been enough to read them to myself, I have to share them. I
love passing on books and matching the right story to the right person. This is
a librarian thing (although you don’t have to be a librarian to do it) and it’s
a compulsion. Book people like us have to share books with others. Sharing stories
out loud is a big part of that, and something that I enjoy a great deal. In my
time as both a public and school librarian, I worked out I have organised well over
a hundred author visits, and seen and supported many more. I've read aloud more books than I can possibly count. As an author I’ve
lost count of how many school visits I’ve done myself. I’ve seen some very good ones,
and some very bad ones.
One of my favourite things is to share stories aloud. I am a
passionate storyteller and I do think that there is a craft and art to it. I
have seen some great books ruined by poor storytelling, and I have also seen
great storytellers ruined by reading the wrong pieces aloud. I’m not talking
about picture books here because they are all designed to be read aloud. In
this piece I’m talking about longer novels. So, what does make a great
read-aloud story, and how can you pick the right bit from your book to
read-aloud?
First off, let’s not throw out the traditional idea of
reading the opening passage or chapter from your book. Many authors spend ages
searching through their books for the bit that they like the most and avoiding the obvious opening pages, but don’t
forget that when a reader first picks up your book they are going to look at
those all important pages. In my experience you have around five
minutes, and one page, to capture a potential new fan in a bookshop or library,
so if your opening pages are not up to the task… well, I’ll leave that one up
to you!
Next, don’t just pick a random section you are proud of. Think
like the reader. Imagine you have never read anything at all from this book and
you haven’t a clue who anyone is or what the story is – does the bit you have
chosen still work? Does it make sense? If your listeners are puzzled, they are
not following the story, and they are probably not relaxed enough as listeners
to enjoy it.
What about the kind of things that work best as read-alouds?
A lot of that depends on what kind of reader you are, and what kind of
performer. If you are comfortable doing voices (and you haven’t noticed too
much cringe from your audience when you do them!) then go for it and pick a
dialogue piece. This can be confusing though, so try to keep it down to just
two people talking at a time, and make sure it’s a conversation worth your
audience hearing.
The best read-alouds are descriptive, but not too flowery.
The language should be highly visual (I often get listeners to close their eyes)
but the text should contain vocabulary that works for your audience. I find
that many books that are highly descriptive leave an audience confused as the
sentences are too long to hold onto when read-aloud. Pick a passage with punch,
and power. Pick a few pages that have suspense or tension, and that demonstrate
a clear stand-alone section of the text. This sounds obvious, but trust me, I
have seen a hell of a lot of people get this horribly wrong!
Now to your input! Obviously you need to read with passion
and expression. You need to absolutely put your heart and soul into bringing
that story to life – but make sure you test your performance out on a critical
audience. Not just your family – unless you have teenagers who will be brutally
honest with you. Chances are your loving family will just be kind to you, but
that bunch of Year 9s won’t! Like all performers you will need to rehearse. Gesticulate, but don't be a windmill. Don't be a statue, but don't pace like a caged bear either. Do
some voice training. Learn to project and make sure you are not shouting. I
remember a particularly awful visit (I’m naming no names) when the author
literally bellowed their story to a flinching group of 8 year olds! Work on finding the balance that makes your storytelling look natural, as if the story has just come into your mind. Some people like to memorise the piece, but I find many authors prefer the shield that holding a book offers.
A lot of how a book
comes across will depend on you. If you are not comfortable performing, do not
put pressure on yourself to do so. When you do school visits it is perfectly
acceptable to not read aloud. You really don’t have to. There is no set formula
for school visits and there is no rule about reading your work out loud. I
often wished that some authors had not read aloud as I have seen some fantastic
author visits fall at that hurdle. The author might have spent the whole visit
being funny, charming, captivating and inspiring… but then really bad at reading
aloud. If it’s not your thing – don’t do it.
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| I like a prop for my sessions. |
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| That includes ones with adults |
The very best author visits are ones where the author is
happy and excited about sharing their book and their own story. The very worst
are the ones where the author is nervous or unhappy, or dreading that
performance moment. If you are not comfortable reading text aloud, then the
story you really need to tell is the one you completely own – the one about
you! It is perfectly possible to make an audience excited about your work
without reading huge clumps of it. Tell them about the characters instead,
bring them to life and place them in the mind of your audience. Tell them about
the plot and give them teasers to make them want to read it for themselves. I’ve
seen authors write jokes, or poems, or little plays (that they get the kids to
perform), and even songs - anything that brings their story to the audience.
What really matters is the story, and how you bring that to
your audience is up to you but your methods should always play to your
strengths, and the story you tell should always be real to you. Be real, be
honest, be memorable and be the story!
Dawn Finch is an author, storyteller, and children's librarian with a box full of props and a tendency to wave her arms around too much. She does school visits based on her ghostly fiction - Brotherhood of Shades, which is to be republished with sequel in 2019.
Her latest non-fiction book about life on Hadrian's Wall is out now.
www.dawnfinch.com
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